Sam teaches how to develop a compassionate inner voice to support you through difficult emotions. The practice isn't about fixing things fast: you'll often struggle to find helpful thoughts, and that struggle is where the real work happens. Patience and repeated practice matter more than expecting quick results.
One caution with friendly mind. This concept is so easy to understand, which is to simply come up with guiding thoughts when you're in your most difficult feelings. However. However, it's realistically impossible for you to expect of yourself to be able to come up with those thoughts immediately when you're in these difficult feelings. It's so important that you expect yourself to be in the gap. And interestingly, friendly mind would be telling you it's natural that you can't find the friendly thoughts. Yet over and over again. It's going to encourage you to be patient and tolerant when you feel helpless and you can't find any thoughts that really resonate. There's also the danger that you might think that these friendly thoughts are going to transform you and they're not working unless you feel better. It's so crucial that these dangers of thinking that you can come up with clear thoughts that are going to guide you are going to lead to good feelings right away, or that you can be lucid about what these thoughts need to be. That when you recognize that it will inspire you to practice more and more. Because there's no way that just a greater intellectual understanding of what friendly mind is is going to bring you greater capacity to be there for yourself. You're going to have to be in the situation of a disturbed feeling. And then remember you want to care for yourself. Then remember that you have a friendly mind and then ask it to speak to you and be in the gap. And recognize that being in the gap is where all the practice comes from. And be encouraged that you're in the learning ground and that you really want to be there for yourself and develop the capacity to have specific thoughts that will guide you to more thoughts and that will guide you to different actions that will guide you to qualities that will support your life. But the danger is being grandiose or impatient. This is not a quick fix. You need to practice and be in the situation where where you are really disturbed. This is the practice ground. If you really hear what's being said, there's a part of you that will look forward to being disturbed. So you have a chance to practice and support yourself. It certainly will make you less afraid of whatever is your worst hell because you'll recognize you have the possibility of still supporting yourself. This possibility becomes a lot more viable when you practice and recognize that there's no substitute for this practice. Sam.
