“Things can be basically good, even when circumstances are difficult…
…The secret to all [to being open to our lived experience] is hiding in plain sight. Your feeling, both the capacity for feeling and whatever you feel at any moment in particular, is what makes extraordinary experiences like [being grateful in any situation] commonplace. And they are already happening, though maybe in an unnecessarily complicated or dramatic way. Feeling has always been the basis for every experience you have.
The guiding principle is receptivity. Receptivity here means lucid relaxation.
If you don’t feel lucid and relaxed from moment to moment, and you would like to, you can practice…
The practice is simple: sit and feel. For a predetermined period of time on a daily basis, sit in a position that allows you to remain comfortably still, relaxed and awake. For the duration of that sit, relax and feel. That’s the entirety of the practice.”
-Max Soweski, “Full of Feeling in Any Situation.” feelingtones.substack.com. June 4, 2025
While I am familiar with the basics of meditative practice, I had always framed it as either a way to tap into our direct experience, which helps us to get away from a preoccupation with thoughts. But, I think this one made me recognize that I have a greater focus on thinking. The idea of using meditation as a platform to more fully feel is a new one to me. For one, it is focused on feelings, which I don’t tend to do. Second, it is about expanding the sense and embracing a fuller range of feelings.
There are of, of course, precedents, such as the Staying With Feelings zine that provides an overview of Eugene T. Genglin’s Focusing: How to Gain Direct Access to Your Bodies Knowledge. And, it does specifically, identify meditation as a practice that can be part of that method. But, I didn’t think about it in that way. So, perhaps a new avenue to explore.
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