The Mindful Way through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness

by J. Mark G. Williams

With intensely unpleasant feelings, we may find it helpful to use the strategy of “working the edge.” As explained earlier, this means bringing attention as far into the intensity of the experience as we can and then maintaining it with a light touch, as best we can, moment by moment. When the intensity begins to feel overwhelming, we can gently, in the spirit of self-compassion, shift our attention bit by bit toward some other, more stabilizing and benign focus. For instance, we might steady ourselves and regroup by focusing on the movements of the breath until we feel ready to approach the area of greater intensity again. We can do this by focusing on the breath by itself or together with awareness of the unpleasant feelings and sensations in the background (“breathing with”). By testing the water in this way, we can develop a progressively more accepting relationship to intensely unpleasant experiences. This in itself is a path of both wisdom and compassion.