Meditation: Working with Difficult Clients

The fastest way to say the wrong thing in real estate is to answer a tense call while your body is still in fight-or-flight. So we made something different: a simple guided meditation created specifically for real estate agents navigating difficult buyers, stressed sellers, or friction with another agent.

We skip the usual talk and go straight into a 10 to 12 minute mindfulness practice you can do from a chair, couch, or parked car (not while driving). First, we help you settle your body and tune in to your breath. Then we bring the tough situation to mind and notice what it does to you physically: tight chest, clenched jaw, racing thoughts, or that gripping feeling that makes every message feel urgent.

From there, we widen the lens. We explore what might be behind the other person’s behavior, not to justify it, but to add perspective. We also practice detaching from the outcome so your peace is not held hostage by whether the deal closes. To finish, we recall a client who was a joy to work with and return to the present with a clear question: if you had to pick up the phone now, how would you respond differently?

If you want practical stress relief for realtors, stronger boundaries, and calmer communication in high emotion transactions, press play, subscribe, and share this with an agent who needs a reset. Then leave a review and tell us what shifted for you.

You can find me on instagram @rested.real.estate.agent, and you can sign up for my newsletter to keep up with upcoming workshops and other offerings on my website www.suminabhatti.com. 

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Transcript

Welcome And Practice Setup

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hello, and welcome to the Rested Real Estate Agent. Today's episode is going to be an actual meditation practice. So no intro, no outro. This particular practice is going to focus on what we do as realtors when we are faced with a challenging buyer, seller, or other agent. Oftentimes in our business, we have clients we're working with, other agents we're working with, where maybe they're not exactly combative with you, but just reach a point of frustration, irritation, possibly anger on both or either party's parts. And what do we do in those situations? So let's settle in. We're actually going to do a practice together today. Practice will be about 10 to 12 minutes long. I'd like you to pick where you're going to be seated for the next 10 to 15 minutes. Don't do this while you're driving. Um, but doing it in your car while you're parked, in your office chair, if you're home and want to grab a meditation cushion or just sit on the sofa, be comfortable. That's my guidance

Settle Body And Breath

SPEAKER_01 1:20

always is be comfortable in your body.

SPEAKER_00 1:24

And find your seat for these next moments together.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

And just allow your body a few minutes, a couple cycles of breath to get all your wiggles out. You know, just maybe moving your neck around a little bit, moving your arms around, settling in, finding your posture that you want to be in for the next while now, and getting any movement that wants to happen out. And then once you've feel like you found your seat, take a breath. Your body has arrived in this place and time, and now invite your mind to arrive.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

What sounds can you hear in your environment? Let your ears be open to those sounds. And just even notice your breath. Is your breath shallow today or deep? Is your breath tight? Is your breath tight or loose and easy? See what feels true for you here today.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Just slowly, like you're tuning an old school radio and trying to find the right frequency. Just start tuning in and seeing for yourself what allows you to arrive here in this present moment.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Is it the connection to your breath?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Maybe it's a connection to your body seated or laying down on the seat you're in.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

Feeling each surface that your back and legs touch.

Picture The Difficult Person

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Maybe it was with a buyer or a seller who was frustrated.

SPEAKER_00 4:04

Worried, fearful. Bring to mind what you know about their image. Maybe you know them in person, maybe you've only talked on the phone. Just fill in and paint in the details of what you know about them. And then acknowledge for yourself where you're at with your feelings toward them.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

And even without naming the feeling, where's the sensation of what you're experiencing in your body? Do you feel a tightness in your chest or heat in your face?

SPEAKER_00 5:02

What happens to you when you think about this other party? And just allow it to be there. We're not forcing away those changes, we're just being present for them.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Acknowledging that the situation is frustrating or angering, whatever it is for you.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Just breathing with that for a cycle or two. And then thinking about the other person. What might their backstory be? If they're coming from a place of fear or frustration, what path led them here? And what might explain their behavior? Not to justify it, but just to give more perspectives on what might be driving their interaction.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

a need or a wanting or a grasping of things to be different than what they are. You just wish this person would do XYZ thing or behave in a particular manner.

Find Perspective And Detach

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Whenever I'm in a situation like this, I try to re-center myself before engaging with the other party.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

I find other ways to express my frustration than at the client. For example, talking to my colleagues or my manager. Both can be true. And notice what it's like to detach yourself from the outcome. If this person fired you tomorrow and the deal did not close with you, what comes up for you? Notice if there's gripping or grasping in your hands or your jaw, in your belly. And maybe just even in your thoughts, ruminating or tightness in your thoughts around this person and this transaction.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

And just see if you can allow yourself with your breath and with silence and with spaciousness to maybe just loosen those thought knots a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

One day you will be out of the transaction with this person. That day is perhaps not today.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

But just notice what that feels like in your body to recognize that this situation is not forever. That by some means, whether it's a closing or whether the business relationship ends, that your interaction with this person will come to an end.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

Just observe. And breathe. Notice if your breath has shortened, and if so, just extend out your inhale down to your belly.

SPEAKER_01 12:33

And exhale long and slow. And just like you can imagine what it's like to be in the situation. Maybe you currently are in the situation with

Remember Great Clients Too

SPEAKER_01 12:57

a difficult client. But now I want you to bring to mind and paint into your mind a transaction you had with someone who you got along great with, who was a pleasure to work with, who, if you had a hundred clients like that, would make your work so joyful, so easy, so easeful. And know that all kinds of varieties of people exist out there, right? We have the people that are challenging, that push our boundaries, that force us to be firmer with our boundaries. And there are also people that are easeful, joyful to work with. And holding both of those in our minds can be important, of course. We would like every client we work with to be amazing. But people are meeting us from their own backgrounds, from their own baggage, their own stories about what's happening with their home, sale or purchase. But in the work we're in, we get exposed to and we get to experience all kinds of different people who are dealing with high emotions at a time when they are buying or selling. A home is such a physical representation of how we live our lives. For some people, letting go of that or acquiring that can be filled with a lot of emotion. So as you imagine the great clients you had and the joy that brought them to their decision to buy or sell and work with you. Humans are humans, and we often all get caught up in situations that we wish were different. However, we can't control that. All we can control is our response to somebody, whether that's with our words, expressing boundaries, whether it's with our actions, like not returning calls back after hours, or both. And

Return With A New Response

SPEAKER_01 16:50

as we do, you can let the image of this person go. You can start feeling yourself back in your seat, feeling the temperature of the air on your skin, feeling the space that you're in, the room that you're in, the sounds you can hear in your ears, just returning back and notice where your mind is now. And if you had to pick up the phone and call this person, how you would interact differently now than you may have done 15-20 minutes ago or so.