Welcome to another Misted Forest Meditation.
Take this time to set your space either seated,
Standing or lying down.
If you're feeling comfortable,
And you can choose to do this meditation with your eyes open,
Closed or gaze towards the tip of your nose.
Breathing in and out.
Breathing in and out.
When we suppress our emotions,
Usually it's because,
You know,
There's there's a situation where we're in survival mode.
And it could be for a lot of reasons.
It could be you're in an abusive relationship,
It could be you're in an abusive household,
Abusive workplace,
Or you're afraid of rejection,
You're afraid of rejection from friends,
Family,
Society,
And you feel the need to suppress your true feelings,
Your true self,
Your true identity.
And in some cases,
It may be necessary for survival,
But eventually it does take a big toll.
And you know,
That's why we have movements.
That's why we have the LGBTQIA movement for gay rights,
Because people couldn't suppress it anymore.
They were tired of it.
So suppression can't last too long in an individual or a society,
Something eventually breaks and people want to live freely being themselves.
And it's our right as a human being to be able to express and be yourself in life.
As long as you're not damaging or hurting,
You know,
Yourself or other people.
In most cases,
You're not.
So today,
We're going to do a short meditation on living your truth.
So if you'd like,
You can sit in a chair,
You can stand or you can sit cross legged.
And we're going to do the universal mudra,
Bringing the middle finger to the thumb.
It represents bringing the universe to the self.
We're going to close the eyes here.
Taking some regular breaths for you.
Relaxing the face and the chest,
Shoulders back,
Spine long.
This is going to be a visual meditation.
So imagining there's a rock,
Rock by the sea.
And every day,
The waves hit the rock.
Slowly but surely over time,
The rock changes shape.
Until eventually,
The rock doesn't recognize itself anymore.
The rock has completely changed.
And eventually,
The waves pummel the rock to tiny bits into pebbles and then into sand.
We take a microscope,
We can see that its structure,
The smallest anatomical level,
The rock is still the same on the inside.
Why is this important?
Because just like the rock getting hit by the ocean,
Society and life,
The people around us may always try to change us.
Maybe we try to change ourselves.
But at the end of the day,
Deep down in our core,
We cannot change our true essence,
The truth within ourself,
Our life mission,
Our life purpose,
Our sexuality,
Our gender,
The deepest truths and values of our being,
The core essence that makes us who we are,
This moment.
And without any labels,
We don't need labels by anyone else because deep down in our truth,
We know who we are.
And no one can take that away from us.
No force in this universe can take away your truth.
No one can teach you your truth.
No one can educate you your truth.
No institution,
Government,
Religion can tell you your truth.
You are born with your truth.
And your truth goes with you beyond death.
Just sit with that.
Thank you.
What feelings are coming up when we're sitting in our truth?
A truth that we don't have to think about a truth that we don't have to try to understand a truth that just is always is.
How does that make you feel?
Does it bring joy?
Are you afraid?
Are you crying?
Are you angry?
Let those emotions just pass by.
If you're getting tense,
Breathe.
You're crying,
Just let the tears fall.
And if you're happy,
Don't get lost in it,
Just let it happen.
And we're going to bring our hands to the heart.
And then the hands over the eyes.
And counting backwards from 10 987654321 opening the eyes can look to the right and then to the left,
Right,
Left,
Right,
Left,
Look up,
Down,
Up,
Down,
Breathe.
And give yourself a hug,
Bring the arms around you.
So every time we start to feel lost in other people's or society's expectations of how we're supposed to be,
Or the ideas and beliefs of what people think we should be.
And sit deep back within yourself.
And remember,
Who you are does not need an explanation.
Who you are does not need to be defended.
Who you are is deep within you.
Only you know who that is.
And you can express that in the world.
And the more that you express your true identity,
That only you know,
The happier you will be.
And know that suppressing can be okay temporarily,
If that's what you need to do to survive,
But no,
Eventually,
None of us can do it forever.
And it's very painful to do.
We'll bring our hands to the heart.
I hope you enjoyed this meditation.
And as we work on our suppressed emotions,
Thoughts,
And memories,
We break away the layers of dirt that society and our internalized messages have put on our inner light.
Practice this often if you are trying to work on this concept.
And I'll see you next time for another misted forest meditation.
