This is a meditation practice to help with regrets.
Of course we all experience regrets in life but sometimes we tend to forget that mistakes are all about the learning and in our feeling of having slipped,
Having let ourselves down or maybe having let other people down we get stuck and we need a little bit of help to glean the learning from the situation,
Glean the learning from the mistake and move on.
Retrace our steps,
Find our direction again.
So find a comfortable seat now,
Make sure your spine is nice and straight and your muscles soft,
Feet flat on the floor,
Hands in your lap,
Tuck in your chin a little bit so that you are looking down towards the floor if you've got your eyes open and if it is comfortable you can close your eyes.
And first of all we just get in a sense of our body sitting here,
What it feels like to be sitting here,
What it feels like to be supported by the chair or the cushion.
Being aware of all the points of contact,
So the feet on the floor,
Our bottom and thighs on the chair,
Our hands touching our legs or touching each other.
Take stock of all the sensations,
What does it feel like right now to be you?
What does it feel like right now to be sitting here breathing?
Are you aware of your body gently moving with each in-breath and out-breath?
And now I'd like you to bring to mind this perceived failure of yours,
This perceived mistake.
And as you bring it to mind what do you notice in your body?
Because we have an embodied experience of life we feel every emotion,
Every thought,
Every feeling in the body as well.
So what is your body telling you right now?
Do you feel any tension,
Any tightness?
Are you clenching your hands or clenching your jaw?
What about changes in temperature?
Do you feel heat anywhere?
And just remember that whatever you notice in your body right now,
We're not trying to change it,
We're just taking stock of it,
We're just observing.
We are being mindful,
We are being,
Being with experience,
Whatever it is.
This is your experience right now.
And now we're going to be fair about responsibility for what happened.
So what do you take responsibility for?
For example if you're on a diet and you had a whole cake and you're regretting it now you can say inside yourself I take responsibility for eating the cake.
And because we are being fair are there any elements,
Any facets of this situation which were actually not your responsibility?
And if there are we're going to acknowledge that as well.
And again say to yourself it was not my responsibility that,
For example it was not my responsibility that the cake was on the table.
I didn't put it on the table.
So now that we have come clean and we have been fair about it,
What was the learning that you got from the situation?
What did you glean from it?
What was the value in it?
For example you might have learned that it is a good idea to have something healthy to eat before you tackle cake.
Or that it might be wise to tell your partner to put the cake somewhere else out of sight in a cupboard.
We just want to move on from this situation with all that we can get from it.
All of the positive,
All of the insights,
The understanding that we can take with us as we move forwards with our lives.
And now we're going to forgive ourselves and it's not as hard as you think.
We're going to do this with affirmations.
So just say to yourself internally or even out loud if you can,
I forgive myself.
And say it again,
I forgive myself.
And just keep saying it until it rings true,
Until you know that it is then that you have forgiven yourself.
And make sure that you change this sentence if it doesn't work for you.
Just make it yours,
Find something that resonates with you.
So you could say for example I choose to forgive myself and give yourself that extra feeling of agency,
Of being in control.
Or you could say I forgive myself and I move on and put the emphasis on the future.
I forgive myself.
I do forgive myself.
I deserve forgiveness just as much as anyone else on the planet.
I have learnt.
I am ready to move on.
I am ready to apply the learning.
I am growing,
I am developing and I forgive myself.
I forgive myself.
And once you feel that yes you have forgiven yourself for an extra well-being boost,
Imagine that you are by your stream.
You are on the bank of a stream.
One of those very shallow,
Very clean,
Playful mountain streams.
And it is so inviting that you just want to get in.
So when you are ready go in with your feet.
And as you do,
Imagine that this very clean,
Fresh water is turning into light.
It is turning into a silver light and the silver light has powerful healing qualities.
So visualise it or sense it going up your body and just cocooning your body in this refreshing,
Restoring,
Rejuvenating light of healing.
And you can invite it inside yourself as well.
Let it fill you up from your feet all the way up to your head in this energising healing light.
And you can imagine that it is finding every impurity on its way.
Every single molecule of negativity.
Any feelings of regret,
Guilt,
Disappointment,
Feeling stuck,
Feeling trapped.
It is finding everything and zapping all of these things as it goes along.
Imagine these little vortices,
These little eddies of silver light inside you.
Cleaning you up,
Cleansing you from the inside out and leaving you feeling refreshed,
Light,
Full of energy,
Feeling good about yourself and ready to move forwards with positivity and love.
And just allow yourself a few moments now to enjoy the healing stream and its silver light.
Soaking up the sensations.
Just step out of the healing stream and open your eyes.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
