This is a meditation about self-forgiveness.
There are times in life when we make mistakes,
Or we think that we've made mistakes.
And it is important to forgive ourselves so that we can take what we need to learn from the situation and move on with a new understanding.
We are taught to be kind to others but we're not taught to be kind to ourselves.
And when other people make a mistake,
We wouldn't use the kind of language with them that we use with ourselves,
Would we?
So let's practice forgiving ourselves.
Let's practice gleaning,
Delineating,
The knowledge,
The understanding and moving on to apply it in our next chapter.
So let's take a comfortable seat and let's bring our attention to the body sitting and how it makes contact with the chair or the cushion.
And let's notice the sensations in the body.
Are you aware of warmth?
Are you aware of tension,
Aches,
Pressure or tingling?
And then notice the sounds around you.
Sounds near and far,
In the room or outside the room.
And the feelings and the thoughts which are present in you.
And notice when you put your attention on them,
How they rise and fall,
A bit like waves in the sea.
They arise,
They peak and then they subside and then they arise again or maybe they get replaced with something else.
And we can be aware of these waves,
The waves of thoughts,
The waves of emotion and just rest in the midst of the waves,
Being still.
And then let's put our attention on the breathing,
The in-breath,
The out-breath,
This regular natural rhythm of breathing.
No need to change it,
No need to make it any deeper or longer.
The body knows how to breathe and we're just resting our awareness on it.
Feeling the coolness of the air going in the nose and down our throat and the warmth of the air coming out and the gentle movement of the body,
The rising and falling of our chest,
Of the belly.
This steady movement,
This continuous movement.
While all of the sounds,
All of the sensations in the body and the thoughts and the feelings come and go.
And they keep coming and going in the background,
Just like waves when we're walking on the beach.
And now let's bring to mind a time when we blamed ourselves,
When we perceived that we'd made a mistake or when we felt shame.
It might have been something that you said or something you did and whatever it is,
We're just going to hold this memory gently,
Just turning towards it gradually and tuning in with thoughts,
The emotions around it.
And the body's sensations as well.
And bear in mind that there is no need to fix anything right now.
There's no need to change anything.
We are just sitting with whatever is present.
We are sitting with our thoughts,
With sitting with our emotions and the way that it all feels in the body,
With kindness,
With gentleness,
Exploring it a little bit at a time.
Sitting with the thoughts and being aware of how they come and go,
Just like the waves.
And if we become aware of emotions,
We can label them.
What do you notice?
If you were a scientist with a clipboard,
What would you record?
You might become aware of guilt.
Ah,
I observe guilt and just write it down,
Put a label on it.
Ah,
I recognize fear.
And again,
In your imaginary clipboards,
Put a label on it,
Fear.
Or it might be anxiety.
Or it might be disappointment.
Whatever you find,
Just observe it.
Again,
There is no need to fix anything or change anything.
We're just practicing being present with whatever our experience is right now.
And if you feel strongly that you did make a mistake,
Please be kind to yourself because making mistakes is part of the human experience.
It is very much human to make mistakes.
The important thing is learning from it.
And then we're going to turn our attention to the sensations in the body.
And again,
We're going to investigate them with gentleness,
With kindness.
Get a little bit curious about them.
Ah,
So this is what it feels like to feel guilt or to feel fear or to feel disappointment.
Where is it in the body?
And what does it feel like?
Again,
Remember your little clipboards.
Remember you're just observing,
Just recording.
And if it all gets a little bit intense,
You can always come back to the breath.
Put your attention again on the in-breath,
The gentle expansion of the body,
And then the out-breath and the body relaxing.
And the next in-breath again,
This continuous movement and continuous enjoyment of this movement.
You can offer yourself some compassion as well.
You could put a hand on your heart area.
This produces oxytocin.
And just rest your hand there.
And offer yourself words that you would offer a friend in the same situation.
What would you say?
It's going to be okay.
I'm here.
I understand.
I'm with you.
Or I know it's hard.
Yeah,
It would be hard for anyone.
You're only human.
I'm with you.
And then returning to the sensations of breathing.
The rising and falling of the chest and the belly.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
And then we can expand our awareness to the body,
The entire body again with all of its sensations.
The body resting here,
Being aware of the contact with the chair or the bed or the cushion.
Being aware of the sounds around us.
And just before you open your eyes,
I'd like you to consider,
Can you let it go?
Because it is in the past and it has happened and it's already gone.
Can you allow it to go?
And what leaning are you bringing forward with you now?
What was the gift of this mistake for the next chapter in your life?
And if there is anything that you can do to address it,
What is it?
It's your own.
And please remember to offer yourself some appreciation for doing this today,
For taking some time just for your well-being.
It is important.
You are important.
So say to yourself,
Thank you.
And then you can start wiggling toes and fingers and have a nice little stretch.
And in your own time,
You can open your eyes.
