Hello.
Let's use this pocket practice for making immediate amends with ourselves right now,
So that we can bring it into our lives whenever we need to.
Something about the way we live as humans is,
Unconsciously,
Just as habit,
Without noticing it most of the time,
We can be very hard on ourselves.
With our self-talk,
With the things we ask ourselves to do,
And with the way we treat ourselves in doing those things.
Maybe we're a hard taskmaster.
Maybe we want to be perfect and we're critiquing and critiquing.
Our best can never be enough.
Nothing we do can ever be enough.
We want to take regular breaks to notice that and to let ourselves off the hook.
To move into a much more supportive way of being,
Which is to offer ourselves kindness and respect and fairness.
The more we take these little breaks,
Where we shift the quality of our attention from being so harsh and making us feel so bad on the inside,
To beautiful embrace,
Acceptance,
And even apologising to ourselves,
The more we build self-trust and inner safety and a feeling of being more relaxed and at home in our own lives.
So this is the practice.
Bring to mind how you feel about yourself right now.
Just ask yourself,
How am I feeling about myself?
How are you feeling about yourself in how you're going with your to-do list,
Or the way that you are being productive or not?
These are common areas where we can be super hard on ourselves.
As you think and feel how you're being towards yourself,
You might feel your body stiffening a little.
You might begin to notice that there's some tension there.
So the first part of this practice is the noticing.
Actually,
I'm bracing against this inner attack.
The second part is to shift into the kind of quality of attention you give to all the precious parts of your life that you care about.
Your pets,
Your friends,
Your garden,
The planet.
And notice what posture comes with caring.
One thing we can do to encourage that posture and that softening is to take a breath in and take your shoulders up to your ears.
Keep them there.
Take a breath out and feel your muscles holding on to all those things.
Holding on to those thoughts and feelings and criticisms and tension that comes from perhaps beating ourselves up or pushing ourselves too much.
The muscles really hold that.
Now with your next breath in and out,
Slowly release all of that and feel how your muscles as your shoulders settle to where they're meant to be.
Completely let go.
This is how we can inform our body we're ready to let go of the tension that we've been holding over ourselves,
Keeping ourselves in,
Standing to attention.
So do it one more time,
Thinking of all of those things you hold against yourself.
Feel that holding and then just let it go.
Let it go.
There's no need for it.
It's not helping.
And then the next thing to do is just soften everything.
Soften your jaw,
Soften your chest,
Soften down your body.
Let your belly be free as much as you can.
Feel things softening in your body.
And then the next part is now,
Instead of being against ourselves,
We're going to offer ourselves our care,
Our support and also this idea of making amends.
So I invite you to take a hand and put it on your shoulder and say to yourself,
I'm sorry for the way I treated you or the things I said.
I didn't mean it.
You didn't mean it.
It's habit,
It's learned,
It's other voices that we've taken on.
With your wise,
Compassionate self,
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
Every part of you will love this.
And then you could take your hand to your heart and say,
Thank you for showing up and doing your best.
I'm really grateful for you.
And I honor you for all you do and all your efforts.
Now,
Just take your hands to your lap again.
Just sense into your body what's happened.
Notice any changes.
Does anything feel a little more grounded or peaceful?
It can be very subtle.
The more we practice,
The more our body feels safe,
Truly,
To let go of all these grudges that we hold against ourselves.
And what's great about this pocket practice is you can carry it around with you.
You can do it anywhere.
It really is just a softening and then some kind of support where you put your hand on your body and you can say those words silently.
So no one needs to know that you're practicing this.
It's discreet.
But you know,
And your body feels it and your body appreciates it.
And over time,
You'll see what changes.
It's a reset and it's a practice that we really want to have of self-support and really offering ourselves what our body needs to hear and needs to feel.
Small moments like this change the way we live inside over time.
