Practicing Self-Love - From Inner Critic To Positive Self-Talk

Self-love is an honoring of the divine being that you are. It is recognizing your perfection and practicing compassion with yourself. Even in times of fear, of lack, and seeming failure. This practice is designed to help you get back to the essential truth of your inherent worthiness and let go of the negative self-talk that creates suffering and separates us from truth.

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation on self-love. One of the most important responsibilities that we hold is to love ourselves unconditionally without any need for doing or achieving or having, But simply to uphold the truth of our worthiness. To recognize the perfection that we are and to remind ourselves of this essence of the truth of ourselves as divine beings. In this meditation, We look at the inner voice that tells us lies of untruth, That separates us from this ability to love ourselves completely and unconditionally. And then we find and create affirmation to help replace this negative self-talk with self-talk that is supportive, That is compassionate and kind. Begin by finding your comfortable position of meditation. Settle into comfort. Whether you are seated or laying down or in another position of your choosing, Take the time to set up comfort and support for yourself. Treat even this as an act of self-love. When you have found comfort, Locate your breath. Witness the gentle inflow and outflow of breath and of pranic energy. Krishna being the life force energy that provides sustenance and support. Noticing how automatic and ever-present the breath is. The breath itself being a sign of our inherent worthiness. There is nothing we need to do, Be or have in order for this breath and this prana to support us. We are worthy without even trying. Allow this breath to bring you deeply into the present moment. Settling in, Calming your nervous system and bringing your mind and your body into balance. I invite you to consider that you are practicing self-love even now simply by showing up for yourself and choosing to listen to this guided meditation. In practicing self-love, Much of what we need to do is to mine all of the ways that we separate ourselves from love. All of the ways that we keep ourselves from the essential truth of our worthiness. One of the main ways that we separate ourselves from truth is by the stories that we tell ourselves. The stories that we allow in and that we then share or believe in. These stories are created over our lives based on experience or on the opinions of others. When we internalize these stories, We live them out. We give them energy and meaning. This in turn is what causes us to be separated from truth. The first step in uncovering these stories and choosing a different narrative that is more supportive and in alignment with truth is awareness. It is becoming conscious of the untruths, The stories that we tell ourselves that are not in alignment with truth, With our essence, With who we are at our core. I invite you to consider some of the ways that you speak to yourself in negative or lacking ways. Or the beliefs that you hold about yourself that separate you from the truth of your divine perfection. Just look at a few areas of your life and with each area consider what is it that I dislike about myself. This can also be thought of as what is lacking in me. Where am I needing improvement? Consider this question as it relates to your body. What about your body do you dislike? What do you feel is lacking? And now let's look at the area of the mind. What do you dislike about your mind? What do you feel is lacking here? And now your history, The accumulation of your personal experience, What do you dislike about this? And what do you feel is lacking? And now your relationships, Your connections with others. What do you dislike about yourself as it relates to relationships? And what do you feel is lacking? And lastly, Your achievements. What about your achievements do you dislike? What in you is lacking as it relates to your achievements? As you can see, Your inner critic is strong. It is easy to find fault with ourselves and to find ways that we feel we need to be improved or ways that we are lacking. If we wish to truly embrace self-love, To love ourselves without condition, We must choose self-talk that is kind and supportive, Meant in the direction of truth. And so we will explore a way to rewrite this narrative, To change the inner critic by engaging in positive self-talk as it relates to the areas that we explored. And so now we will look at each of the areas and ask the question, If I loved myself completely, How would I change the belief? How would I change that inner critic to be more supportive, More loving, More kind? And the key here really is to put yourself in the mindset of, If I loved myself completely. So this is almost like role playing, A way of stepping out of whatever belief it is that you hold and choosing to look at it from a different angle, From the angle of love. And so let's begin with the body. Again, Looking at your beliefs around your body, Perhaps remembering the feelings of lack that you were able to bring up. And then asking the question, If I loved myself completely, How would I change this belief? Or simply what would I believe instead? And now let's look at the mind. So if I loved myself completely, What would I believe about my mind? Next, Your history and collection of experiences. If I loved myself completely, How would I change the beliefs of the negative self-talk or the inner critic? If I loved myself completely, What would I believe instead? And now let's look at relationships, Your connections with others. So if I loved myself completely, What would I believe? How would I change the inner critic as it relates to relationships? And now achievements, If I loved myself completely, What would I believe about my achievements? Now that we have practiced this mindset shift of really looking at ourselves through the lens of love, Perhaps you see the ways that you could speak to yourself more kindly. And if you were able to really see yourself through this lens of love, Then you know that you already have it within you. You know how to shift the story, To change that inner critic and to speak words of love and support to yourself. And so when your inner critic begins to speak words of untruth to you, I invite you to take this perspective of self-love, Starting with the question, If I loved myself completely, What would I believe? What would I say to myself? How would I act? Every time that we replace the inner critic with positive self-talk, We effectively repattern belief. And this changes our mind, Our body, And ultimately our experience. So place your hands on your heart if they're not already there and feel your life giving breath expanding your chest. Notice how every breath is a gift, One that requires no payment. You are worthy. There is nothing that you need to do, To be, Or to have in order to be worthy. Practice self-love and positive self-talk to remind yourself of this worthiness. Om Mani Padme Om

Reviews

Beautiful words, lovely voice spoken with intention, and slowly enough that all of my parts were able to take in. Thank you.

It was very supportive

Wow, what a beautiful and powerful meditation! Thank you so much 🙏💚

I was having trouble going back to sleep, and this did the trick! Relaxed me and put me at ease!

Realizing that I am already ok. Already a beautiful creation as I am. Looking at my self talk. Putting on love, trying it out. Thank you