Befriending Yourself

This guided meditation for self-compassion was recorded live during the "Art of Friendship" live session on Insight Timer. May this practice help you soften your heart towards yourself and remember your inner light. Much love to you, dear friend. || Music: "New Earth Meditation" by Calm Whale; used with permission.

Transcript

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ So just find yourself wherever you may find yourself,

Internally and externally.

♪♪ ♪♪ And take a breath in.

Hold for a moment.

And then exhale and just release through your whole body.

♪♪ ♪♪ Allow everything that I said to just fall away.

And if there's anything at all valuable there,

You can pick it up later if you want.

♪♪ Right now,

You're just going to connect to your own self.

♪♪ And feel your body sitting where you are sitting or lying down.

Without needing to change anything about your body.

♪♪ Just observe it,

Notice it with fascination.

Any ways that your body may be holding tension,

Maybe hurting or uncomfortable,

Or maybe finding some places of peace in your body.

Feel at ease.

♪♪ The best part of being a good friend to our own self is to look with love and not need to change anything.

And just trust that things change on their own when they're given space.

♪♪ We're just going to take a few moments now to just breathe in and out of our heart.

♪♪ You can put your hand on your heart if you want to just connect to that place in your body.

You can feel a sense of safety just in this moment right now and feel,

I am safe in this moment.

♪♪ You can feel or sense any armoring around your heart.

Maybe your heart is beating fast.

Maybe your chest feels constricted.

Maybe your heart feels closed.

Maybe it feels open.

Whatever it is,

It's just what it needs to be.

♪♪ So with your hand there or no hand there,

We're just going to begin to breathe in and out of this heart space.

♪♪ Our heart really is not an organ so much.

It's actually a space with no parentheses around it.

♪♪ So as you breathe in and out of this space,

You might visualize it or you might just feel a sensation.

Sometimes I like to imagine like waves coming in and going out.

As I breathe,

I can imagine a beautiful breeze blowing through the window of your heart.

♪♪ Our heart is the seat of our being.

It's where our true existence dwells in this place.

It's deep silence,

But everything is known there.

It's the sky with no clouds,

But it creates tons of space for all the clouds to move through with no judgment at all.

♪♪ So breathe into the sky of your heart and feel these beautiful seeds of acceptance,

Compassion,

Forgiveness,

Understanding,

Equanimity,

Loving kindness.

♪♪ When we slow down and move down from our head into our heart,

We can feel that these qualities are always there.

They're always available to us if we would just turn back to them.

In truth,

Our heart never abandons us.

It's only we who abandon our heart.

And all we need to do is just turn back.

Our heart is our deepest,

Truest friend with us throughout our whole life.

No matter if people may come or go,

Our heart is always there.

That heart space never,

Ever,

Ever leaves us.

♪♪ It's our truest friend.

♪♪ So in this moment,

If you like,

In whatever way you want,

You can just turn back,

Turn towards your heart,

And you can feel a sense of gratitude to this heart,

To the presence and the consciousness that is in your heart that is always there for you.

And just say,

Thank you.

Thank you to my heart.

♪♪ And allow that feeling of gratitude and appreciation for that love in you.

Allow that to just begin to expand like waves moving through your heart.

You can imagine it like radio waves.

Just feel that love beginning to expand beyond your heart,

Around your body into space.

♪♪ Imagine that love in your own heart is expanding and embracing you,

Within and without.

Knowing that as you visualize something,

As you sense that,

Your brain responds as if it's really happening.

So it has so many physiological benefits.

And in this place,

We're just going to send some Maitri,

Unconditional friendliness,

Metta,

To our own self,

To our younger self.

May you be safe.

May you feel safe.

May you feel supported and loved.

May you be kind to yourself,

Forgive yourself.

May you be happy.

And we extend that to ourself at this time,

In present time.

We just feel really deeply,

Genuinely,

May I be happy.

May I feel and know love deeply in every cell of me being.

May I trust myself.

May I be free from suffering and all the causes of suffering.

May I accept myself completely,

The light and the dark.

May I receive love and know my true self in this life.

Now,

In honor of friendship,

I'm just going to invite you to visualize somebody in your life,

Somebody that you love,

Somebody that is a friend to you.

Maybe it's a pet.

Maybe it's a plant.

Maybe it's a family member or a friend or someone you met just for a moment on the street.

And we're just going to extend that field of love in the direction of that person and just wish them well.

May you be happy.

May you be peaceful and have ease of heart.

May you forgive yourself.

May you be safe and well.

May you always feel supported by life.

Just imagine that you're sending a beam of light in the direction of that person,

Sending your love and blessings to them.

And let us just offer that prayer to the whole world,

To all the beings in the world,

That all beings everywhere may be safe,

May be loved,

May be well.

May they treat themselves with kindness and be treated with kindness.

We are our own soul friend.

And when we feel that we are our own friend and the whole world becomes our friend.

Let's end by wishing peace and happiness to all beings.

That all beings may be peaceful.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings experience their own friendship and the friendship of others.

May we each experience the friendship,

The companionship of love in our life.

May love be our companion.

Wherever we may find ourself.

And we know that our heart is always there from the very first moment to the very last moment.

Whatever may change in life,

That,

That presence,

That place is steady.

It's constant.

It's waiting there for us.

Reviews

Thank you 🙏 Your voice and words send love & genuine compassion outward. Much gratitude for this mediation. I listen to it frequently. ❤️

Thank you Carrie. This was just what I and everyone needs to hear and feel.

Five stars aren't enough. I've been using Insight Timer for around 15 years now and this may be the most precious jewel I've yet found.

Thank you 🙏
This was a peaceful and reassuring moment.

Excellent! Thank you. Nice pacing, music and message. I’ll be returning to this.

Beautiful, gentle practice. Just what I needed. Thank you 🙏🏼❤🌻

A beautiful meditation. I find Carrie’s voice so calming, comforting and supportive. I appreciated the gentle pace of this meditation which allowed my heart to soften. 💗

That was truly lovely and I will carry this with me throughout my day.

Thank you for these reminders. From my heart to yours…💖…💕🙏🏼🌸

So beautiful. Thank you Carrie ♡
You have and are a real gift.

Beautiful inspiring, compassionate, healing.... guided meditation. Thank you 🙏 thank you 🙏 thank you 🙏 Angel Carrie

Lovely practice♾️⚘️☄️☸️☯️
Thank you kindly✨️
Namaste🙏🏼✨️🖤🪔

So absolutely beautiful... thank you for the meditation 🙏 💚 🧘‍♂️

Wonderful and as wonderful as always !
Thank you Carrie ❤️

Your meditation is a nice cream that I apply to my soul, thank you.

Thank you, Carrie, for all the wonderful thoughts you have brought to us I feel a need to re-listen your words to day a couple more times and re-listen of my own thoughts again. Just want to make sure my heart and soul and my throat got it straight. Then get back to you, OK.

Wow! I get you now, your heart feels another’s heart that feels another’s heart….like particles/waves of a sort
Om Shanti
Dennis

Such a beautiful deeply heartfelt meditation...🙏🙏🙏☯️🕊💞🌌

Wonderful pace & gift to self, thank you Carrie. Grateful no ending bell as listen when I wake during the night 🌸

Thank you, Carrie, for this tender & comforting self-blessing. ❤️

Truly beautiful meditation 🧘‍♀️ I found these loving kindness meditations ❤️ to be so reassuring and strengthening, comforting and supportive.
Thank you Carrie.
Namaste 🙏 ❤️✨️