Unconditional love and acceptance practice.
Begin by sitting in a comfortable and stable position,
Spine erect but not overly rigid,
Belly soft and hands placed gently in your lap in whatever way is most comfortable for you.
The practice begins whenever you become aware of negative thoughts,
Emotions and feelings arising and you identify,
Acknowledge,
Honor and accept them.
Ask yourself,
Are the thoughts self-judging or are they of bad memories?
How about your emotions?
Even emotions as subtle as dislike or ambivalence should be taken into account.
What are you feeling?
Depressed,
Angry or anxious?
Anything that causes dis-ease is applicable.
So let's go ahead and take a moment to explore our thoughts,
Emotions and feelings.
Next,
Identify the physical sensations that are arising in you as a result of your thoughts,
Emotions and feelings.
Is there tightening in your chest?
Is your stomach churning?
Or is there a throbbing sensation in your head?
Again,
Anything that causes dis-ease is applicable.
So once you've clearly identified the thoughts,
Emotions and feelings,
Explore any imagery they create in your mind.
Are they colors,
Shapes or figures?
Are they abstract or clear?
The important thing is to let the thoughts,
Emotions and feelings create the imagery while you simply notice what it is.
And sometimes there won't be any images and as you'll see as we continue on in this practice,
That's absolutely fine too.
You So now,
When you have the mental image of what your thoughts,
Emotions,
And feelings have created,
Picture yourself holding it in the same way a mother holds a newborn baby.
So picture yourself actually wrapping this image in a warm blanket.
If no image comes to mind,
That's fine.
Simply place your thoughts,
Emotions,
And feelings themselves in the blanket,
Whatever that looks like for you.
Once you do that,
Imagine yourself holding the blanket and its contents close to your chest with loving care.
And as you do,
Imagine your heart extending unconditional love,
Acceptance,
And compassion to this bundle.
For some people,
Holding this intense,
Or in what cases might be very intense,
Pain feels too personal when they hold it to their chest.
So what I would encourage you to do if that's the case is simply place the bundle in a baby carriage and place your hand on the side of the carriage and rock it back and forth.
That way you are still tending to the hurt.
Next,
We're going to mentally or verbally,
If you feel moved to,
Acknowledge the image,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
And feelings with an open heart.
We're going to promise to care for them and to hold them with compassion for as long as they need us to.
And as we extend this loving intention to our pain and our hurt that is wrapped in the bundle,
We do so with as much sincerity as we possibly can.
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Gov And finally,
We sit with this image and the thoughts,
Emotions,
And feelings,
Offering them love for as long as they need us to and until they feel honored,
Acknowledged,
And ready to go.
In my own case,
I've found that it usually takes less than a minute or so for this to happen,
But there may be times when it takes a little longer,
And that is absolutely okay.
When we extend our love to this bundle and with sincerity tell it that we are going to sit there with it,
With an open heart and unconditional love for as long as it needs,
We do so from a very honest and sincere place.
And even if it takes 5,
10,
15,
20 minutes,
We honor the pain,
We hold it in our unconditional love and acceptance until it is ready to go.
And that is the practice.
