A very big Aloha.
My name is Reverend Cindy Pallas and I wanted to talk today about softening.
It's interesting as we go into meditation how we become more aware of what our body is doing and what it's like.
We're so busy thinking and especially at the time where my recording this is holiday time,
We're so busy that we lose track of what we do to protect ourselves when we're getting through busy times.
And sometimes that includes hardening up just to be focused and to not be drawn into things we don't want to get drawn into.
And I find when I do that,
That I harden up my neck,
My jaw,
My whole head area.
And it helps when I go into meditation to be aware of what it takes to soften up,
To take away that protection from all the outer influences.
And of course I do that with the intention of putting protection around myself,
You know,
And trusting in that bright white light around my entire self.
So that I can go into that place inside that has that deep,
Deep part of my heart and that love within.
Now if you've been going through sometimes hard times and I'll tell you again,
Get to my age sometimes there's a lot you have to get through to soften up.
Because we go through some difficult times in life and I've been going through my share that's for sure.
But what I don't like is when I harden myself up and close myself off to protect myself.
Because what I'm doing is I'm closing myself off from myself as well as closing myself off to other people.
And when you close yourself off to yourself,
Then all of a sudden it's like something gets cut,
Something important,
Something very deep,
That deep love in your heart of your hearts can get cut off.
And it takes a little more work to be aware of what you can do to let that go.
Now I know a lot of people have different ways of doing this,
You know,
It's interesting because many people do massage therapy or go into other kinds of things and you'll notice that.
A good massage therapist will notice that tension that's going on.
There's other ways you can be aware of that.
If you do yoga,
Maybe you might notice the way your body's tensing up,
You know,
There's plenty of ways you learn to be aware.
But meditation is one of the most direct links I found to being aware of what's going on inside.
And that includes your body,
And your mind,
And your heart,
Your emotions,
Your soul,
All of you,
The whole of you.
So let's just take some deep breaths and do it a check here,
Let's do an inner check.
And you know,
I always like to start with those lovely deep,
Deep breaths.
And it kind of is a clue to my whole being that I'm going to go into meditation.
And I always start with a deep breath in.
And I always get my neck cracking with that breath in.
And I hold it and I breathe out.
And I breathe out with a ha ha ha ha is breath.
I breathe in and I breathe out and get comfortable breathing.
And what's nice about the simple practice of breathing is that you can de-stress that you can be comfortable because it's so easy and so comfortable to go into just breath.
Breathing in,
Holding and breathing out.
Breathing deeply in and allowing that breath to go out all the way.
And slowly become aware of what's going on around you.
I hear some birds.
I hear a jet plane going over.
Yes,
It's getting towards a busy time here.
More people coming to visit the islands because it's getting towards December.
And I should go within be aware of how you feel.
Breathing in,
Breathing out and allowing yourself to just spread that awareness to your feelings.
How do you feel in your body?
Is there any place in your body that is tense?
Do you know what place in your body tenses up?
For me,
It's my neck.
It's my neck and my shoulders that get tense.
But everyone has their own way of storing and getting tense in their body.
And so go to that place.
Go to that safe place within with a wonderful white light all the way around you,
Above you,
Below you,
In front of you and behind you.
Another signal you're giving yourself that you're in a safe place to allow yourself to be aware of what's really going on in you.
How's your sometimes tension is stored in the lower back and the hips in that area there because you've got that base chakra and the root chakra there going with the second chakra and there's all those chakra energy.
How is that base of your spine in the second and first chakra doing?
Be aware.
Send it love.
And you might begin to sense yourself now feeling more comfortable.
Just do a little bit of a quick inner search.
How comfortable do you feel right now?
How safe do you feel?
Allow yourself to feel safe as you need to feel to go further and deeper into your heart and your soul.
Is there anything inside you that needs to be addressed?
Allow your heart to be feeling that deepest love that you are,
That presence of love that goes from your heart to your soul.
That lovely connection of your soul's energy to all of you and especially to that love within you.
Allow yourself to love yourself right now.
Allow yourself to love all of yourself right now.
All of who you really are.
All of what you do.
All of how you try.
All of your intentions.
Give yourself gratitude and love.
You are a beautiful child of God.
You are a precious being of light and love.
And you deserve to recognize that gift of who you truly are.
And as you receive this deepest love,
Allow yourself to smile.
How precious is this time where you can be allowed to love yourself.
To love yourself for who you are,
Beloved.
And now send that same love out to someone that you love.
As I was doing this,
A wind came right in the window.
Send gratitude out to that person.
Or it could even be an animal.
It could be a pet.
And let that love come back to you a hundredfold.
One of the greatest gifts to share at this time of year is love.
And I want to take the time as you slowly come back into your whole being to say that I truly appreciate and love you for being here.
It's such a wonderful gift to be able to share whatever is coming in through me to you with love.
And take a moment as you slowly come back to allow yourself to think of maybe a word,
A thought,
Something that may have come to you that will then open that channel from your highest self to your conscious mind.
And as you do this more and more,
You'll find that bridge between your conscious mind and your highest consciousness expands.
And you expand it to the point where you can source the beginning of all of the source of all love with your love and who you are.
And that's a wonderful gift to give yourself.
So give yourself that gift.
And I bow in deepest gratitude and love to you.
I love you.
