Welcome and thank you for joining me for this meditation today.
Sometimes as we reflect on the way we handle certain aspects of our lives,
We can tend to be harshly judgmental and hypercritical.
Such thoughts sabotage our self-confidence and lead us to doubt ourselves and be overwhelmed by feelings of sadness,
Shame,
Frustration and embarrassment.
In this meditation we'll be attending to our perceived inadequacies,
Mistakes,
Failures and the feelings that accompany them with acceptance and curiosity and cultivating a sense of kindness and compassion towards ourselves as we come to a deeper understanding of our own humanity.
So let's begin by finding a comfortable position.
You might be seated on the floor,
On a chair or lying down,
Taking cushions,
Bolsters,
Blankets,
Whatever you need to settle in comfortably.
And however you've arranged yourself,
Establishing a connection with the ground beneath you.
Feeling into those points of contact and establishing a firm foundation there.
Feeling the earth supporting your body.
And noticing how your body feels today.
Fully inhabiting it.
What is your experience of your body today?
And if you haven't already,
Soften your gaze and lightly close your eyes.
Drawing your senses and your awareness inward.
Allowing the awakening of your inner senses,
Your intuition.
Noticing any sounds you might be aware of.
Perhaps there are cars driving by.
Maybe you can hear birds singing.
The music in the background.
Perhaps the sound of your own breathing.
And not reaching out to the sounds.
Just allowing them to arrive as sound waves entering your mind and body.
Now bringing your attention to your breath.
The inhale.
The exhale.
Where is it in your body that you most feel your breath?
Perhaps it's a coolness at the tip of your nose.
Perhaps you notice the rise of your chest or your belly expanding.
Just letting your awareness rest gently on the breath.
And finding a sense of peacefulness in the rhythm of your own breath.
There's no need to make any effort.
No need to regulate it in any way.
Simply relaxing into the rhythm of your own breath.
Following its ebb and flow.
Breathing naturally.
Effortlessly.
Almost as though you were being breathed.
Breathed.
Now when you're ready.
Bringing to mind something that's been bothering you lately.
It might be an aspect of yourself,
Some part of yourself that you're not particularly happy with.
It may be a mistake you've made,
Something that's upset you that you feel responsible for.
And whatever it is,
Giving yourself permission to get in touch with your feelings about it,
How do you feel about this thing?
Perhaps you feel annoyed with yourself,
Maybe you feel sad,
Embarrassed,
Ashamed or frustrated,
Just tuning into your feelings about this inadequacy or mistake.
And even though it may be uncomfortable,
Holding whatever feelings you've discovered gently in your awareness,
Just allowing them to be there.
And as you sit with these feelings,
I wonder if you can locate the place in your body where they reside.
Perhaps there's a knot in your stomach,
A heaviness at the chest,
Maybe they present as tightness in the shoulders,
Tension in the jaw,
Maybe they present as a lump in your throat,
Taking your time to really feel into this as much as you're able,
The emotions that come up when you contemplate your issue and where these emotions live in your body.
Breathing gently as you continue to listen in to your body without judging,
Without criticising,
Simply approaching yourself with curiosity as you contemplate what is bothering you,
Asking yourself what am I feeling and where are these feelings in my body?
In this way,
Tuning in to the wisdom of your body as it gives you its response.
And even if it's hard to locate where these feelings reside in your body,
Holding our feelings in gentle,
Compassionate awareness.
In this way we may realise just how much suffering is caused by our own self-judgment,
Our fears of not being good enough.
We might find that some of our greatest suffering is caused by our own tendencies to judge and criticise ourselves,
By the belief that somehow we should be perfect.
And as you continue sitting with your feelings,
With your emotions and the felt sense of them in your body,
As you continue breathing gently,
Holding your experience in loving awareness.
And if it feels good,
Taking your hands and placing them tenderly over your heart.
You can do this in a calm,
Comforting manner,
Perhaps even lightly rubbing your area by moving your palms in gentle circles and seeing if you can sense your heart right now.
See if you can let your heart be moved by how difficult your emotional experience is when you think about this thing that makes you feel bad about yourself.
Sitting with a sense of how your breath feels around the heart area.
And slowly,
Gently taking this in as you breathe.
So now we'll repeat some phrases of loving kindness to help us feel compassion for the fact that we're not perfect beings.
We try our best,
But no one on this planet is perfect.
We are all inadequate in some way sometimes.
We all make mistakes,
We all fail.
This is the human experience and it's okay.
Repeating these phrases silently to yourself.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
May I extend the love I so easily feel for others towards myself.
Repeating these phrases silently.
Really feeling the intention behind the words.
The intention to offer yourself kindness,
Compassion and acceptance.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
May I extend the love I so easily feel for others towards myself.
And if the mind wanders as it inevitably will,
Gently bringing it home by returning your attention to your breath,
To the kind compassionate phrases in your mind.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
May I extend the love I so easily feel for others towards myself.
Offering yourself the same kindness,
Support and acceptance that you give to a good friend who is feeling bad about themselves.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
May I extend the love I so easily feel for others towards myself.
Remembering that we are all in the same boat,
Every one of us fails,
Every one of us feels inadequate,
Everyone makes mistakes sometimes.
This is the human condition.
This is normal.
And these are experiences we all share.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
May I extend the love I so easily feel for others towards myself.
May I accept myself as I am.
And remembering all your fellow humans who struggle with self-judgment the way you do.
Let's change the phrases slightly to include everyone in our intention for self-compassion,
Gently repeating the phrases silently to yourself.
May we all be safe.
May we all be peaceful.
May we all be kind to ourselves.
May we accept ourselves as we are.
And may we extend the love we so easily feel for others to ourselves.
Now bringing to mind something that causes you suffering that you don't necessarily blame yourself for.
Maybe your loved one is unwell.
Maybe there's some difficult circumstances or hardship.
Something that's hard to bear or deal with.
And offering yourself compassion for this source of suffering.
Suffering can come from ourselves not being as we want.
Or from our lives not being what we want.
So thinking of this aspect of your life that's causing you pain.
Repeating the following phrases.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept my life as it is.
This is the way things are.
Reading these words silently to yourself,
Soothing and comforting yourself for the difficulties of living a human life.
And really feeling your caring concern,
Tenderness for yourself.
Struggling like so many others.
May I be safe.
May I be peaceful.
May I be kind to myself.
May I accept my life as it is.
This is the way things are.
Again,
Placing your hands over your heart.
Or if they've been there the whole time.
Really feeling into the comfort of your own hands on your own heart.
And while we've been focusing on our suffering,
Now see if you can feel what compassion feels like.
Feeling into the sensations around your heart.
Maybe there's tingling.
Perhaps it feels warm there,
Open,
Vibrant in some way.
And even if it's hard to feel anything at all.
Just sensing into the qualities of compassion,
Noticing the qualities of an open heart filled with compassion.
The wonderful feelings of tenderness,
Care,
Concern,
Kindness.
Noticing the joy of compassion.
Connectedness,
Open heartedness.
All this is also part of the human experience.
And now continuing to enjoy your experience of self compassion on your own.
Continue tuning into your heart,
Breathing gently.
Until you hear the sound of my bell.
Do Gangnam Style.
You you you you you you you you you you gently deepening and lengthening your breath you Taking a moment to acknowledge yourself for the practice For your presence For the quality of your attention and for the time you've taken to care for yourself in this way giving thanks for being a supportive friend to yourself and gradually expanding your awareness taking a long deep inhale and releasing with a sigh the exhale do this again if it feels good long deep inhale and with the exhale letting the practice go feeling into your body into the points of connection with the earth and as you feel ready gently opening your eyes may you be safe well happy and free and may kindness and compassion be with you always have a wonderful day you
