Welcome.
This meditation is about developing self-compassion,
Self-love,
Self-acceptance,
And forgiving oneself for past mistakes.
Often times it is so easy for us to love others,
Our spouses,
Our family,
Our friends,
Our children,
Our pets,
And we can easily say I love you to them.
But if we were to do an affirmation to say that we love ourselves,
Sometimes that feels quite a bit more difficult.
So in order to forgive ourselves,
In order to silence some of the negative self-talk that we say to ourselves that we'd never say to anyone else,
And to learn to accept ourselves,
We're going to do this brief meditation together.
And I will offer some affirmations along the way.
Take which ones work for you and internalize them.
Let the others go if they don't feel accessible to you right now,
Or change it into something else completely.
So for example,
In the beginning stages,
We might not feel comfortable saying I love myself,
But we might say I am learning to love myself,
Or we might be able to talk about ourselves in the third person.
So whatever your name is,
You can say I like you,
And then say your name.
Let's play in this just a little bit.
So I invite you to get comfortable either lying down or sitting in a chair,
And we begin by drawing our awareness to our breath.
And in this space,
We are simply breathing in and breathing out.
You might notice thoughts flutter to the surface.
Gently acknowledge them and allow them to float by like clouds,
And return to your breath.
It's okay if they come back,
It's part of who you are,
And we gently redirect and send them away.
As you relax in this space,
You might notice that your breathing becomes a little deeper,
A little longer breath.
So as much as you are able,
Slowly inhaling,
As slowly as you can without holding your breath,
Filling the lungs completely,
Pausing at the top,
And then slowly exhale all of the air out,
And pausing at the bottom.
For some people,
It's helpful to imagine an ocean wave as they breathe in and breathe out.
You may notice that your exhale becomes longer than your inhale.
If this becomes uncomfortable at any time,
Allow your breathing to return to normal.
Otherwise,
I'll be quiet while we do a few rounds of deep breathing.
Allow your breathing to return to normal.
Allow it to be effortless.
Now imagine we're turning a light inward,
And we're simply noticing what emotions are floating around in our bodies.
Sometimes it's hard to identify these emotions.
Sometimes it's easy.
Just do the best you can.
For example,
It could be a mix of feeling a little sadness in the heart,
A little anger in the chest,
Or a little happiness or even a lightness of being and a cooling sensation behind your neck.
Simply notice what emotions are surfacing,
Without judging them or yourself for having them.
Take this moment to send yourself a little self-love and compassion,
Honoring that all of these emotions are valid,
And also seeing if there is space to send yourself a little more love.
If it's helpful,
Imagine what the color of love is for you.
If it were a color shining brightly throughout your body,
What would it be?
And as you breathe in and out,
Imagine you're sending that loving energy,
That light energy throughout your body.
Notice as you do,
How that feeling of self-acceptance starts to grow.
And in this space,
Whatever your belief system,
Imagine that the people who love you are surrounding you and sending you love.
They could be alive or they may have passed.
It could be ancestors,
It could be God,
It could be angels,
Whatever your team,
Whatever your supporters look like,
Imagine they're all around you,
Sending you that loving,
Light energy.
Relax your mind,
Gently returning to your breath,
Breathing in and breathing out.
I'm going to go through a series of affirmations.
Choose any that work for you to internalize.
Ignore what does not.
And notice the feelings of the ones that you can accept and embrace those.
Or you might change the words to fit you.
The first is,
No matter what my experience is,
Within and in my life,
I am learning to love and accept myself completely.
No matter what I'm experiencing within and in life around me,
I am learning to love and accept myself completely.
And next,
Even though I experience stress,
I like and accept myself completely.
And next,
I forgive myself for past mistakes and I accept myself completely.
I forgive myself for past mistakes and I accept myself completely.
And finally,
Either saying this in the first person,
I love myself,
Or saying it in the third person,
Naming yourself,
So my name is Danielle,
So I might say I love you Danielle.
Notice which one you can get a little closer to in this moment,
And the affirmation is,
No matter what,
I love myself completely.
Or no matter what,
I love you,
Say your name,
Completely.
No matter what,
I love myself completely.
Relax your mind.
You might stay here or rest one hand on your belly and one on your heart,
Or two hands on your heart,
Giving yourself a final minute to truly acknowledge how wonderful you are in all aspects of yourself and to truly practice self-compassion,
Self-love,
Self-acceptance and forgiveness.
In this way we can be healthier and happier and fully present for all the people in our lives.
And in your own time,
Coming back into the room,
You can open your eyes whenever you're ready.
Thank you for joining me.
