Good morning and welcome to The Artist's Morning.
My name is Darius and today's meditation practice will be intended to help build your compassion,
Your confidence,
And your support for yourself.
Let's begin.
If your eyes are open,
Let's gently close them now as we begin to go inwards together.
And before we go any further,
Let's take just a moment to practice doing nothing.
Just sit.
You can't get this wrong.
Allow your body to be exactly as it is.
Bravo,
Dear artist.
Doing nothing is sometimes really hard and sometimes really,
Really yummy.
Let's begin to start to take deeper,
More intentional breaths,
Doing your best to breathe all the way down to your belly,
Giving yourself an opportunity to arrive,
Pulling any parts of you that are not here,
Maybe in the past or in the future,
Lovingly inviting them back to your body,
Back to your heart,
Back home.
If you notice any tightness in your jaw,
Any concentration in your forehead,
Let's soften that.
Bring a warm,
Gentle softness to your head,
Your forehead,
Your cheeks,
Your eyes,
Your nose,
Your jaw,
Your neck.
You're safe here.
You are safe here.
Anything you are holding,
Anything you are bracing,
You're open to it.
Let's just gently let it melt away down your back,
Your hips,
Your legs,
Your knees,
Just melting away any tension down to your feet,
Allowing the ground,
The earth to absorb.
This next part of our meditation,
I'd like to guide us through a fun visualization.
I want you to imagine you woke up this morning and you are exactly 10 years older than you are now.
Take a moment to feel your body,
Your mind 10 years older,
And I want you,
For the purposes of our meditation,
To imagine it is a healthy,
Confident,
Successful version of yourself.
If you're open to it,
Just sit up with your spine a little taller,
Feeling the confidence of future you.
Shoulders up,
Heart open.
Even if you can tap into this confidence,
1%,
2%,
It's a success.
10 years from now,
There's a mirror in front of you,
And notice how your hair has changed,
How your skin has changed.
Yes,
You are confident and healthy,
And as humans get older,
Things change,
And that's okay.
Future Darius has more gray hairs,
More wrinkles,
And he feels amazing in his body.
Feels like I've finally arrived.
Whatever success is for you,
Don't overthink it.
Just play with me.
Allow it to work its way through your body,
This future version of you that has accomplished things,
That has confidence that they embody in every cell.
Can you feel joy in your body?
Can you feel hope?
Future you breathe differently,
They sit differently.
If you're open to it,
Try a little smile in this moment and see what it feels like,
Like you know something that nobody else knows.
Let's take a nice deep breath here,
Breathing in and letting it go.
Now I'd like you to imagine that future you finds a picture album right in front of them.
This picture album is full of photos of you now,
And this version of you 10 years from now is looking back at your life now,
All the things you're doing,
All the dreams you have,
All the ups and downs,
And they're smiling.
They have so much love for you now.
Future you has so much love for you now.
What do they feel?
What do they think?
How do they access compassion for you now?
As you look at yourself 10 years back and you feel this love and this fondness and this nostalgia,
This support,
This compassion,
This tenderness.
I see you.
I see how hard you were trying.
I see how much you care.
I see how beautiful you are.
I'm sorry I didn't fully appreciate you at the time,
But looking back now,
Oh my goodness,
You are spectacular.
I love you.
I love you all the way through,
Even when you're sad,
Even when you're angry,
Even when you're lost,
Even when you're excited and joyful,
Even when you dream,
I love you.
Even when you dream,
I love you.
Sometimes it's easier to appreciate something after it's gone,
And the good news is you're not actually 10 years older yet.
You are here now,
And maybe you were able to tap into yourself 10 years from now and access a deeper sense of appreciation.
We have one song left this morning,
And I'm going to leave a lot of space for you to explore.
Nobody knows when that last breath will find us.
It might be 50 years from now or 50 minutes from now.
I hope,
I pray,
That you make it 10 years and you are able to look back and celebrate.
And what I know is right now,
Right here,
If you're open to it,
You can celebrate how far you've come.
I'll stay quiet and meet you at the end.
Bravo,
Dear artist.
You made it to the end of this meditation,
And for that I am so grateful.
Let's take one last deep breath and bring our meditation to an end.
Breathing in and letting it go.
For those that are joining live at the artist morning,
I'm going to put 20 minutes on the clock and allow us to do some private and personal journaling.
If you're catching us on a replay,
Of course you can do the same.
Put some time on your clock and see what's here and ready to be expressed through you.
Thanks again for meditating with me.
My name is Darius and I will see you next time.
