Cultivating Self-Love

The ways we receive and express love with others is a reflection of how we treat ourselves inwardly, so in this meditation, we’ll observe this relationship and give it a healing. You are a complex being, there are parts of yourself you are just beginning to discover, just now learning to appreciate. Looking at yourself in meditation is much different than looking in a mirror; you might be surprised at what you see (and love!) about yourself in this space.

Transcript

Welcome to this meditation on cultivating self-love.

I'm Christy Cerullo,

And if you made it here,

Just have some gratitude for yourself for sitting down for meditation today.

You're already doing a really great job.

In this meditation,

We'll run through a visual exercise to get a better sense of our own spirit and really see and appreciate all of the things we've been working on and accomplishing as a spirit in a body.

You might be surprised at what you see in this meditation and what you notice about yourself.

To begin this meditation,

I'll invite you to close your eyes and allow your body to find stillness.

Just give it permission to be still.

You don't need to force it to be still or muscle it into being still,

But just invite it to find stillness.

And as you do that,

Just kind of trace your breath as you breathe in,

Follow the breath as it enters into your nose,

Travels down your throat,

Into your chest,

Into your belly.

You can even trace it all the way down to your toes.

And on the exhale,

Follow it back up the body and out,

Tuning into that vertical line of energy that your body creates.

You can bring your awareness to the center of yourself.

You can find the center of your head,

The center of your heart,

The center of your gut or your belly.

Notice how you can align those and just breathe.

I wanna share a story with you.

It's one of my favorite stories,

Actually.

It's a story I heard one time on a podcast from a meditation teacher.

She was teaching a meditation class to a group of students who were new to meditation.

She was having trouble connecting with them and getting the sense that they were really going deeper and connecting with the tools.

And so she was gonna try one last exercise.

She gave each of the students a leaf from outside,

Just random leaves from the ground.

She asked each of them to take the next five or 10 minutes and just look at their leaf,

Just look at it.

And at the end of those 10 minutes or so,

She asked them to share anything that came to them,

Anything that they noticed.

And the room was silent.

And eventually one guy raised his hand and he said,

I just wanna say I really love my leaf.

And I don't know why I like that story so much,

But I guess it just made me think the longer you look at something,

The more deeply you look into something,

The easier it is to love.

So I bring up that story because of our topic today and also because we're gonna be working some tree energy.

So with your eyes still closed,

Bring your awareness behind your eyes to your inner eye and just imagine,

Sense or see with that inner eye about 20 or so feet out in front of you a tree that represents your energy.

Just allow it to fill in or you can even imagine drawing it however it appears to you today is correct.

So just notice what type of tree are you in this moment?

How big is your tree?

How much space does it take up?

Does your tree stand alone or is it in a dense forest touching many other trees?

What season is your tree in?

Is it shedding leaves?

Is it budding flowers?

Are its branches bouncing in the breeze?

Just see what you notice just by looking at this tree.

Your energy is inherent in it.

And so as you look at it and as we look at each aspect of it,

Allow it to show you parts of yourself that you are really ready to see and appreciate.

They might be things you haven't noticed before or that other people haven't validated in you but that are nevertheless a part of you.

So first,

Say hello to the roots of your tree,

The big knobby roots that stick up from the ground a little and the deeper roots that dig down into the earth,

Roots that dig down and out and maybe entangle themselves with other roots from other trees or plants.

Our roots are what ground us.

Your roots have been growing for many,

Many,

Many years and you have worked hard to develop these roots.

As you look at them,

Send them a hello,

Connect with them.

Just notice what comes to you.

You might just notice something simple like a color or a feeling or you might begin to get a sense of the types of things in your life that ground you,

Your family,

Your friends,

The work you get to do,

Activities that feel grounding and connecting to you,

A place where you grew up or a home that you've built.

All of the connections with people,

Places and things that help you stay grounded in who you are that connect you on a deeper level with yourself.

These are your roots and you continue to grow them.

So send yourself a lot of gratitude and send from your heart love for these roots and you can feel this message of love.

You can see it as a bright light that shines from your heart space.

I love to call this the care bear heart.

It's kind of like got that energy of pushing out your chest like a care bear pushes out their belly and sending your love light to these roots.

This is what grounds you and gives you a stable base to stay sturdy when wind or rain or storms or anything comes at your tree,

At your spirit.

These are the parts of you that keep you strong and help you withstand any of those energies that might try and push you over.

So send love to those roots.

From here,

I'll invite you to send a hello to your tree's trunk.

Say hi to that trunk.

How wide around is your tree trunk?

What does the bark look like?

Maybe your tree has something carved into it like someone's name or heart.

Maybe your trunk has scars from past hurts.

You can notice within the trunk of that tree all of the little rings that live inside it,

Those thousands and thousands of tree rings which represent the wisdom gained through many years and many experiences,

All of the lessons that you have learned and are still learning.

These are hard gained lessons.

These are a testament to your spirit's education and growth.

You have grown and you are growing.

What do you notice about these rings and this trunk and how it supports you?

How much you are able to support yourself,

Your inner strength,

Your inner wisdom.

Have gratitude for your trunk.

Send love from your heart space with your care bear heart.

Send that light to this tree trunk,

The entire length of it,

The entire way around its circumference.

Your tree stands tall because of this trunk.

From here,

We'll travel up to the branches of your tree and say hello to your branches.

And what I love about the branches of trees is that they kind of have this way of bouncing and they look like a,

Some trees just look like a great big hand that's just waving back and forth at you in the wind.

Notice if your tree is waving high at you and you can wave back at your branches and say,

Hey.

Branches have this way of also being kind of like arms that reach out and up and they're always reaching and growing and exploring,

Sending more branches out.

These branches are also a home for different creatures.

Birds nest in branches,

Squirrels,

Insects.

Do you see anyone living in the branches of your tree?

What have you held and nurtured in these branches over the years and even now?

What have you carried in these arms?

You hold so many things,

But notice that the branches of your tree are not weighed down.

They are strong.

They are still growing stronger.

Send these branches gratitude for everything that they have held.

Bring awareness to your heart light and send that nice,

Bright light from your heart space to these branches and really love them.

And next,

We'll give some love to your leaves.

What kind of leaves does your tree have?

Maybe your tree has flowers as well as leaves.

Maybe your tree has fruit growing with the leaves.

Notice what's growing in your tree.

All of these things are your creations,

Each and every one,

And we don't hold onto them forever.

We hold them for a little bit and then we let them go.

Notice what stage of creation your tree is in right now.

Notice what you have created over the years.

What has matured on your tree?

What has fallen away?

What's growing in that's new?

You have gone through many cycles of this process and there is a strength and an endurance in that because it's not an easy process,

And yet you do it over and over.

You create,

You introduce your creations into the world,

And then you let them go and you create again.

Every single day that we live is our creation.

So what do you notice about what you're creating?

What are you grateful for that you have created for yourself?

Notice how much light there is in what you bring to the world and to those around you.

What do you love about your leaves,

Flowers,

Fruits,

Pine cones,

Whatever is on the branches of your tree?

What do you love about them?

And for now you might just see a color that you really love or a movement in them or a sound that they make that you love and that all is representative of your spirits,

Sounds,

And colors,

And movements.

So send that love light from your heart space,

Send it bright and strong to your leaves.

Watch it soak into the leaves of your tree,

And then take a step back and look at your tree as a whole.

Maybe it's changed since you've walked through this meditation and sent your love light to all the aspects.

So just kind of take it all in and notice how your tree is doing,

How this conversation with it has been.

Is there anything that your tree needs that it's asking for from you?

You can get out your little watering can and you can water around the base of your tree a little bit,

Give it a nice drink of water.

And we're all gonna give our tree a nice,

Big,

Bright,

Gold sun of healing energy and love.

So imagine or intend for that gold sun to just really easily appear,

Collect directly above your tree.

Let that sun grow nice and big with healing energy,

So big that it's even bigger than the entire tree,

The entire root system.

And when you see that sun nice and big and bright gold,

You can just allow it to shine upon your tree and soak into it completely.

Just watch that gold enter in through the leaves of your tree.

And it absorbs that gold all into the leaves and into the branches.

And the gold travels through all of the branches all the way down to the trunk of the tree.

And that gold soaks entirely throughout the trunk,

Through all of those rings inside the tree,

Traveling down all the way into the roots,

Gold sinking all the way through the big knobby roots into the smaller,

Deeper roots,

Down deep into the planet.

This gold gives your tree a healing.

It sends it love from your higher self,

Gives it all the nourishment and support it needs to continue growing,

Continue learning,

Continue creating.

You're doing a great job.

Continue to watch your tree soaking in this healing gold light.

And I'm gonna read a brief poem.

It's one that I wrote several years ago,

But I thought of it when I was preparing this meditation.

And so I thought I'd share it.

It's about trees.

It's called Growing Years.

Growing Years by Christy Cerullo.

Rows of trees line the path I walk each morning.

And there is much to admire.

Their leaves aflame.

The roots which burrow underground and hold hands with their neighbors.

Their tall,

Waving watchfulness.

But today,

What strikes me are the seams,

Gnarled and ugly,

Where once they burst open to grow yet again,

And again.

Many knobs and sewn over scars,

Charting a tedious history.

And my trees do not reach down thoughtfully to feel and relive old wounds,

Or cover them up,

Or pick.

Instead,

They look to the breeze,

The raindrops,

The night air,

And seem to work only at breaking open again and reaching new arms to the sky.

Take your arms and use them to give yourself a great big hug.

Wrap them around your shoulders.

Squeeze your arms.

Send yourself some love and appreciation for showing up here today for this meditation.

And when you've had enough of your hug,

You can open your eyes and continue with your day.