This is a meditation on courage.
And my friend I wanted to talk with you and share guided meditation about courage itself and about our ability to exercise courage in a way that helps us move through the most difficult situations that we face.
Engaging challenges that are extremely hard.
And even the courage to handle the most mundane aspects of our lives.
Getting up in the morning,
Going to work,
Taking care of our children,
Making meals.
Those simple things that sometimes seem to take an awful lot of effort or we don't even have the desire to do.
But we find ourselves going ahead and doing them anyway.
I think that takes courage.
I think it takes courage to love the people that we care about.
To open up and be vulnerable with them.
To share with them when we're upset.
And to do so not from an accusatory way but from simply sharing to someone who's close with us what it is that we're upset about.
I think it takes courage to strive,
To imagine,
To reach for our desires.
It takes courage to take a look at our own issues,
Our own struggles internally and to overcome them.
To incorporate them and integrate them.
It takes courage to stop that negative critical voice from harassing us and torturing us in our minds.
And it takes courage to build new habits and new patterns that are more productive and effective and positive and successful.
It takes courage to believe.
To see the possibilities.
To imagine our own hero's journey that we're on.
And engage that journey with all of our hearts.
All the bravery that we can muster.
It takes courage to be a human being in this world.
Today and always.
So let's step into a meditation about this courage.
This courage that I believe and know in my heart of hearts that you have,
My friend.
That you possess that is special to you.
Your own particular brand of courage.
That kind of courage where even if you're afraid,
You keep going anyway.
Even if you've lost,
You stand up and congratulate the person who won.
You honor other people and care about other people.
That takes courage too.
So find your way into a comfortable position and relax.
Take a slow,
Easy breath.
And as you exhale,
Feel your body slipping into that calm state.
And your mind and your emotions go along with it into stillness.
Serenity.
As best you can.
And just for a moment,
While you're in this place,
This place that I like to call our center.
Feel this sense of courage.
How much you've had to go through in your life.
What you've had to overcome.
The disciplines that you've had to take on to learn,
To grow,
To evolve.
To be productive and contribute in the world.
Just think for a moment of all the ups and downs.
And how much you've had to reach inside.
And take just one more step.
Feel that courage.
Feel that courage as a muscle.
A strong,
Resilient,
Incredibly persistent muscle.
Part of who you are as a person.
Part of your ancestries.
Part of the people in your family who came before you.
And were able to survive.
Hundreds and thousands of years.
To come to this place.
Come to this evolutionary place called you.
And how much courage it took for them all to do that.
Perhaps we owe it to our ancestors to live lives of courage,
Of resilience,
Of strength.
Because they did so much to help us into becoming alive.
Perhaps we owe it to them to exercise this muscle of courage.
And to feel courage,
Bravery,
Grit,
Perseverance.
Within our very bones.
So feel that kind of courage.
That kind of persistence.
That you have utilized throughout your life.
Over and over again.
And for just a moment,
In your minds I visualize yourself.
Standing there in front of you.
And see this courage that we're looking at,
That we're talking about.
Pouring out of your eyes.
Shining from your face like a beacon.
An incredibly strong light coming from your heart and your belly.
Grounded down into the ground through your feet.
Feel this courage and see it in yourself.
And bring yourself to acknowledge how very,
Very brave you've been throughout your entire life.
From when you were a child,
Learning new things,
Falling down and getting back up again.
While you were in school,
Learning and growing,
Having successes and failures.
But being persistent and carrying on.
On into where you are now.
Just imagine all of that history that could not have happened without this kind of courage.
Within you.
So just for a moment,
Feel that courage one more time.
And acknowledge to yourself that this courage is yours.
You can begin to come out of the meditation now.
But bring this courage with you.
And bring the certainty,
The acknowledgement of your own courage.
Bring it in your heart.
Bring it in your mind.
And bring it with you as you go about your day today.
It's a powerful thing within you,
Within all of us,
This kind of courage.
It makes a difference.
Thank you my friend for joining me here today.
I so acknowledge and appreciate how brave of a person that you are.
Namaste.
Namaste.
