This is a guided meditation to support you in practicing stepping into another's world to gain perspective on an interaction in the present moment.
As always,
If you'd like to welcome in the soothing,
Havening touch,
Gentle arms crossed across your chest,
Fingertips on the top of your shoulders,
Hands moving down your arms to your elbows as a gentle moving hug,
Or washing your hands under warm water that will deepen the experience through enhancing the brain's capacity to really lean into neuroplasticity.
To begin,
Let's welcome in a gentle breath,
Breathing in to a count of 4,
3,
2,
1,
And release to a count of 6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Very good.
Now for this exercise,
I'd like to invite you to float back across the course of your day or week and find a positive or neutral interaction that you shared with somebody that you care about,
An exchange,
A conversation,
Ideally something that went on a little bit longer than,
You know,
A minute or two,
And perhaps something that had a little more meat to it than the casual exchange of how are you's.
Once you've found this interaction,
I'd like to invite you to step back into your mind and body as you were in that moment,
And notice the person you're connecting with.
What are they wearing?
How are they standing or sitting?
What's their energy feel like?
Are they slumped over?
Are they excited?
Notice their facial expression.
Really tune into this person in this moment.
And now with a gentle breath in to a count of 4,
3,
2,
1,
And release to a count of 6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
We're going to imagine that we're slowly zooming out from that experience.
Noticing now you and them interacting.
We're taking a third person perspective on this experience.
We're going to gently shift our attention for just a moment and notice the experience of this person in front of you as an entire entity.
Who are they?
What's their favorite color?
Do you know?
How do they respond to the world around them?
What helps them feel excited?
What do they like to have for breakfast?
Are they a coffee drinker or a tea drinker?
And then going a little deeper,
See if you can find a story or two that you remember about their life before this moment.
What were they doing a year ago,
Three years ago,
Five years ago?
Who are the important people in their world?
See if you can name one or two.
Do you know any stories about their childhood,
Their trials,
And their triumphs?
What is the story of this person leading up to this very moment?
And let's narrow in on five specific details about this person.
Sensory components.
What do they like,
Dislike?
Any five specific details.
And we'll welcome in another gentle breath to a count of four,
Three,
Two,
One.
And release to a count of six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
And now we're going to imagine that we're zooming back into this interaction that you identified previously.
This time it's as though we're stepping into this person's point of view.
We're sitting down inside their head,
Alongside their brain,
And seeing this interaction with all of that information that you just collected about who they are,
Everything that you know and remember.
And as you're observing yourself from their point of view with all of this information,
As you're noticing the exchange happening between the two of you,
The conversation,
The content that you're talking about,
The relationship that the two of you carry,
See what you can investigate and find out about why they're interacting with you in the way that they are.
Now this is a tricky,
Tricky skill that you're learning.
You're just noticing,
Why might they say the things they're saying?
How might they have been feeling in this moment,
In this exchange?
Why might they have interacted with you in the way that they did?
Just creating hypotheses,
Given the data,
The information that we have about who this person is.
And take your time.
A good scientific experiment usually has more than one hypothesis.
And then welcoming in another gentle breath to a count of 4,
3,
2,
1,
And releasing to a count of 6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Going to return back to that moment,
Coming back into your own mind and your body.
And notice again that interaction that you've chosen.
And check in.
Has anything shifted or changed as you revisit this experience,
Given this new information that you have gone to find?
Is there anything that is different now that you've intentionally connected to this other person's humanity,
Their story,
And their emotional world,
And welcomed it into your own?
And now for bonus points.
You can even reach out to this individual and circle back to the conversation.
See if they recall.
And even check out if your hypotheses have any veracity.
Are they correct?
Is there truth to them?
And if not,
That's a wonderful opportunity to practice that reflective listening and learn more about this person that you care about.
Happy connecting.
I'll see you soon.
