Welcome.
If you've ever found yourself wondering why rejection feels so overwhelming,
Why you work so hard to earn love,
Or why you can be so deeply compassionate towards others but struggle to offer that same kindness to yourself.
You're not alone.
Attachment wounds don't simply live in our memories.
They can become patterns our nervous system continues to carry.
Today we're going to spend a few gentle minutes helping your brain and your body experience something different.
The possibility of meeting yourself with the care you've always deserved.
I am so glad you're here.
I'd like to invite you to settle into a comfortable position.
Allow your body to be supported by whatever is beneath you.
You don't have to feel a certain way to begin.
You don't need to make anything better,
Solve anything,
Or force yourself to relax.
Simply noticing that you've chosen to spend these next few minutes caring for yourself is already meaningful.
Invite your attention to turn inward.
And gentle noticing.
Perhaps you notice the weight of your feet.
The gentle rise and fall of your chest as your body lovingly takes care of you through breath.
Just letting yourself arrive into the here and the now.
If it feels supportive today,
You might choose to place your hand somewhere comforting.
Perhaps a gentle hand holding your heart's space.
Or maybe even welcoming that soothing,
Mindful touch.
Fingertips on your shoulders and gently moving down your arms and a loving self-hug.
Or gently rubbing your palms together as though you're warming them over a crackling fire.
Your nervous system gets to choose what feels most supportive in this moment.
I invite you to welcome in a slow,
Easy breath.
Not because you have to.
Simply because your body already knows how.
See,
Attachment wounds often begin long before we have words for them.
They can develop when our needs for comfort,
Protection,
Or understanding are inconsistently met.
And predictably experienced.
Or not held at all.
As children,
We naturally make sense of those experiences by turning inward.
We wonder if we're too much.
Not enough?
Too emotional.
Sensitive.
Or needy.
But those conclusions were never evidence of your worth.
They were the best explanations a young nervous system could create while trying to preserve safety.
To preserve connection.
Today,
We're not rewriting the past.
Or simply offering your brain and your body a new experience in the present.
And as you continue noticing the gentle contact of your hands,
See if you can become curious about the part of you that has worked so hard to keep you safe.
Perhaps it learned to please.
Perform.
Stay quiet.
Maybe it learned to overachieve or anticipate everyone else's needs beyond your own and before your own.
Perhaps it learned to pull away before anyone else could leave first.
Whatever strategies emerged.
Noticed how your brain was trying to protect you.
You survived because your brain was doing exactly what brains do.
See if you can turn gently towards that protective part.
Holding the possibility of gratitude.
Extending.
A thank you.
Thank you for helping me survive.
You carried so much.
And repeating that again.
Thank you for helping me survive.
You carried so much.
And notice.
If anything shifts or changes.
There's no need to change anything with intention.
Just notice.
What it's like to honor that part of you that has worked so hard for so long.
That learned as a child how to keep you safe.
And if it feels safe,
Perhaps even bring an image of your young self to mind,
And if not,
Again connecting to your gentle soothing touch.
Hand on your heart space.
Gentle moving hug.
And imagine.
Extending a deeper sense of warmth.
Care,
And gratitude.
To yourself.
Or to that young self.
Noticing.
And fighting in the possibility.
That you didn't have to earn love.
That you didn't have to become someone else to deserve care.
The truth is,
You mattered then.
You matter.
NOW!
You matter then.
And you matter.
Now.
If it feels comfortable welcoming another gentle breath,
Notice how it feels to receive those words.
Perhaps nothing changes.
Perhaps something softens.
Perhaps emotions begin to rise.
Whatever you notice is welcome information.
Your nervous system is learning.
It no longer has to navigate these moments alone.
And as your hands continue to rest or move wherever they feel most supported,
I invite you to open your eyes,
To look around the space that you're in.
And find one thing that reminds you that you are here.
NOW,
In this moment.
These protective experiences,
In part,
Have made sure that you are here,
Now,
In this moment.
Perhaps a color or a sound.
The temperature of the air.
The feeling of your feet against the floor.
These small moments of orientation help remind your brain the past is not happening right now.
You are here.
You have grown.
You have resources.
You have choices.
And perhaps,
Perhaps most importantly,
You have the capacity to begin becoming a safe relationship for yourself.
Not because you always get it right.
None of us always get it right.
But because you can choose to keep coming back with compassion.
Before we finish,
I invite you to offer yourself one final moment of kindness.
Perhaps placing a little more gentle pressure in your hands,
Imagining that warmth and care moving from your fingertips into your heart or your body.
Perhaps allowing one more slow,
Gentle breath.
Or by simply acknowledging.
I am learning.
I am healing.
I am worthy of the same compassion I so freely offer others.
You are learning.
You are healing.
And you are worthy of all of the compassion.
As we bring this meditation to the close,
I invite you to bring your awareness back into the room.
Inviting in one more soothing breath.
Noticing the sounds around you,
The support beneath your body.
The space you're in.
And carry with you this reminder.
Healing attachment wounds rarely happens all at once.
It happens one self-compassionate moment at a time.
And you mattered then.
And you matter now.
And you are worthy.
And that compassionate care.
Thank you for sharing these moments with me today.
Be gentle.
And take good care.
Of your cell.
