This is a guided meditation for moving into relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings and developing a space of understanding and self-love.
As always,
Welcome in the soothing,
Havening touch,
A gentle moving hug starting with your fingertips on your shoulders,
Moving down to your elbows and repeating that motion that will strengthen the experience and help you connect more deeply with yourself with loving kindness.
I'd like to invite you to start with a gentle breath in to count of four,
Three,
Two,
One and an easy release to a count of six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Beautiful.
And let's find a time in the past several days or weeks where your brain said something that wasn't that kind to you.
Your little survival-based friend Amy the Amygdala perked up in the back of your mind and said,
Hey,
Look at you.
You made a mistake.
You screwed up.
Whatever it might be,
Time when your brain called you a name or some other less than kind experience.
And as you bring that experience into your mind,
I'd like for you to notice where it lives in your mind and your body.
What happens as you turn in your attention to those less than kind things that Amy was saying to you?
Because remember Amy our amygdala,
She is separate than our thinking brain and ourself.
She is driven to keep us safe.
And in times of distress,
We'll play tapes that belong to our past because she doesn't know that there's a different opportunity in the here and the now.
So where does the energy of that experience live in your mind and your body?
Once you've found that energetic space,
I'd like for you to imagine that that is your amygdala right there.
And if Amy had a shape,
What would she look like?
Where would she live within you?
Some sort of cartoonish little gremlin or fierce warrior that's working overtime to make sure you're okay.
What does Amy look like?
I'd like for you to imagine that in that energetic space you identify there's a chair and your amygdala is sitting on that chair.
She's saying some of those not so kind things.
And yet we know she's here to keep us safe.
Let's welcome in another gentle breath to a count of four and imagine that you're breathing in space between you and Amy.
And release to a count of six,
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Beautiful.
And if you'd like,
You can now imagine that you're pulling up a chair to talk to her.
You can stay standing if you want.
We're going to move into a conversation with her so you can understand where she learned to think and feel this way,
Where she learned that this was her best way of keeping us safe.
As you see her sitting there and you notice your present day self sitting down to have a conversation beside her,
I'd like for you to ask her how old she is.
When did she learn to talk to you,
To herself,
This way?
Almost always these less than kind experiences that show up in our minds and our bodies belong to our past.
The things that Amy learned along her journey to make sure that we stay small and okay.
So listen for her reply.
How old was she when she learned to think this way about you or how you need to navigate the world?
And as you hear that response,
I want you to notice if that experience of her,
That symbolic representation becomes that young self who learned these things.
Is it you at the age of five being told you made a mistake?
The age of seven or nine?
Maybe she was 15 for this particular criticism to become a part of your internal narrative.
25,
27,
Whatever age it is.
Invite that experience sitting in that chair opposite you,
Your present day self to become you at that age.
As you see your young self sitting there experiencing these internal criticisms,
These harsh words of self doubt,
Some internal cruelty,
Notice are you deserving of feeling this way?
My bet is that you are not.
Turn your attention inward and notice that young self at that age living within you still carrying these thoughts and these feelings around inside of you.
What would it be like to grant your young self forgiveness,
To let this go,
To even extend self compassion and understanding and kindness to the young you sitting across from the women's chair?
And as we take in another gentle breath to a count of four,
Three,
Two,
One and release to a count of five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
And one.
Notice that you here now have the opportunity to give that young self all the loving kindness and acceptance that you needed at that time and did not receive.
What would you say to this young self?
Just say,
I understand.
Just say I'm here with you now.
It's okay.
What would it be like to forgive this young self for whatever perceived or real mistakes remain?
Because here in the present day,
You've got your own back.
You've got this.
Visualize having a quiet conversation with yourself to continue that gentle soothing evening touch of self-love,
Self-soothing and self-compassion.
Invite yourself into a sphere of loving understanding that only you can give yourself.
Will never come from the outside world and have as much power or meaning as it will when it comes from within.
And as we draw this guided meditation through soothing beautiful clothes,
Notice if you can even extend a loving kind hug to that young self who has carried these experiences for so long,
Trying to keep you safe and say thank you for working so hard.
And I've got this now.
You can rest.
You deserve it.
