In this guided meditation,
I'd like to invite us to move into a deeper loving relationship with the early inception points.
Now,
What I mean by that is the developmental experiences across the course of our life that ultimately led to the coping skills that we choose to use today that may not be in our best service.
We've been talking about cyclical maladaptive patterns,
And the A plus B equals C equation,
And all of that goes all the way back to these developmental experiences that laid the neuronal freeways for our little amygdala to say,
Hey,
This is how I cope in my daily life.
For this meditation,
I do,
As always,
Recommend inviting in the gentle,
Loving,
Mindful touch in order to deepen your connection to the experience.
Of course,
If you'd just like to sit and relax and have a gentle hand on your heart space,
That's beautiful too.
I'd like to invite you to allow your mind to drift back across the course of your life and find a time where your young self felt like you weren't good enough,
That you weren't measuring up,
A time where you felt like you were supposed to be something other than exactly what you are,
Your beautiful,
Amazing self,
But that young version of you didn't know this.
Most of us have these flashes of memory,
These early experiences where we were taught that who we are is not okay,
That we're supposed to be something else.
I can think of hundreds across the course of my own childhood that melded into core beliefs of being inadequate and stupid,
Less than,
Unworthy and unlovable,
Beliefs that were mine to carry because of my anticipated fears about rejection,
Not beliefs that came out of the experiences of my parents or the world around me.
Everybody's always doing the best that they can and these beliefs were the way that my mind and my body learned to respond and stay safe in the world that I was growing up within.
That part is critical.
These core beliefs that we develop are the way that our mind and body keeps us safe.
As always,
Thank you,
Amy,
For always keeping us safe and it's not helpful to project blame or place responsibility on others because their brains and their bodies are just doing what they know to keep them safe.
Everybody is always doing their best.
This is a core component of self-compassion,
Empathy,
And a greater connection to humanity.
And if everybody is always doing their best,
So are we.
So let's connect with that young self in that moment that you've identified.
I invite you to hold space for them,
To see them there in your mind's eye.
Notice the nuances of who they are.
And if you notice some amygdala activation showing up,
That's okay.
That's your brain going,
Ooh,
Yeah,
That was tough back then.
Or perhaps your brain colluding with the external messages that that young self wasn't what it should have been,
That you were not what you were supposed to have been.
And if you notice that energy coming up,
I invite you to push a gentle pause on this video and do some CPR for the amygdala.
Play some brain games with the self-havening touch.
If you're not familiar with this exercise,
I've linked it below.
Give your brain and your amygdala breath to create space so that we can move into gentle,
Loving relationship with our young self.
Now,
If you notice a lot of activation coming up,
I do recommend reaching out to a professional,
One of our team members,
Getting some additional support.
Because sometimes Amy builds a lot of barriers and a lot of walls,
And we need a little guidance to get through them.
Lord knows I've done my own fair share of beautiful and powerful therapeutic work.
But if you're able to connect with that young self and notice what they were being taught in those moments,
What you were being taught,
What was value like back then,
What was love like,
What was worth like,
What accomplishments mattered.
And notice if that young self's sense of beingness aligns with yours today or what you would like your sense of self and your beingness to feel like today.
If it doesn't,
Gently breathing in to a count of four,
And releasing to a count of six.
Invite your mind to ponder what messages were you taught back then,
What aspirations were you trying to rise to,
Whether possible or not.
And are there any expectations or experiences that continue to linger from these early moments and play a role in your expectations and anticipations for how you live your life today?
You see,
As children,
We are only able to know what we're taught.
And what we're taught is handed down on high from our caregivers,
From our teachers,
Our educational institutions,
Our coaches,
Our mentors.
As children,
We only know what we're taught and we don't know what we don't know.
And if somewhere along the line,
We start to believe that who we are or what we are is not enough,
That will become our truth.
The powerful part of growing up and becoming an adult is knowing that we can go back and love our young self.
We can reparent them.
We can teach them a different felt sense of truth,
And this is a huge part of the power of neuroplasticity.
And so notice and even take a pause and write this down.
Are there truths that that young self holds that no longer align with your sense of truth,
With your values of worth and love?
Is that young self still upholding old behavioral patterns in your present day,
Believing that in these actions,
You will achieve acceptance?
Because these are the patterns that Amy loves to draw upon,
Our oldest,
Most primal patterns for acceptance,
Love,
And worth.
And the power is that our thinking brain,
Our adult self frequently knows differently.
And it's in the communion of the two that we find empowered change.
So I invite you to write a letter to this young self,
Imparting your wisdom,
Imparting forgiveness,
If that feels appropriate,
For the choices that remain,
Or even acknowledging the mistakes that you've made along your way.
Write a letter of self-love and self-care to that young self who's done their best to get you to where you are today,
But by the very fact that you're watching this video,
May be seeking a little bit more.
And once you've written that letter,
Tape it to a mirror,
Read it out loud to yourself,
Welcome in the self-heavening touch,
And give yourself that love,
That compassion,
And that acknowledgement.
You've done hard things and you continue to do hard things.
You've done loving things and you continue to do loving things.
Let's show our young selves that we see how hard they've worked and we're grateful.
And let's invite them here and now with a gentle hug and a lot of love.
