Hello,
My name is Ellie and I'm excited to welcome you to this short meditation on navigating overwhelming thoughts.
Notice that I didn't use the term negative thoughts there because I don't like to label thoughts as positive or negative.
I think it's better and more helpful to see every thought as a guiding light or something to learn from.
These thoughts of fear,
Anxiety,
Self-doubt,
Lack of self-belief,
Although they are blocking us from our greatest expression,
They also give us a tool,
Almost a doorway to go through towards our highest expression if you choose to learn something from them.
That being said,
I know that sometimes they can be overwhelming when a mind is spinning around with fear or judgement or anxiety or stress and in order to live our most fulfilled and happy life,
We have to learn to not become overwhelmed by those thoughts but rather see them for what they are and choose to use them as tools along our journey,
Along our journey to become our most radiant,
Vibrant,
Happy,
Fulfilled self.
And that self is within you already.
It's up to you just to guide yourself down to it,
To meet that version of you that's already inside.
So whenever you're ready,
Make sure you're comfortable,
Maybe you're seated or laying down.
Our meditation today will be a visualisation meditation.
And just a note,
For anyone that might be newer to visualisation,
It's rare that you'll have a cinema screen type image continuously throughout our time here.
It's more likely you'll see flashes of images,
Maybe sensations in the body and that's absolutely fine.
So settle yourself,
Lengthen your spine,
Relax your shoulders.
And if you're sat on a chair,
Maybe uncross your legs so that your feet are flat on the floor.
Lengthen through the back of the neck,
Soften your jaw and tongue.
And if you'd like to,
Close your eyes.
Now take that maybe half closing of the eyes or fully closing down the eyes as your invitation inward.
It's almost like you're turning your eyes away from the outside world and within,
Into your inner landscape.
Begin just by noticing how you're feeling today.
And see if you can meet all the feelings that might be there with a radical amount of acceptance,
Overwhelm,
Restlessness,
Stress,
Anxiety.
Welcome all of it with inward turning open arms.
See if you can begin to settle your body,
Maybe noticing expression across your face,
Softening and inviting relaxation there.
Softening down through your neck and shoulders.
If you feel a lot of tension around the neck and shoulders,
It can be helpful to almost imagine it like water.
Tension starts as ice,
Slowly melting to water,
Disappearing into vapor as the muscles relax.
Soften your neck and shoulders,
Soften your chest.
Welcome the next breath in a soft belly.
Observing that very gentle rise and fall without control.
Notice the feeling of support at your hips,
Between your hips and your chair or your hips and the floor.
See if you can connect to a feeling of not sitting on your chair or on the floor,
Rather being held up by or supported by your chair or the floor.
And with that subtle shift,
You can really give the ground your weight.
Allow yourself to be held here and allow that support to take some of the weight of the thoughts or overwhelming feelings in your mind and body.
Finally,
Settling through your legs,
All the way down through your knees,
Your lower legs,
Your ankles,
And finally resting at your feet.
Feeling groundedness now trickling down through the whole body into the ground.
There's a feeling of settling and again being held here.
Once you're ready,
Guide your awareness back up towards your breathing.
Again,
Just observing the subtle rise and fall of the breath,
Maybe around your belly or somewhere else in your body.
Just notice where the breath feels most vibrant in this moment.
Maybe take 10 breaths,
Just softening your attention toward that rhythm.
If it helps,
You can count each breath from 10 down to zero.
Exhaling 9,
Exhale 8,
Exhale 7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1 and zero.
Now begin to visualise those thoughts that you feel like have been clouding your mind almost as if they're in a bubble above your head.
It's a dark,
Clouded space filled with every self-deprecating belief,
Limit,
Self-judgment,
Overwhelming thought,
Fear,
Doubt.
Almost imagine those thoughts swirling around this bubble above your head.
Notice that feeling of separation between you and that bubble above you.
Notice that those thoughts are no longer in your mind,
Rather separate.
In that bubble,
Swirling around that dark space,
That clouded bubble above you.
And as we sit here,
If you notice more fears,
Judgments or doubts come through your mind,
Just place them back into that bubble.
Let them be above you,
Not within you.
These overwhelming thoughts of stress,
Fear,
Doubt,
Judgment,
They do serve a purpose,
But our job is to learn how to not have them take hold of us.
How to not let them hold us back from our most fulfilled and vibrant life.
How to not hold us back from doing all those things that we really want to do,
To being that person that we know deep down we are.
And that person that you visualise yourself becoming is already within.
They're sat here,
As you are,
With that cloud above them.
Now in that visualisation,
Bring back that bubble of thoughts above you.
Imagine that bubble burst,
And those thoughts just become almost like glitter,
Disappearing and twinkling into nothing,
Just leaving light behind them.
Leaving maybe lessons we learn from fear,
How we can use those fears and doubts to grow as a person,
But we don't want to keep hold of them.
They shift in that act of popping that balloon from cloud and darkness,
To little specks of glimmering light,
Leaving behind just you,
Here,
Vibrating with glittering light.
Spend a moment just feeling into this thought of becoming lighter with those thoughts dissolved.
Settle towards your breath,
And maybe you'll sense the breath a little bit lighter.
Notice that that act of popping that balloon,
Or popping that bubble,
Didn't come with a feeling of resentment,
Or forcing those thoughts away,
But rather letting them go.
Choosing to not have them take hold of you,
And empowering yourself here to take control,
To take the lessons from them,
But move forward with a feeling of lightness.
Whenever you're ready,
Maybe start to deepen your breathing.
Take some exhales out through your mouth if you feel like you need that release.
Whenever you're ready to,
Gently start to open your eyes.
Thank you so much for sharing your practice with me today.
I hope that that visualization meditation gave you some relief from the overwhelming thoughts,
Fears,
Or doubts that seem to be holding you back today.
Come back to this practice often,
Whenever you're feeling a little bit overwhelmed,
Or whenever you want to connect back to that feeling of lightness.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your day,
And take care.
