You can rest down into your seat and grow through your spine as you allow your eyes to close and use the sound of the bell to turn back inwards,
Reconnecting with your internal state,
Opening in curiosity and non-judgment,
Ready to listen,
Observe,
And receive.
You can place all of your attention on your breath as you allow it to naturally and gently lengthen and deepen,
Not forcing any changes,
Just being with the ones that happen naturally,
Accompanying focused attention.
You can give yourself permission to arrive fully and completely in the present moment,
Allowing this moment,
This experience,
And whoever you are within it to be enough.
We can let go of the need to control,
To force any one outcome to fix or solve.
As we simply arrive in loving acceptance of whatever is right here and right now.
And you can follow your breath back inward,
Reconnecting with your internal state,
Focusing on your heart space,
This core of your being that's nothing but love,
Peace,
Compassion,
Acceptance,
And gratitude.
Remembering that this heart space is a safe space for all experiences.
And here in the heart,
All things can be held and nurtured and healed.
In this safe space of the heart,
You can come back home to an emotion you've been having recently.
Allow the emotion to be present,
Free of judgment or the need to solve it or fix it or make it go away.
Simply be present for it,
Listening to deepen your understanding of its true needs.
Letting go of the stories of blame,
Of needing to fix it,
Of judgment of who caused it and why.
And just listen.
Listen to the vulnerability and the soft places beneath the reaction.
Just the softness of the true emotion.
And listen.
What is it crying for?
Is it asking for more safety,
Love,
Acceptance,
Belonging?
And as you're listening to these needs,
Examine where you were looking to meet them.
Was this really the unconditional source of these needs?
The one that is stable and always present and available?
Or were you trying to draw these needs from another person or a condition of the world that meets your expectations?
Notice that if you were trying to draw them from a person,
Asking them to show up for you in ways that you expected,
In ways that you desired,
Recognize that these conditions are not consistent and that humans are not consistent providers of all of our needs.
Recognizing that these other humans have their own needs,
Their own flaws,
Their own vulnerabilities and wounds that at times will keep them from being able to show up for you in the best,
Most positive way.
And so humans cannot give us that unconditional support that we actually need.
They cannot always meet our expectations.
We also notice that if we were turning to conditions of the world to always meet our needs and satisfy our expectations,
That this too is flawed.
The world works on its own rhythm and there is a balance to it.
Sometimes it goes our way and sometimes it doesn't.
This is not because it is out to get us or it is evil.
This is just the nature of things.
Good and bad,
Dark and light.
And so the world will not be a consistent source of all of our needs and the perfection we are looking for.
It will not always feel perfectly safe and perfectly loving and we have to forgive the world and humans for this.
And we can recognize our expectations and ease them and then go inward.
Return to your own heart space.
Remember what it is that you truly trust,
That you believe in.
Notice where you can connect with those energies of love,
Peace,
Acceptance,
Gratitude and compassion.
Connect with that truth within you,
Noticing that these energies are always available to you,
Always present and accessible.
All you have to do is engage and recognize that when you are engaged with these energies,
Even when things don't go your way,
When someone doesn't act in the way you think they should or a condition in the world doesn't turn out like you wanted,
You can still find peace and grounding within yourself.
You can still be okay and that the emotion may point to that disappointment or to the difference between what you wanted and what happened.
And we can listen to the emotion but we don't need to react out of it.
We can listen to those needs and come back to our heart and remember how to nurture ourselves.
And so when you're connected with the heart,
Remember all of your resources for connecting with this love,
Belonging,
Acceptance and peace.
Remember they're always available to you.
They may not always come from the same source,
The same person,
The same situation but they are always available.
So look into the world around you.
Can you see your sources to meet these needs?
Can you identify them?
Can you engage with them?
And maybe it's just that you repeat to yourself that you are here for you.
I am here for you.
You are loved.
You are accepted just as you are.
You are safe and everything belongs within the greater system.
We remember that this greater system is here to support us and that we always have our place within it.
And if we look with awareness we can always see the sources of healing,
Of peace,
Acceptance and happiness already present in our lives.
So imagine yourself offering yourself anything else it is that your emotion was asking for and rest in this place of peace and acceptance knowing that all that you need is always present.
You just have to open your eyes and your heart and receive and bring the peace that this knowing and comfort offers you as I ring the bell three times and we come back to our shared space.
