Witnessing your Child Artist Self.
In this meditation,
We'll channel an early memory of being an artist.
For the next several minutes,
Create some space for the inborn artist to emerge,
And for the child artist to return to you and find a place in your presence.
To find a comfortable position in a chair or on the ground,
Close your eyes and take three deep breaths in and out.
As you do so,
Scan your body for any tension you're carrying.
Breathe into that tension,
Release and relax.
As you continue to breathe normally,
Take a moment and attune to the sounds around you,
Smells,
Feel the ground beneath you,
Feel the walls around you,
Feel the open space if you're outside,
And feel the cool or warmth against your skin.
Now bring to your mind a moment from your past and from your youth where you remember being completely happy while at play.
Perhaps you were alone,
Perhaps there were others.
You may have been dancing,
Drawing,
Painting,
Playing with blocks,
Playing an instrument,
Singing,
Sewing,
Throwing some clay,
Building something,
Reading,
Writing,
Running.
If at first you land in a teenage memory or a grade school memory,
See if you can go further back than that to you as a very young version of yourself in a moment of pure contentment.
If there are many such moments that flash through your mind,
Choose one of them.
You are the silent witness,
Observing your younger self.
If thoughts,
Feelings,
Ideas,
New awarenesses emerge,
Trust that you'll remember the important ones later.
And for the next minute or so,
Just observe what's happening.
Observe the young you completely in your element and watch the moment unfold from your place at once removed and completely connected.
5 4 Notice now as your young self comes to attention and sees you looking back across time.
Watch as the young you goes on playing while being keenly aware that you are there.
Observe your younger expression and body language.
Now notice that your young self pauses play and is bringing something over to show you.
Look at what your young self has for you.
Is it an object?
Is it a message?
See your young self before you with hands open.
Feel your young self lean in and whisper something into your ear.
Now invite your young self to come and sit in front of you or by your side,
Or if you like,
Lift your child artist up into your lap.
Stay here and breathe into this moment between your two selves.
It's your turn to share something.
What is it you'd like your young self to know?
Is there a story you want to tell?
Or something you'd like to impart with the benefit of hindsight?
Go ahead and share that now.
Have a conversation.
.
.
.
Slowly bring this interaction to a close.
Look again into the eyes of your young self and send them back to their game and their play and creativity.
While you continue to breathe and honor any thoughts and feelings you have now.
You can revisit this meditation as often as you wish and take from your past any time slice you choose.
Remember that your child artist,
Your younger self,
Is with you now as ever it was.
Just as your present self was already inside you then,
And your older self is already inside you now.
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