The Art Of Being Lost

Feel empowered to face uncertainty and believe in your potential. You will be guided on a symbolic adventure through your psyche to help you overcome fear, find your inner guide, and trust in an unknown path forward. Both imaginative and revealing, this meditation will help you let go of doubt and surrender to life's current.

Transcript

Most of you probably have meditated to one of my practices in the past and you'll probably hear me at the beginning always talk about something that's happening in my life and a lot of times it's that that inspires the practice that we do.

For this one,

It's a little different.

I was actually out of inspiration for this week when I was thinking about what to theme the practice or what to go through.

And so I took some inspiration from my beloved partner Kelly,

Who is in a current situation where she has had a lot of extra time on her hand that she's not used to.

And she's so used to just being go,

Go,

Go,

Go,

Go that having that chance to to slow down really actually kind of shook her world in a way that she was feeling quite lost and just not sure how to use her time.

And so she was hearing about me trying to figure out a meditation and she had been reading a book that was around the topic of being lost.

And she had showed me a part of the book and was like,

I think this could be cool for a guided meditation.

So I read it and the the section of the book was called the the art of being lost.

And then this is a book it's called Soulcraft by Bill Plotkin,

I believe his name is.

And he talks about really the art of being lost and more in a wilderness sense of when we're lost in the woods.

It forces us to get present because it forces us to look at what's in front of us and to figure a way out.

Right.

And although I don't feel lost in my life right now,

I have had many parts of my life and especially this journey where I've felt completely lost and completely alone and just not sure on if one,

The things that I was working on was ever going to work and really to just not even sure where to spend my time.

So I definitely know that feeling very intimately.

And I think one of the blessings and I'll say that many of us maybe are feeling some of this in some way of having maybe more time and kind of feeling lost on,

Well,

Should I be really productive like everyone's saying or is it OK that I just kind of deal or work with whatever's coming up?

And I think there's no right or wrong for it.

But what being lost does,

Right?

We can't find.

It's the little cliche.

But we to be lost,

Right?

That's the only way that we can find something.

So when we're forced to look at our life in a new way,

To find a new path,

To do something new,

It takes that bit of uncomfort.

And sometimes it takes us to feel that unease and whatever the sense is.

So that's kind of the inspiration for today's practice.

And I do want to preface one thing,

Because sometimes when I create a meditation,

I am pretty feel I feel good about it.

Let's say it seems safe to me.

I'm not like nervous about taking people to some certain place.

And for this meditation,

Sometimes when I create them,

It's a little bit where it's not as safe for me,

At least it feels on my end.

I think it's more creative.

And I think with anything creative,

We have a little bit more personal connection to it.

And so today is on that end.

It's going to be way more heavily guided imagery.

And so I know some people love guided imagery,

Some people visualizations not totally those things.

So if you're on the ladder,

Just be kind to yourself and really just work to do what you can.

And then when we get into the portions where we do more of the emotional kind of energy work,

Then really embody that.

So with that,

We'll go ahead and get into the practice for today and begin to allow yourself to shut down the eyes.

Take any last movements that you need to take.

And starting to just feel your body seated in your chair,

Feel your body seated in your cushion.

And allowing the weight to sink in.

Connecting to the physical body and the physical connection.

Allowing the legs to get heavy,

Feeling them start to plant into the floor.

And allowing yourself to feel held by the support of your chair,

Your cushion.

I think when we feel lost in any sense,

Just that idea that we're held,

That we're supported.

And we kind of,

With the beginning of every practice that we do,

We start with that intention.

I am supported here.

Just where my physical body is.

The ground beneath me is a foundation for me to release into.

And from that release,

Still keeping a bit of a wakefulness through your upper body.

Maybe you feel like you lift your hips out of your waist.

Feeling the sides of the neck extend upwards.

And almost as if there was a string at the top crown of your head,

Just lifting gently up towards the sky.

And so we're both supported,

We're both held,

And we're also open,

Ready to receive.

Cultivating some of the energy in our body.

And allow our awareness to come into a few rounds of our breath.

So connecting to one of those three anchor points,

If you've practiced with me recently.

Either the navel,

The chest,

Or the nose.

So feeling the breath at one of these points.

And then as you breathe in,

Really allowing the quality of the breath to move in,

Feeling the texture.

Sensing the spaciousness with each inhale.

And then with each exhale,

Allowing your body to further be held.

Allowing your body to soften and just fall into that sense of ease,

Into your support beneath you.

And finding your own rhythm here.

And it might help to say silently to yourself,

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Or inhaling and exhaling.

And then I'd like you to take this breath to any part of your body that's maybe feeling a little tense right now.

Maybe you had a long day and you have a little headache from thinking or doing a lot.

Or maybe just some part of your body is feeling a little tense.

And bringing your awareness to this part.

Almost imagine like you're bringing your breath to this part.

And just giving it a little extra care,

A little extra love as you work to ease and release any of the tension that's held up.

And then together we're going to take one full breath in and let that go.

And so we allowed ourselves to settle really in our body.

So there's a lot of just body and sensing ourselves here,

Feeling our breath.

And so we're going to shift gears in our practice and move more to a cerebral practice of bringing our awareness into our mind's eye.

Starting to open some of our imaginative awareness.

And I'd like you to begin to imagine that you are in a plane flying in the sky.

And it's just you.

You have your license.

You can do this.

And just imagining yourself flying,

Gliding along,

And just sensing the clouds or the blue skies or the sun.

And if you're afraid of heights,

Maybe coming back to that anchor breath and just being with it here.

Just being kind to yourself,

If that's the case.

Maybe you hear the propellers humming.

And just gliding and just enjoying being on cruise control here.

So sometimes we're flying and we're going along and things seem like they're going alright until something can happen that can shift our course.

And so I know this might be a lot for a guided meditation,

But imagining that something happens to maybe the gas,

You start leaking and you have to make an emergency landing.

So you're skilled at this and you see that there's an island at the center down by the ocean.

And an island right in the middle of the ocean and you're going to go ahead and direct your plane.

And the plane has a parachute above it so you can kind of gently even allow it to just fall down to the island.

And once you get there I'd like you to step out of this plane onto this kind of beachy,

Deserted island.

Kind of thinking Tom Hanks and Castaway,

If that's an image that works for you.

And this is symbolic of this new journey,

Maybe some new journey,

Maybe it's one you're on now or maybe it's just a new journey that you'd like to take.

And so just walking on the beach for a few moments,

Feeling your feet in the sand.

Noticing towards the center of the island are a dark family of forest,

So a dark trees,

A lot of brush.

And as you begin to walk on the beach,

Just embracing the wonder and the newness of all of it,

The senses heightened.

And as you walk you notice that on the beach is a lantern just laying there.

And so I'd like you to stop for a moment and pick this up.

And this is symbolic of your guiding light.

The guiding light that you take on your journey and the light that you need especially when times get dark.

So as you look at it,

Just maybe asking yourself what is this guiding light for you?

Maybe it's just our own essence of love and light.

And so we're going to work to fill this light with that energy.

So holding it in front of you and then maybe bringing your awareness into your body again and repeating these words silently to yourself,

Feeling,

Just creating that energy from within.

I am light.

I am love.

I am light.

I am love.

And repeat this for a few.

Maybe just saying both of those,

Maybe saying one of those.

Whatever you're doing,

Feeling this energy,

This light from within you start to grow and enter into this lantern.

And as you do,

Maybe thinking of anyone or anything else that guides you,

That supports your path,

Maybe someone in your life that supports you and guides you and thinking of them,

Feeling that energy and again brightening this lantern in front of you.

And then you're going to take just a light breath in and a light breath out.

And you're going to close up this lantern if it was kind of open from a little hatch or maybe you just had the energy moving through the glass.

And we're going to move on our way.

So kind of now entering towards the forest and looking inwards to the center.

And as we go inwards,

And a lot of this is symbolic,

Right?

We enter more darkness,

Right?

We enter things that we didn't know were there.

It symbolizes going into ourselves.

So I'd like you to start heading towards the dark forest.

When on the beach you see another item,

You see a little sword that's sticking out.

And you realize that you need something to navigate this terrain.

You need that sense of empowerment.

So go ahead and grab this sword and pick it up.

Hold it in your hand.

Feel its power.

And viewing this with your power and your energy.

And so again,

Either repeating this silently to yourself or just feeling the energy of it.

I am capable.

I am powerful.

I am capable.

I am powerful.

And just go ahead and repeat here for a few.

Feeling that power,

Maybe coming,

Connecting to your power center right below your rib cage,

Your solar plexus.

Feeling the center of your power and viewing this sword with that energy.

And so now you've got your light.

You've got your sword.

Now it's time to enter this dark forest.

One of my favorite Joseph Campbell quotes says,

You enter the forest at the darkest point where there is no path.

Where there is a way or a path,

It's someone else's path.

If you follow someone else's way,

You are not going to realize your potential.

So our unique path is dark.

There has never been a life like us that anyone else has led.

We are all unique in that.

So go ahead and begin to enter this dark forest,

Embracing this unknown journey.

And as you walk in,

Maybe you use your sword to kind of cut any limbs or branches that are in your way,

Just kind of trashing and moving along.

And as you walk,

You're going to come across a large tree that's kind of fallen down and it's blocking your path.

And it's pretty big,

So it's tough to get around and it doesn't look like you can get over it.

And what this tree is representing is something in your life that is some sort of fear.

What seems to block your path forward?

What is this fear?

Or this maybe negative self-talk?

Maybe it's something like,

I'm not good enough.

Maybe it's just a fear of pursuing a new path or any fear that comes to mind or any kind of resistance,

Anything that you're dealing with right now.

And maybe in the past you would have turned around,

But you have your light and you have your sword,

So we're going to work to move through this fear and move through this tree.

So I'd like you to feel the love and the light of your lantern and then feel the power of your sword.

And then you feel ready,

When you feel ready to move through this,

I'd like you to imagine yourself cutting this tree in half using your sword.

I'd like you to really imagine yourself getting into this.

Think about the feeling of letting off on a punching bag,

This kind of release.

You know,

Feel your power.

Go through,

Feel yourself kind of attacking and moving through this fear.

You are so powerful.

And once you've cut through it,

On its own,

The two halves just kind of move away from each other,

Opening this path.

I'd like you to walk right through,

Right through what you thought was scary and blocking you.

Esteem yourself for your courage.

And then let's take a little breath in and breath out.

And continue to walk forward.

And as you do,

The path just opens up.

There's no vines,

There's no trees,

It kind of becomes clear.

And this is symbolic that when we face our fears,

We find that the path kind of opens,

Right,

But we have to take that step first.

And so go ahead and follow this clear path.

Maybe it's winding a little bit.

And as you do,

It's going to start to get dark out.

And you come across what you think is a wall.

And so since it's dark,

You grab your lantern and you put it kind of up to your face to see what you're looking at.

And you see that it's a mirror.

And you realize that the feeling of being lost or doubting or fear,

Right,

That all of this negativity that you think or stress or whatever it is,

All of it was actually just bringing you to yourself.

Leading you back to your true self,

The self with a capital S.

And so go ahead and look at yourself in this mirror.

Imagine yourself looking yourself in the eye.

And sharing these words and intentions with what you see back.

Thank you for taking this journey.

I see you.

I love you.

Thank you.

I see you.

I love you.

Thank you.

Just affirm that love to yourself.

Appreciate all that you went through,

All that you're going through,

All that you will go through.

I see you.

I love you.

Thank you.

And then thank this mirror for what it showed you.

And take a full breath in and a full breath out.

I'm going to turn around and it's time to head back and begin to leave this island.

So kind of allow yourself to walk back from where you came from,

Back out to the beach.

And you're going to walk all the way up towards the edge of the water.

And our last little section is really about just letting go of control,

Really trusting your path forward.

And we're going to look at this iconic imagery of walking on water and the symbolism,

The metaphor in it is that the water is chaos and fear.

And that by walking on it and not being swept away by it,

We are in some sense just showing that there is nothing to fear.

Every wisdom tradition in some way says,

Be not afraid.

So I'd like you to just feel yourself preparing to step forward and maybe thinking about any places in your life that you're still doubting or fearing.

Maybe if it's a failure or something you're scared to pursue because of rejection.

I'd like you to look in the distant horizon and see your future and see kind of a dream that you'd like to work towards or something that you're working on.

Maybe it's just peace and happiness.

I think we're all working towards that in some way right now.

And I'd like you to start repeating to yourself.

I trust my path.

I surrender to the flow.

I trust.

I surrender.

I trust.

I surrender.

When you feel ready,

Keep repeating that to yourself.

When you feel like you can just let go,

I'd like you to start walking into the ocean.

And as you do,

You see that beneath you,

A bridge is built with each step.

A new part of the bridge comes forward,

Supporting you every step of the way.

Because again,

When we step into the unknown,

We step into the fear,

We see support coming from underneath.

That's what happens when we're following our heart.

And so continue to walk out,

Letting go,

Trusting,

Surrendering your control.

Continue to walk.

And you're going to walk on this bridge all the way until you find yourself seated back exactly where you are,

Walking back into your home.

And just embracing the perfectness of where you are right now.

Even if it's hard.

We're exactly where we need to be.

Maybe sensing that it's all happening for some reason.

Coming back to your body,

Maybe just finding that anchor breath for another round or so.

And then when you feel complete,

You can gently begin to open your eyes,

Come back to your room.

Come back to today.

And as you do that,

Allow the wisdom of your body to take any movements that calls to it.

And so I thank you so much for going on that journey.

I love using mythology and metaphor.

It's like all the stories that we see about going into finding the hidden treasure,

Going on a journey and finding the treasure at the end of the tunnel or whatever it is.

There are all these mythologically speaking to our subconscious because we know that we're going to uncover,

Find the gold and the treasure and the love that's within each and every one of us.

And as we do that,

As we trust,

We find that light.

And I think the only time or the times that I've been really most lost,

It had to come at some sort of surrender and just trust that.

That if I just keep walking forward,

Something's going to happen.

And the only way that we could fail is just to give up.

And so trusting that whether you're feeling lost now or whatever maybe that brought up that's not related to kind of our global situation,

But hopefully just trusting and finding finding yourself in the lostness.

Reviews

Wonderful journey! Encountering the reflection was unexpected and eye-mind opening. Exactly the symbolism I was needing without knowing it. Thanks! (What's the name of the book?)

“Finding yourself in the loseness” and surrendering to that. This meditation brought me on the journey.

Brilliant meditation when u need to find direction & purpose 🙌 thanks Lou 🙏🏻❤️‍🩹

Lou, thank you for guiding us into such an important reflection! The mirror part is strikingly powerful! Wow! May you be well. Namaste. Igo 🧘‍♂️🌺

Thank you, Lou! I really love the visualization meditations. You have a gift for visualization, imagery, metaphor, and analogy. I hope you'll keep more of this type of meditation coming! 🙏🙏🙏

Thank you Lou! This came at a perfect time for me and it has helped me to move forward along my journey of self healing. Your meditations really do resonate with me, and I am so appreciative and grateful that I have found you here on Insight Timer 😊. Thank you again!

Thank you providing hope ; encouragement and a template for not giving up.