Hi there,
It's Eiffel here and today we will be talking about growth.
What ways can you think of that you can grow?
Yes,
You are definitely growing taller every day and hopefully also heavier.
You are growing your skills in school and hobbies.
Reading,
Writing,
Math,
Geometry,
History,
Geography,
Arts,
Sports,
IT,
Coding.
So many things going on.
And then there's the social and emotional growth.
For example,
That which adults call resilience,
Which means getting better at responding to difficult situations or difficult feelings.
Or emotion regulation,
Which means you learn how and when to express your emotions.
Or a more general building of character,
Where you notice that you respond differently than before.
For example,
If there's a person who sometimes or even often bullies you,
And then one day you notice that you were a little less affected by it.
For example,
Because you are able to talk about it with somebody close to you,
Or you have been focusing on your good friends.
Or another example,
If there's a subject in school that you really do not like,
But you just keep working on it,
And one day you notice that you actually did get a little bit better.
In a moment I'm going to do a fun practice with you,
Where I would like you to answer some questions.
You can do that out loud,
On paper,
Or even just in your mind.
But before we start,
I would like to highlight that achievements do not always have to be as big as it may seem.
Actually,
One of the tricks of life is to also really celebrate the small things.
For example,
If you think about achievement,
You may think of when you or a friend came first in a sports competition,
Or received the highest marks on a test.
And of course,
This is an achievement.
But it's not the only achievement.
There are so many more.
For example,
What about the person who came in fourth place in a swimming competition,
But improved his personal best with three seconds?
Or the person who came in last,
But had never competed before,
And actually was afraid to take the stage.
And now they did it!
How amazing are they!
Another often overlooked thing is that the outcome isn't always necessarily the most important thing.
Another example,
If a classmate received high marks for an art project,
And her work was exhibited in a local community center,
That is seen as a huge achievement.
But what about the other friend,
Who has trouble sitting down,
And tends not to finish projects?
What if they got so into this project,
And spent hours working on it?
And actually finally finding some rest from their usual busyness.
Or the girl who is so good at replicating comics,
But this week started her first attempts to create her own.
What I'm trying to say is,
It is not only the big things.
And that is what my practice today is about.
Everything.
Even your starting point,
If you are good or bad at something,
Does not really matter.
I think it's more about joy,
Self-improvement,
Persisting,
And letting go of feelings of perfection,
And actually feeling free to pursue and do all the things that you like.
And realize that what you believe usually becomes true.
Because when we think we are not good at something,
We kind of stop enjoying it,
Don't we?
And that makes it worse.
We become worse at that activity.
And from there we just getting worse and worse,
Until we'll stop doing it.
I remember when I was a kid,
Some of my close family told me I could not sing.
They would even laugh at me.
Consequently,
I thought,
No,
I knew I could not sing.
And I never did.
When my husband came into my life,
One of the first things we enjoyed doing together was making music.
He was and is a really great singer and musician.
With no knowledge of my past,
He invited me to sing.
And to my surprise,
He thought it was pretty okay.
I learned that it was a matter of choosing the right songs.
And just letting go and doing it.
Can you imagine the joy I felt to hear my own voice?
To let it all out?
Now,
For our practice together,
I'm gonna ask you questions about some of the things in life I may have mentioned before.
And you're going to reply.
Again,
Either out loud,
Maybe you want to write it down,
Or maybe you just want to say it quietly to yourself inside your head.
And we're focusing on recent improvements for each question.
Be as creative as you like.
So,
If I ask about reading,
You may answer,
I can read my favorite book now.
Or,
I recognize the signs in the street.
Or,
I read together with my mom.
And doing that is so much fun.
If you have been reading for a number of years,
Still try to come up with something.
Like,
I read with glasses now and my eyes do not hurt so much.
Or,
I have taken up reading before sleep.
Or even,
I have stopped reading the newspaper or books online and am back to paper.
Or the opposite.
There are no rights and wrongs.
Are you ready?
Here we go.
What have you recently learned related to reading?
And how about writing?
What new things have you discovered about your body?
If at any point my questions come too quickly after one another,
Feel free to pause.
You can skip questions.
You can spend more time on questions.
You're in charge.
So,
The last question was,
What new things have you discovered about your body?
And what if I asked,
What have you learned about yourself recently?
Something new,
Something unexpected.
Have you learned something about your friends,
Your family,
Or people in general?
What have you discovered about art that you did not know about before?
What do you like when you are performing sports?
Do you like to spend time by yourself or with others or maybe both?
Have you made any new discoveries there?
What have you noticed about your emotions?
And what do you do when a difficult emotion arrives?
I bet these are a lot of questions that give you so much to think about.
Again,
You don't have to have all the answers right here,
Right now.
You can always come back to this meditation.
Let's check in with ourselves.
Do you feel you've had any new thoughts,
Any surprises?
And how did it feel answering all these questions?
And I can't emphasize this enough,
There is no right or wrong way to do this.
To finish this practice,
We'll take three deep breaths,
Low into our belly.
Let's breathe in together and out.
In through the nose,
Out through the mouth.
And last one,
In and out.
Thank you for joining me and celebrate your personal growth with me.
Keep it up and join me anytime you like.
