A Day Of Renewal Just For Us!

Namaste everybody and welcome to In the Flow with Lori Albert.

So it seems like everyone I know,

Almost without exception,

Right,

Is tired.

Tired physically,

Tired emotionally,

And tired spiritually.

Yes,

It's possible to get tired spiritually and tired just because you try so hard.

We try so hard physically,

Emotionally,

Spiritually,

We try hard to just get through our day.

We must love ourselves enough to want to take care of ourselves in that way that is nourishing and caring because that's what we need to do.

That's what we're here to do.

Get through our days,

Touch the world,

Be kind,

But in the process we have to take care of ourselves.

And that's okay to do.

That's my whole point in talking about this.

It's okay to take care of yourself.

So many people,

And you know what,

It seems to be more and more happening is that people are talking so much about,

Well I can't,

I can't do this.

Oh my gosh,

My favorite thing to hear is,

Well it's not my favorite thing,

But the most ironic thing is I just don't have time to meditate.

Oh my gosh.

And you know what the Buddha says,

Well if you don't have time to meditate then you have to meditate twice as long.

Right?

I've heard the Dalai Lama say that actually.

So that's the thing.

It's okay to take time for yourself.

Some people,

And I know,

And I know people that tune into this that are going to be like,

Yeah but sometimes I just can't,

Blah blah blah,

You know?

But you can.

Taking time for yourself is actually so important.

What are a few things we can do to self-care?

Right?

And that's the thing too.

You know,

I'm sitting here and I'm going to tell you a few things that I think are important to do for self-care,

But guess what?

You know,

It doesn't have to be a huge deal to nurture yourself.

It doesn't have to be.

It can be however you choose for it to be.

Right?

So here are a few things that you can do.

You can take a walk.

That is considered self-care.

Because it grounds you,

It grounds you,

It allows you to get out of your present way of being,

Right?

So that you can move on and so that you can just get out of yourself just for a few minutes.

That's the whole key for me for self-care.

Is just getting out of my little area for just those few short minutes maybe.

Meditation obviously,

You know I'm going to say that,

But meditation is a form of self-care.

Allowing yourself to sit in the silence and stillness for even just a short period of time can be absolutely one of the best things you can do for yourself every day.

Because it allows you to get,

Go within just for a short period of time.

Go within and connect with who you are.

What's another way to do that is to go into another room.

Like I spend a lot of time in my little area right here,

But guess what?

Sometimes I like to go sit outside,

Right?

And meditate.

You know?

And journal.

Do you like to journal?

Some people are really,

Really into it and some people don't care about it.

But that can be meditative in itself,

You know?

Or this is the last thing I'm going to say.

Find a creative sort of hobby for yourself.

You know?

Like I was never really into art,

Right?

I mean I was,

But I had never thought of myself as being good at it.

And here's the thing.

My daughter is,

She's an artist.

She's a photographer and an artist.

Like she paints like artists.

And watching her paint,

Watching her create and take a blank,

Like she's got this massive canvas right now.

Okay,

To me it's massive.

It's probably three by four feet.

Blank.

She took it blank and she created this beautiful thing.

She's still working on it.

It takes her a while.

So I just,

That's meditative.

And that's allowing her to nurture herself.

Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful.

So today,

What are we going to do?

We're going to meditate,

Right?

Obviously.

But you know what we're going to do?

Our mantra today?

It's going to be the Hawaiian practice of forgiveness and healing.

Because I think we all need a little bit more healing right now.

Healing of ourselves.

And we have that capability.

The practice of hoʻoponopono is a very old Hawaiian prayer practice of forgiveness and healing.

And I learned about this many years ago.

Probably like,

I don't know,

20 years ago,

Something like that.

And ever since then,

Every time,

Because I'll do certain things for a little while.

I'll do hoʻoponopono for a little while and then I'll move on to something else.

But inevitably,

Whenever I come back to this particular practice,

There's something that's freeing from the inside whenever I do it.

Right?

I don't know what that is.

I don't know why that is,

But that's why it's so important.

And you can Google hoʻoponopono and learn about it.

It's pretty amazing.

It's a pretty amazing practice.

So we're going to do this today as our mantra.

So let's get ourselves comfortable.

Oh,

And let's take a nice deep breath in to start the day.

Coming up our lungs with beautiful oxygen and release.

Perfect.

Let's do that again.

Allow ourselves some of that refreshing,

Rejuvenating air.

Hoping us to renew ourselves and release.

Perfect.

Very very good.

Allow your eyes to float closed.

And as we get ourselves prepared to start our meditation today,

Let's get ourselves into a place of gratitude.

What are you thankful for today?

What makes your life so great?

Is it just the act of waking up in the morning?

Is it the specific plans you have for today?

Or the beautiful day that you had yesterday?

The people that you interacted with?

Looked into their eyes and saw spirit.

What would have you be so grateful today?

So our mantra today,

As I said,

Is the Hawaiian practice of forgiveness and healing.

And it's four phrases,

In case you're not familiar with it.

It's four phrases.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

And I will say them over and over again for you so in case you don't worry about remembering them for right now.

But basically,

We're talking to the universe.

We're talking to everybody we know,

And everybody on earth,

And spirit,

And ourselves.

So if you look at this prayer as being all inclusive,

That's how it works.

I'm sorry.

You say I'm sorry to yourself,

To every single person you know and is on the earth,

And the universe.

I'm sorry.

And then you ask for forgiveness.

Please forgive me.

Asking for yourself,

For the earth,

And for the universe.

And then we go to the place of gratitude.

Thank you.

Thank you to spirit and to ourselves for allowing ourselves to be in this place of gratitude.

And thank you to Mother Earth for forgiving us.

And lastly,

I love you.

I love you to yourself,

To spirit,

And to the earth and everyone on it.

I love you.

So I usually say it in this order.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

So that is our mantra for today.

And let's begin.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

I'm sorry.

Please forgive me.

Thank you.

I love you.

If you forget the order,

That's absolutely okay.

Let's go back to your breath.

Now.

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