Cherished Memories Inspiring Strength And Compassion

Henrik conducts free online meditations every week with a group open to new participants. Here is a live recording from one of the sessions.

The meditation begins with gentle relaxation, guiding you to release tension and awaken your senses.

You then reflect on a cherished memory from the past year, immersing yourself in the positive emotions and qualities it evokes.

Returning to the present moment, you engage in zen breathing, experiencing deep tranquility.

Looking ahead, you envision a hopeful future, recognizing the inner strengths that will guide you.

The practice continues with compassion, extending loving-kindness to a difficult person, an easy person, and yourself.

The meditation concludes with deep, calming breaths, leaving you with a profound sense of peace and clarity.

Transcript

Take a few deep breaths with your belly. If you want to, You can put your hand on your belly and feel it moving in and out. I will give suggestions during this meditation and you will always be free to choose whether you want to do them or if you don't want to do them. If you want to go deep or if you want to stay more shallow, It's all up to you. Rub your fingers through your face and feel how your face is relaxing. Gently massage your skull and feel how your skull is relaxing. When you're ready for it, Move to your neck and feel how that is relaxing as you massage it gently. Shoulders, Upper parts of your arms, Thighs, Feel how they relax as you massage them. And come back to breathing with your belly. Sense if you can feel the calmness, The oxytocin flowing from this kind of breathing through your body. And feel what it's like to be you right now. Do you have any feelings just in your belly, Somewhere else in your body? Does your feeling have a shape or a form, A surface, A color? Is it constant or is it shifting as you focus on it? And what is it like for you to have this feeling in you, This unique experience called qualia, What it's like to be you right now? And come back to breathing with your belly. We will now activate the senses. With closed eyes, What visual impressions do you get? Is it pitch black or can you see any light or any colors? Is your visual field broad or narrow? Is it constant or is it shifting as you focus on it? Let's move from the visual landscape to the audioscape. What sounds can you hear right now? What is the closest sound you can hear? What's the most quiet sound you can hear? Notice how you embraced the sounds and made them a part of your meditation rather than seeing them as a disturbance to your meditation. What sensory impressions do you get from your skin? Can you feel any textile anywhere? What does it feel to feel skin against skin? What is it like to feel air against your skin? Do you feel any pressure from below? Can you feel that as being held by something bigger than yourself? Do you get any taste impressions? Where do you get them? Do you get any smell impressions? Or what is it like for you to search for a certain impression but find nothing and be in this nothingness? And come back to breathing with your belly and feel what it's like to be you right now. Imagine a happy memory. You can choose how deep you want to go, If you want to go really far back or if you want to stay quite close to today. Visualize this memory. What does it look like around you when you are in this memory? What does the ground look like in this memory, Or the floor? What does it look like in front of you? What does it look like to the left? What does it look like to the right? Do you have any people in this memory? If you have that, Visualize them. Can you visualize what you are wearing? Can you visualize what you look like? Can you smell anything in this memory? Or taste anything? Can you get any sensory impressions from your skin? Any sounds? Is anyone saying anything? What does it feel like to be you in this memory? If you have any people in your memory, What is it about them that you like the most? Feel into if any of those qualities were still in these people as they continued their life. What qualities in you are coming alive in this memory? Do you feel that you still carry some pieces of those qualities? Being in this memory, Is it anything you would like to say to the people in this memory? Imagine how you say this to these people. Being this earlier person, This earlier version of you in this memory, Can you feel any message coming from those people to you? Visualize receiving that message. If it is a verbal message or if it is a hug or energetical message, Just feel into receiving that message. Being this earlier version of yourself, Is it any message that is coming to you that you want to communicate to your current self? Visualize how you communicate that in whichever form you prefer. And feel what it's like to be this earlier version of yourself. Now come back to your current version of yourself. Feel if there's any message you would like to communicate to your earlier version of yourself. Visualize how you communicate that in your own way. Being your current you, Feel how you carry your past versions of yourself within you. And feel what it's like to be you right now. Take a few deep breaths with your belly. Feel how you have already activated more parts in yourself. And feel how you are already a more whole version of yourself. Feel if you have any software and softness anywhere in your body. Does this softness have a location? Does it have a shape, A color, A surface? Is this softness constant or is it shifting as you focus on it? Is there anything you would like to communicate to this softness? Listen if there's a message coming from this softness to you. Feel into how this softness can be helpful in your life. Feel if you have any hardness or tension anywhere in your body. Does it have a location? Does it have a form, A surface, A color? Is it constant or is it shifting as you focus on it? Listen if there's any message coming to you related to this hardness. Is it anything you would like to communicate to this hardness? Could this hardness in any way serve a purpose for you? Take a few deep breaths with your belly. Visualize yourself on your birthday party as you turn 80. You can visualize how you sit on a chair by a table. You can feel the chair below you. You can visualize the faces of the people sitting around this table. Visualize what's on your plate in front of you. Can you taste anything? Visualize what's in your glass. Can you smell anything? Can you hear the sounds of people chatting? Movements in the room, People eating? Can you feel the love from the group to you? Can you even feel the presence of some spirits of people that are no longer present? Visualize how one of the guests stands up to start a speech for you. People are getting quiet and this guest is starting a speech to you. Listen to this speech, How the guest is describing how your life has been, What hardships you've been going through, What learnings you've got, What accomplishments you have been through, What happy moments you've had in your life and what you're leaving behind, What you have created in this world, What you have shared with others and what qualities in you have been present in all this. The speech is coming to an end and the guest is raising the glass to a toast in your honor and adding a hooray together with all other guests. The guest is sitting down and another guest is standing up, Friend or family or colleague. The new guest is describing your challenges you've been through and the learnings you got from them. In this perspective your challenges seem manageable and you're grateful for the learnings they brought and how they expanded you as a person. The guest continues and describes all happy moments or at least several happy moments that you've been through in your life. Listen to the guest describing what you have given to the world, Your footprint, What you're leaving behind. Listen to the guest describing the qualities in you that have been present through your life. Listen to the guest describing the thankfulness and what this guest and the people by the table have appreciated about you and how they feel about having had you in their lives. The speech is coming to an end and the guest is raising the glass for a salute to you. You lean back in your chair, Look at one person at a time, Feel the love from this person and the gratefulness to have had you in your life, In this person's life, And feel your own gratefulness for having had this person in your life. Being in this birthday party, What does it feel like to be you? Looking back at your life, Do you have any message to your current you? Visualize how you communicate that message to your current version of yourself. Come back to your current version of yourself and feel how this older version is part of you. What does it feel like to be you right now in your current version of yourself? Visualize the nearest time ahead of you. Do you feel any special qualities in you shining in those in the current time ahead of you? Visualize a happy situation in the time ahead of you. What are your visual impressions in front of you in this situation? Is there anyone else in this situation? Visualize that or those people. Is there any sounds? Is anyone saying anything? If you have any people in this situation, What qualities in them are shining in this situation? What is shining in you in this situation? Being in this future situation, What does it feel like to be you? Is there anything you would like to say to the people around you in this situation? You can visualize your future self communicating that to them. Being in this future state, Is there anything you would like to communicate to your current you? Visualize communicating that in whichever form you prefer. Come back to your current you. And if there's anything you would like to communicate to your future self, Visualize doing that. And come back to yourself. What does it feel like to be you right now?