Return To Self-Love

A heart-centered meditation for self-love, healing, and remembering your true nature beneath fear, shame, overthinking, and self-judgment. Through mindfulness, reflection, and gentle guidance from the head into the heart, this practice invites you to soften your grip on control, reconnect to compassion, and remember that beneath all the conditioning, your essence remains untouched. You are, and have always been, love.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. Before we talk about self-love, I thought it was important to remember something deeper. And I'm just going to get right to it. You come from God, From the Creator, From the universe. You come from love. And so at your core, You are creation. Creation is love. And sometimes that's a hard concept to get in touch with. We separate ourselves from it because we live through stories, Through shame. There's overthinking, There's the need to perform or to protect. But your essence remains untouched. And love is not something you need to become worthy of. It's what you already are. A spiritual teacher of mine once said, Let my life be an example of love and compassion. And wherever in my life there is less than love and compassion, That's where my work lies. I think that's such a beautiful way to look at healing because it shifts the question from what's wrong with me to where have I forgotten love? So many of us carry shame around our setbacks, Especially in moments where we've betrayed ourselves, Lost ourselves, Or fell back into old patterns. There's a Buddhist teaching called the second arrow. The first arrow is the painful thing that happened. Maybe it's the heartbreak, The relapse, The mistake, The disappointment. But the second arrow is the suffering that we add after, Like I'll never change, I should know better, I'm not good enough. And that second arrow wounds us far more deeply than the first. And so self-love is learning not to keep shooting ourselves with the second arrow. It's accepting what's happened, What is, Taking responsibility where needed, And moving forward with compassion instead of punishment. So for this meditation, We're going to rest in our wholeness, Our whole-loveness, Because then we become limitless and we can reinvent ourselves with confidence and conviction, And release identities that no longer fit, And in doing so, Build upon the beauty of our lives while gently shedding whatever is less than love. So if your eyes are not already closed, You can close them now. And take a deep breath in through your nose, And exhale slowly out of your mouth. Again, Breathing in, Exhale, Letting go. Allow your shoulders to soften, And your jaw to unclench, And your body to arrive. And I'd like you to imagine that you could drop your thinking mind down into the space of your heart, As though your awareness could melt from your head down into the center of your chest. So bringing your attention to the space of your spiritual heart, Maybe there's a melty feeling here, Or an expanding feeling of light. Just resting here for a moment. And for the rest of this practice, We're going to be living our life from the heart space, And living this practice from the space too. Notice how that feels to be here, In a space where you don't have to earn love. You don't have to manage outcomes. You can simply rest in this space. I'm trying on a mantra here, Just quietly in your mind, Repeating what you need to remember, Which is, I am love. And even if it feels awkward or strange, You're dropping down from the mind and you're in the space of the heart. So letting the heart try on these words, I am love. I am love. And repeating this mantra, Seeing if you can feel the words, Not as something to convince yourself of, Something ancient, Being remembered. I am love. I am love. And if thoughts arise, If fear or attachment arises, Simply notice what feels tight, What feels heavy or icky. Is there anything that is between you and being love? It could be an outcome that you're trying to control, Fear of being rejected, A need to be chosen or liked, Or a need to do things right. And if any of those thoughts come up, We're going to gently offer it to the space of love. And you can repeat in your mind, I give this away to love. I give this away to love. And imagine love itself melting whatever it is like butter. And there's a softening, Any hard edges, Any tight grip, Any fear. And maybe with a little bit more ease, You can repeat the words again. I am love. I am love. Let those words settle into your body. And trusting that what is aligned in love will remain. And holding a prayer for what is not to gently fall away. Bring one hand to your heart now. Take a moment to feel your own presence. And feel the life within you. And repeating softly, I am love. I am worthy of love. I have always been worthy of love. Maybe this feels easy, Or maybe it feels uncomfortable. Maybe it feels unfamiliar. All of that is okay. Stay with it. And try on these words, You to you, I love you. Repeating to yourself, Seeing the love that you are, Creation itself, Whole from the beginning. I love you. I love you. Let your heart hear it. Your inner child, Let them hear it. Any parts of you still carrying shame. Let them hear it. I love you. You are not behind. You are not broken. You are full, Whole, Complete. You are love. And from this space of love, And from this space of immense effort, Especially when it's hard, You are absolutely limitless. The future is yours. And today, You have downloaded your highest self, Your self of love, Wholeness, Truth. Your self that lives in the space of the heart, Not the mind. That says to you, We can do this, We've got this. Take one final breath in, Long and full, Exhale, Release it slowly. And whenever you feel ready, Gently returning your eyes to open again, Letting them land softly on a color or texture somewhere in your space. Taking a long breath in again, With a soft gaze. As you exhale, Feeling a smile across your brow and across your lips, Beaming you so much love. You are love. Till next time.