Welcome to your daily meditation.
Today's meditation is inspired from a recent conversation I had with a wonderful spiritual guide,
Sheena Denise.
In my conversation with her,
What I realized was I hadn't been doing much for taking care of myself in terms of self-preservation.
In today's practice,
I'm gonna take you to a place of recognition that selflessness and the act of taking care of oneself in a selfless manner is not selfish.
Often when we think about giving ourselves attention,
We think of that as selfishness and they're actually quite different.
So self-preservation is about protecting oneself,
Ensuring survival,
And that doesn't have to be something that takes place all the time,
But it's about setting limits or boundaries with an act of kindness.
So when we're being selfless,
It's more about a process and it can also come with experience,
With practice over time.
So it isn't something that just naturally appears.
So let's get comfortable,
Shall we?
Sitting up nice and tall,
Ensuring that the spine is lengthening through the crown of the head.
Perhaps you can feel this weight being lifted off the shoulders and just noticing if you're already hunched forward and can you draw the shoulders back,
Spreading up in the collarbones or perhaps your the knees might be supported by a blanket or perhaps cushions.
Letting your seat feel heavy,
So feeling like your sitting bones are an anchor here.
The hands are resting upon the thighs and feel the weight of the hands here.
Option to close the eyes.
Take a nice deep breath in and exhale through the mouth.
For the remainder of your practice,
You can take your breaths in and out through the nose.
That's a complete option for you.
Self-preservation.
It's an act of survival.
It's protecting yourself from something that might be harmful.
That includes suffering.
And sometimes that experience of suffering is something that we do to ourselves.
Often we think that being focused on the self through an act of self-preservation can be a bad idea,
A bad thing.
When in fact in order to show up in the world with strength in resilience,
We might actually need to take care of ourselves first.
It's not a bad idea to preserve your energy.
It's also just a reminder to not get caught up with someone else's story.
So as you're sitting into this moment,
Tune in and connect with your breath.
Breathing in,
Finding peace and strength.
Breathing out,
Letting go.
Anything you're holding on to that might be preventing you from being here with yourself.
Continuing this flow of breath.
Being mindful that this practice is the choice.
And if you find your mind racing,
Try not to get automatically pulled into a story.
Whether that's your story or someone else's,
Something that somebody else has shared.
Stay focused in this experience.
And as you sit here now,
You might envision a light and you can choose whichever color it is.
For example,
It could be a white light or a glowing golden light and that it's something that's starting from the crown of your head and entering into your body and providing almost like a tingling sensation down to the fingertips.
You can almost feel it coming off your skin.
This light is a form of protection,
A layer for you.
Almost like a shield.
Breathe in and feel that warmth or tingling sensation.
And for anything that's not serving you,
Let it go through the feet,
Let it go through the base of the spine.
As if you're returning that energy from whence it came.
As if this light has actually reached into every part of your body and actually enables you to be radiating with this beautiful light that shields you,
That strengthens you.
And from this place,
You're still able to see through it and almost filter out anything that doesn't help you or perhaps may cause you harm.
You can exercise discernment,
Filtering in what you need in this moment and not letting anything penetrate through this filter,
Through this net that may cause you suffering.
And allow this radiating light to perhaps grow larger.
You might even be able to extend it to the space you're sitting within,
To your home and to other people.
Recognizing that you're preserving your energy and even recharging through this light.
And that this light starts to grow in exposure to offload any stress or burnout or any feelings that may impact your ability to provide more.
Whether that's to yourself or to other people.
You want you to think about this light around you to be a form of a boundary.
A way for you to connect and know what you're able to tolerate and also the things that you're not.
Tuning in to any sensations or feelings you might have,
Just observe them as cues.
Things that might perhaps take you away from the opportunity to stay protected by the boundaries you've created.
Give yourself the permission you need to be in this place,
To be deserving of this experience.
And let the things that are coming up be opportunities for you to be self-aware.
And now I want you to bring to mind anything that's important to you for your own well-being.
Things that would perhaps make you happy or make you feel stronger.
And let those be other reinforcements or opportunities for you to set not only boundaries but a course forward that comes from a motivation to take care of yourself first.
You're encouraged to stay here for as long as you need to.
Wishing you more strength and energy,
Peace of mind,
And a positive outlook to be not only more present with yourself but all around you.
Peace.
