Be your own best friend.
This is a meditation that can help to increase self-compassion and self-love.
We often think of love as something we give to others.
However,
We must fill ourselves with love first in order to have some to give out to others.
This is a skill that can actually be practiced.
You can build up your curious and friendly muscles just like we strengthen our body muscles by exercising,
So you can help yourself feel good and cared about anytime you want.
For example,
If you're feeling a bit bored or sad or even mad,
Maybe your mom or dad is busy,
You don't have any friends around,
You can be your own best friend and give yourself whatever it is you need in that moment.
So let's practice this now through our meditation.
We're going to start by getting our bodies comfortable and closing our eyes.
Once you do that,
Take a big breath in,
Expanding your belly and making room for more air.
And then let it out fully and deeply.
Repeat that two more times.
And then you can return your breath to its regular self,
Finding its natural rhythm and pace.
Okay,
Now I'd like for you to bring to mind someone who cares for you and is kind to you.
Put a picture in your mind of this person and feel what it feels like to be around them.
Maybe a parent or friend or sibling,
Someone who likes or loves you,
Who gets you and understands you.
See them and do your best to feel what it's like to be with them.
It usually feels pretty good to have all that nice attention and love on you.
And something really interesting is that you can practice being like that with yourself.
You can be your own best friend.
And when you do this,
You can pay that same quality of attention to yourself and give yourself love.
Maybe you already do that sometimes.
So let's practice doing that now.
Pay attention to the fingers on both of your hands.
Notice do they feel tingly,
Or maybe wiggly?
Be curious and notice how they feel right now.
Like you're listening to them.
Notice as much as you can about how they feel and see if you can feel friendly and kind towards them.
Not judging how they feel as good or bad,
Just noticing.
So now let's do that with your arms.
Let your attention fill your arms like the bright warm light of the sun.
How do your arms feel inside?
Can you imagine that you're traveling right in there being curious and being friendly?
Now maybe you're having an emotional feeling too.
Like feeling a bit unsure or restless or even happy.
You can do the same thing with these types of feelings.
When you notice them,
You can think,
Oh,
Hi,
I see you're restless.
What is that like?
Whatever is happening,
It's okay.
I'm here for you.
You can check in and see if there's anything you need.
And if so,
You can offer that to yourself.
Whatever you feel,
Whatever is going on,
You can be your own best friend.
Listening and sending kind and friendly feelings to yourself.
Maybe giving yourself a hug or assuring yourself that everything's okay.
So let's keep going through your body.
What does your chest,
Stomach and back feel like?
Let your friendly attention be curious about this big part of your body.
How does it feel?
If there's a time that you can't quite feel friendly towards something,
It's okay.
You can remember how your parent or friend cares about you and what they may say or do.
Then you can do your best to feel what that feels like.
Now feel your legs all the way down to your toes.
Shine your friendly attention right into your legs and feet and toes.
You're right here right now giving your attention to your legs all the way down to your toes.
All right,
Now let all the love and caring and friendliness you have fill your neck and head and face.
Your head does a lot of work like thinking and eating and breathing and all kinds of things.
Be your own best,
Curious and loving friend and listen to how this part of you feels inside.
Okay,
To wrap things up,
See if you can feel your whole body all at once.
From the hair on your head to the tips of your toes to the tips of your fingers,
Be right here filling your whole body with friendliness and love no matter what you hear or see or smell.
You can be a best friend to yourself no matter what,
Anytime,
Not instead of having other friends.
But in addition to that,
In addition to all the love you get from the people around you,
You can give the same type of love to yourself.
Just like you can exercise your body by swimming or riding your bike,
You can exercise your loving muscles like we're doing right now.
They will get stronger and stronger so you can be your own best friend when you're feeling good or bad or anything in between.
Let's finish now.
Bring your attention back to your breath and take a deep breath into your belly again.
And as you release your breath,
You can let your eyes open gently and give your arms and legs a good stretch and congratulate yourself for practicing this.
And when you're ready,
You can get up and remember to take this feeling of curiosity and friendliness into whatever you do today.
