Find a place where you can be completely honest with yourself.
Sit or lie down softly.
Close your eyes and follow your breath.
Follow the inhale and the exhale.
So take a slow breath in and on the exhale feel a tiny part of yourself unclench.
Now do it again.
Inhale and as you exhale imagine setting down a weight you've been carrying far too long.
You don't have to hold on to anything together right now.
This moment belongs entirely to you.
Begin noticing the tender places inside you,
The spots that feel bruised,
The ones you don't talk about.
The ones you push down because they hurt too much to touch.
Let them rise gently.
There's no need to run from them anymore.
Whisper softly inside.
I see you.
I know you're hurting.
Let your breath wrap around these places like warm hands holding something fragile with love.
If emotion stirs up,
If your throat tightens,
This is your body trying to heal,
Not fall apart.
Now bring to mind something you've been unable to forgive yourself for.
Don't analyze it.
Don't judge it.
Just let it appear like a memory floating to the surface.
Maybe it's a moment,
A choice,
A reaction.
A version of you that didn't know how to be better yet.
Let your heart see that version of you.
Look at them honestly.
Look at how much pain they were in.
How much confusion.
How much fear.
Now have some compassion rather than punish yourself.
Let yourself feel the truth of that,
That you weren't trying to ruin anything.
You were just trying to solve an emotion that you didn't know how to carry.
Now imagine this old version of you.
The one holding all the shame is standing right in front of you.
They look tired.
They look heavy.
They look like they've been waiting a really long time for you to see them.
Walk up to them.
Place your hands gently on their shoulders.
Feel their trembling.
Feel the way they soften because someone finally cares.
And say to them slowly,
I'm sorry you carried this alone.
You did the best you could,
Even when you didn't know how.
I'm not abandoning you anymore.
If tears come here,
Let them.
Let your body release the sorrow that is stored in silence.
This is not weakness.
This is your heart unclenching after years of holding on.
Now pull this version of yourself into a long,
Gentle embrace.
Feel their body collapse into yours.
All the shame,
All the tightness,
All the guilt melting because they're finally held.
Breathe with them and whisper,
I forgive you.
You were trying.
You were hurting.
And you deserved compassion.
I'm letting the weight go now.
See the shame lift from their back like a dark mist fading into soft light.
See them becoming lighter,
Younger,
And free.
See yourself becoming whole again.
Take a deep breath in and a long exhale that lets your body release whatever is still clinging.
Feel your chest opening.
Feel the heaviness loosening.
Feel space returning to your heart.
Place a hand over your heart and say,
I am forgiven.
I am allowed to begin again.
I choose to carry kindness instead of shame.
When you're ready,
Take one small,
Gentle breath and come back to the world a little lighter,
A little freer,
And a little more whole.
