Close your eyes.
Get comfortable.
And feel your breath.
Let it be easy.
And let that ease permeate the body as well.
Notice how the floor or the chair you're sitting in hold your weight.
Slowly begin to lengthen the inhale.
And extend the exhale.
Breathe in for four.
.
.
And out for four.
Breathe in 2,
3,
4 and out 2,
3,
4 Breathe in 2,
3,
4 and out 2,
3,
4 Breathe in 2,
And out.
Keep this breath just flowing away in the background.
As you continue to breathe.
This is a meditation if.
Like me.
You identify people-pleasing tendencies in yourself.
The longest time I felt so ashamed of this.
Like admitting to it somehow made me less yogic.
Less empowered.
Less worthy.
Less.
Was as though I was stumbling at the very first hurdle on the path to self,
The realization of which prompted shame.
There were times I was so lost in the thankless aim of trying to get others to like me,
I could not find myself.
Someone would ask me something simple like,
What do you want to eat for dinner?
And I couldn't answer.
I genuinely didn't know.
A facade of easy breeziness masking a deep insecurity.
I couldn't know what I wanted because I didn't know myself.
My intuitive whispers being drowned out by the alarm bells of hypervigilance.
It can feel so unjust.
Perhaps you felt the teeth-gritting letdown of others.
Maybe having blamed them for not meeting the incredibly high standards of giving you hold for yourself.
Perhaps then,
You blamed yourself for blaming them.
This is a cycle.
A way of thinking that can send us spiraling down into the depths.
Inevitability of its pathway reaffirmed by its repetition like a well-trodden path.
Many of us are self-aware enough to notice these tendencies in ourselves.
This can make the realization of these traits all the more frustrating when they inevitably resurface.
This fortunately,
And unfortunately,
Begins and ends with us.
There's nowhere to hide.
No one to blame.
I know this statement is unforgiving,
But it is also wonderfully empowering.
Somehow.
In this chaotic and oftentimes unfair world of ours,
We need to come to believe that we are worthy.
Worthy of our own joy.
Contentment.
And peace.
Instead of giving our last drips of our continually emptying cups to all those who cross our paths,
We can drink of our own.
And how much better might we be at making the world a better place where we to approach all of our interactions full,
Alive in our own integrity and without resentment.
There is a still,
Small voice that is constantly speaking to us.
It speaks in words and pictures and music.
This intuitive gut feeling can be drowned,
As I have done so many times.
Beneath all our noise,
Our truth is still there.
Still speaking.
We only need to listen.
And of course,
There will be days where we succumb to our familiar old ways.
And perhaps our task is then to have the same compassion for ourselves that we bend over backwards to bequeath to others.
Recenter.
And then try again.
I guess what I'm saying is,
I see you.
What a wonderful thing it is to alleviate the burdens of others.
What a noble cause.
Know that you can do all this and more whilst also having deep compassion.
And integrity for yourself.
I'm going to leave you in a few minutes of silence now.
And in this time,
You can breathe,
Or think,
Or ruminate,
Or plan.
You can mull over these words.
You can think about nothing in particular.
Are there any messages coming through from the stillness?
There are no wrong answers.
Start to become aware of your breath.
Lengthen the inhale.
.
.
And extend the exhale.
Feel the breath filling and leaving your body.
Let it be easy.
Start to bring a bit of movement back into your extremities.
Just wiggling your fingers and your toes.
And when you're ready.
Open your eyes.
Thank you so much for taking the time today.
Be kind to yourself.
And I'll see you next time.
