I was thinking earlier about Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
May Her Memory Be a Blessing,
And I was thinking about how our lives are such a blessing to each other as well as to ourselves.
It's good to be able to be really present with ourselves and to see what is it that really lights me up and what is it that I could share in the world.
It might be something very personal,
It doesn't have to be on a big stage.
Just how can I share myself and my life as a blessing for other people?
Even if you haven't been seen in your whole life,
You could see yourself right now.
Notice your whole body.
Part of seeing ourselves is seeing and being present with our body,
Our nervous system,
Our breath,
The thoughts in our mind,
The nitty-gritty of life as a human being.
We can see ourselves right now and our life as a blessing.
Because of the way our nervous system has a negativity bias,
It would be very normal for things to come in that were critical or the inner critic.
Well,
It's not such a blessing,
Or I could do better,
Or all of those things that sometimes we really give ourselves a hard time about.
So for this particular inquiry,
See if you could let that really move to the background.
It's just kind of that junk mail that we really don't need to spend our time reading.
Focus on your experience right now.
My life is a blessing.
Even with your heart and in your heart,
In your body,
It might be a blessing to the person that you see on the street on your walk that you smile at.
It might be the kindness that you show to people.
It might be that you're really working on being kind to yourself and that's starting to just really shift your energy,
Your relationships.
One of the effects of trauma is certainly that we disconnect and it's more difficult to connect.
It might not be so much the inner critic,
But maybe we go into kind of a freeze of,
Well,
It's not really safe for me to connect,
Or I really regret that I haven't been able to live my life more freely,
Or instead of thinking about all of the times that we are kind,
Our mind might be coming in with,
Well,
You know,
I was pretty snippy with that person on the phone.
Just to notice this is how our systems work and none of us are perfect.
It's not what being a human being is all about and really kindness is all we need.
Kindness with ourselves helps us to connect with ourselves,
Helps us to connect with each other and that's really all we need.
Let's go into the body,
Relax the forehead and eyebrows.
Let go of any worry,
Any tension,
And just let your eyebrows soften as you breathe out.
Notice the coolness of your breath as you breathe in,
The warmth of your breath as you breathe out.
If you notice that you're holding your breath,
Relax your belly,
See if you could let there be a bit more ease in your breath.
Notice how you can feel the breath as it comes in through the back of your mouth.
Relax your tongue to the floor of your mouth.
You're clenching your teeth,
Put a bit of space top to bottom of your lower jaw round and really let the hinges of your jaw soften.
Right now we're not speaking,
We're not holding in our speech,
We're not managing our speech,
We're just relaxing the mouth.
Bring your attention down into your throat,
The front of your neck,
The sides of your neck.
Our shoulders often hunch up and brace against danger or threat so we can move our shoulders around a bit.
We could lighten the load.
Just let your shoulders soften as you breathe out,
Let a wave of relaxation come down from the sides of your neck into the tops of your shoulders and then flow down through your arms and hands,
Fingers,
Fingertips.
Notice the back of your neck,
The muscles of the upper back,
The back of your shoulders in between your shoulder blades behind the heart center.
Let your attention continue to flow down through your back,
Your mid and lower back,
Down through your legs.
Notice your legs from your thighs,
Your calves,
Your feet.
We perform our love and duties and action in the world through our bodies and a lot of that is through our hands and feet,
Our arms and legs,
As well as our brain and our heart.
We bring our whole body into action in the world.
Be aware of everything that's going on in that space.
See if you could connect with your whole body.
And even if your body isn't perfect,
The way it looks or the way it functions,
See if you could just tune in with my body is a blessing.
I appreciate the goodwill my body has towards me even if it doesn't operate perfectly.
I can connect with goodwill with my body.
Bring your attention into your belly and notice your breath again.
It's so helpful to anchor to that smooth flow of breath,
The rise and fall of the belly,
The flow in the nostrils.
And then come back into the heart center.
Relax all the muscles of the chest,
The front and the back.
Let's just take a moment in the heart center.
My life is a blessing.
We can connect with our own goodwill,
Our own goodness.
And maybe we can even connect with loving ourselves.
Notice your breath.
Notice your heart.
And just notice,
Run through the last 10 or so minutes like a little movie.
What came up?
Was it easy?
Was there something that surprised you?
And then let go of the practice.
Be aware of your whole body again,
Head to toes.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes.
