Welcome to this practice in giving yourself permission to be human.
I'm Mary Beth Hyland,
Author of Permission to be Human,
The Conscious Leader's Guide to Creating a Values-Driven Culture,
And teacher here on Insight Timer.
The following practice was previously a live guided meditation here on Insight Timer that I've now repurposed so that you can listen to it on demand.
Should it resonate with you,
I invite you,
Please join us for our future weekly live sessions.
You can also check out the course and join our official Insight Timer group here called,
You guessed it,
Permission to be Human.
Each of these practices is based on the Permission to be Human pledge,
Which is six lines of statements that are intended to be received as promises made to yourself so that you can shift from being overly critical,
Unkind,
And judgmental of yourself to then activating higher levels of self-awareness,
Self-compassion,
And self-care.
Throughout the practice,
You're invited to notice what your thoughts,
Feelings,
And physical sensations are when you hear each line of the pledge,
And then meet that awareness with self-compassion,
Particularly if you find that you're triggered into judgmental thoughts of yourself.
Simply choose to observe those thoughts and feelings instead of being carried away by them.
From that place of self-awareness,
You can then ignite self-compassion by simply noticing and responding with a statement like,
I hear you.
I know this is an area of my life that I want to get more curious about,
And I'm grateful to have that awareness now so that I can keep giving myself permission to be human.
And finally,
Igniting that self-care in a form of taking action towards what arose.
How can you meet yourself where you are and take a baby step towards a new possibility?
That is the gift of giving yourself permission to be human.
And in today's practice,
You'll have the special gift of diving more deeply into the promise to honor what makes you perfectly imperfect.
Let's begin.
Just begin to get yourself comfortable in your seat or laying down,
Whichever is best for you.
I personally like to lay down in the mornings when I meditate first thing.
So just tune in and listen to what's best.
Maybe you want to roll your neck,
Your wrists,
Your ankles.
Just take a minute to let your body know you're in this together.
And once you're ready,
You can come to stillness,
Close your eyes or gaze down,
And make a choice as to whether you'd like to have your palms facing up to receive energy or your palms down to ground.
Now let's just begin to elongate our breath.
And as long as the passage is clear,
Breathing in and out through your nose,
Really noticing the breath going all the way down to the belly.
Noticing the belly rise and fall.
Noticing how your ribs expand and contract with each breath.
Noticing the temperature of the air as it enters and exits your nostrils.
And perhaps you can even notice the tiny hairs in your nose as they move with each breath.
Now you can join me in repeating,
I breathe in peace on your inhale and I breathe out stress on your exhale.
I breathe in peace.
I breathe out stress.
Continuing to use that affirmation as much as it serves you.
Let's now bring our attention to our face.
Just doing a light body scan,
Simply notice anywhere that you can soften.
Perhaps around the eyes,
Jaw,
Forehead.
Just taking a moment,
Utilizing your exhale to breathe out anything that isn't serving you and using your inhale to replace it with a softness of peace.
Now continuing your scan down through your neck and shoulders.
Notice if even you can drop your shoulders a centimeter more.
Trying to utilize your breath and now scanning down through your torso,
Arms,
Back,
Belly.
Simply noticing,
Activating that self-awareness and making any adjustments that feel good letting your body know you heard the message it's giving you.
Now continuing down into your seat,
Legs.
Sending your breath anywhere that will serve your body.
Simply allowing yourself to soften,
To let go,
To release.
And finally all the way down to your feet and your toes,
Really feeling this grounding into whatever is beneath you,
Feeling safe and secure right here and right now.
And on your next inhale,
I invite you to join me in bringing your hands to your heart space.
And connecting with your heart,
Really feeling and noticing everything you can.
Perhaps you notice the cadence,
How loud or soft,
The feeling of the palm of your hand and your heart beating through your skin on your chest.
Bringing all your awareness into this vessel of love,
This vessel of possibilities,
This keeper of our values.
And gratitude for this precious heart that beats just for you.
And in a moment,
I will begin to recite each line from the Permission to Be Human pledge.
And you are invited to repeat it aloud or in your mind and then notice what comes up for you in your body,
In your feelings,
In your thoughts,
Your emotions.
Finding space for a higher level of self-awareness met by self-compassion and self-care.
And if at any time throughout the practice your mind begins to wander,
Just remember that's a part of giving yourself permission to be human.
It is inevitable.
And so you meet that awareness with compassion.
You simply come back to your breath,
Back to the beating of your heart,
And back to my voice.
As many times as you need.
No judgment,
Just awareness,
Compassion,
And care.
Let us take a deep breath here and begin.
I promise to honor what makes me perfectly imperfect.
I promise to meet myself where I am,
Not where I want to be.
I promise to suspend judgment and ignite compassion.
I promise to set healthy boundaries to protect my energy.
I promise to prioritize my well-being by embodying my values.
And in doing so,
I promise to give myself and others permission to be human.
Another big breath here.
And for today's practice,
We'll dive more deeply into the first promise.
I promise to prioritize what makes me perfectly imperfect.
And just like that,
I was able to show my own perfect imperfections.
The promise is to honor what makes me perfectly imperfect.
So as you consider what it means to honor what makes you perfectly imperfect,
I invite you to get curious about what pieces of you describe this part of what makes you uniquely you.
What is perfectly imperfect about who you are in this moment?
Where you are in this season of life?
Where might you be overly critical,
Harsh,
Or judgmental about yourself that is simply an aspect of what makes you perfectly imperfect?
Something to fix or change,
Simply something to embrace and own.
All right.
Now imagine if your best friend came to you with this very same perfect imperfection and they were being very unkind to themselves about it.
What would you say to them?
How would you support them in their time of need?
Now,
I invite you to take that very same compassion and point it right back at yourself.
What would it look like?
Feel like?
And like?
To truly honor what makes you perfectly imperfect through self-love,
Compassion,
And care.
I invite you to give yourself that right now.
Give yourself the words you need to hear that nobody knows but you.
Give yourself the love that you can fill yourself up with when you choose to invest back into your heart and your soul and your well-being.
Choose to be your own best friend.
Using yourself unconditionally the way you already do with your loved ones.
And bring a smile to your face knowing that this is your choice and what a gift that choice is.
A choice you get to make for yourself as many times as you need over and over and over again.
Bring what makes you perfectly imperfect and truly giving yourself permission to be human.
At the sound of the chime,
I invite you to take a final big deep breath,
Really pulling in all of those feelings of peace and possibility.
And then one big exhale out of anything you want to release.
When you feel ready,
You can slowly wiggle your fingers and toes,
Flutter your eyelids open.
Just take however much time you need to bring yourself back.
