Welcome to the Winter Solstice Meditation for 2023.
This meditation will lead you through a space of consideration for both the dark and the light that exists within you.
I'd ask you to take a moment and consider making your heart your home for your awareness.
The heart that is always nurturing,
Accepting,
Compassionate,
And will offer unconditional love to whatever comes up in this meditation.
Take some soft,
Sweet breaths,
Noticing any movement in the lungs and the chest,
Around the heart itself,
Recognizing the flow of the breath and its ability to carry life into your body,
And to release,
Let go of whatever does not serve you on this longest day of darkness.
We'll explore the darkness within you on the physical level.
Is there anything that you don't accept about yourself,
A condition,
A pain?
Is there anything physically that you're distraught over or that you try to hide from others?
Is there any part of your physical being that you don't fully accept?
Keeping your awareness in your heart,
In your breath,
Anytime you need to.
Feel the movement,
The transition of the breath as it brings the gift of life and purifies,
And the support of that unconditional love in the heart.
Considering your own darkness,
Once again,
Is there anything mentally or emotionally that you have difficulty coming to terms with it in yourself?
A feeling,
Something you say to yourself,
That causes discomfort,
A reaction,
Perhaps thoughts about someone else?
In what ways does your own mental state,
Your own cognitive mind cause darkness within your being?
Explore those as both thoughts and the emotions that those thoughts create within your body.
Continue to recognize the safe space of your breath and the unconditional love of your heart.
Please consider any darkness that may dwell within your spiritual being.
What is your connection to your source,
To your higher power?
What gets in the way of that connection?
Is there anything about yourself that you don't admit on that higher spiritual level?
Do you have difficulty connecting with your higher purpose in this lifetime?
Do you struggle to find meaning beyond the human everyday life?
Use your breath like an open window.
Continue to refresh your heart to access that never-ending supply of self-compassion,
Acceptance.
As you continue to reflect on any darkness that dwells inside of you,
Physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally,
Or spiritually.
You have the choice to accept all that's dark inside of you or to release it in the time of the winter solstice.
There's a dullness to the earth,
A dormancy,
It's cold and dark.
But there's also a stillness and a space of hibernation,
Safety.
And that safety is within the energy of the heart.
As the earth holds on to and nourishes the seeds that it wants to grow in the spring,
You can do the same.
In Latin,
The word solstice means sun and to be still or to pause.
Allowing yourself to be present in your own thoughts,
Even the dark will begin to plant the seeds,
The seeds that we want to nourish.
And tomorrow we know that there are brighter days ahead as the light returns.
Sense of rebirth,
Renewal,
Ask yourself once again,
When you consider those dark spaces within your physical body,
How can you turn those into light?
Something you can say to yourself,
An affirmation,
Perhaps a goal,
Just a space of acceptance of what is gratitude for your physical being.
How can you invite the light into your physical body,
Even expanding the light of the heart itself from the cells within the heart to all of the cells of the body?
Allow that radiance to flow out through your muscles and your bones,
Your organs.
The light returns to your physical being.
Recall any darkness that you may have found in your mental and emotional being.
Are you able to create a different reality around that darkness?
Perhaps your darkness has to do with worry.
You can create a space of positivity for the future.
What is the best thing that could happen?
Rather than the worry that may hold you back in the darkness.
If your mental,
Emotional darkness has to do with the past,
Can you let go of any attachments to what has or hasn't happened?
Can you offer forgiveness?
Release yourself from the darkness of the past.
Again,
The option to create a positive mantra or affirmation.
Let it soak into your brain,
So much so that it begins to drip down into your heart,
Returning to the light of the heart and connecting the heart and the mind,
Allowing the brain to see the unconditional love within the heart.
Let that light guide your choices.
Recall any darkness that you may have sensed on the spiritual level.
Do you feel a disconnect from a higher source,
From your own divinity,
From that space in your heart?
What is it that you can do for yourself on a regular basis to recreate that connection to your higher self?
Is there a ritual,
Simple ritual,
That you can put in place for yourself that connects you to your own divinity,
And in doing so,
Gives you a sense of oneness with everything around you?
From your heart,
Make that promise to yourself to remember every day that you are a divine being in whatever way is most practical and kind and joyful for you and your awareness back into the heart center.
Take a few full,
Slow,
Deep breaths in,
Maybe even placing your hands on your heart.
Feel that sense of movement,
The clearing,
The awakening.
It is the rebirth and the renewal recognized within the cycles of the breath and the breath so lovingly surrounded by the lungs,
The heart cradled within the lungs.
Return yourself to the light every day and plant those seeds from your heart of loving kindness,
Peace,
And compassion.
