In today's society,
Sometimes we get so caught up with doing that it becomes an ingrained habit within us to constantly be on the go,
To be doing more.
When was the last time that you gave yourself permission to simply be?
When was the last time that you spent a few moments or half a day or even a day to just tune into what's going on for you beneath the surface?
When was the last time that you met with yourself to just be,
To connect with the core of who you are?
This idea of being versus doing is a fundamental skill and strategy to help with your healing process.
After somebody has gone through trauma,
It becomes ingrained in us to continuously be doing.
Sometimes it's a protection mechanism to avoid sitting with the feelings of discomfort of our past.
Sometimes it's our way to survive because if we allowed Pandora's box to open,
We don't trust that we'd be able to handle facing our trauma.
Sometimes we're afraid to meet ourselves because after the experience of trauma,
It's not uncommon to view yourself as being tainted or broken or in need of fixing or that you're somehow the cause or to blame for what happened.
We become experts at doing and we lose sight of the importance and the value of being.
When I ask you this question,
Take a moment to reflect on it.
When do you feel most like yourself?
When I say most like yourself,
I mean that uninhibited,
Free-flowing essence of who you are.
When does that person shine through or has it shone through?
How might you reconnect with the essence of who you are?
How might you start to rebuild the connection with yourself that perhaps you've been denying yourself for so long because of fear or regret or a self-criticism or self-blame is forcing you to be doing rather than being?
When are you most like yourself?
When are you being?
What is the essence of who you are?
Knowing that you are not your trauma,
That you are way more than that.
Knowing that you are not your thoughts,
You are way more than that.
Taking a couple of moments now to meet yourself where you're at.
Find yourself in a comfortable seated position or lying down,
Whatever feels most natural to you in this moment.
Making whatever adjustments that you need to so that you can fully settle in.
Scratching that itch,
Brushing that hair out of your face,
Adjusting your clothing,
Whatever you need to do so that you can be.
When you're ready,
Gently draw your attention to your natural flow of breath right now in and out of the body.
What might the quality of your breath be telling you in this moment in terms of how you're feeling?
For just a couple of moments,
See what it feels like to pay particular attention to the sensation of fully exhaling.
Perhaps drawing a little bit of force by drawing the tummy into the spine and just allowing yourself to release and move breath out of your body.
And whenever you're ready on your next in breath,
See if you might be able to direct the breath all the way into your heart center.
Notice what it feels like to direct the breath to this area and focus the breath in to the space of where the heart lives.
And whenever you notice the mind begin to wander or get distracted or hooked to a thought or emotion or worry,
Just gently acknowledge that it existed,
Perhaps identifying what distracted you.
And on your own time,
Just softly and non-judgmentally redirecting your attention back to the sensation of directing your breath to your heart.
It's not uncommon when we move from doing to being that the mind gets a little threatened.
It has to try a little bit harder or be a little more sneaky to try and distract you from tuning into the sensation of just being.
And so whenever you notice that the mind has trailed off or wandered,
See if you might be kind,
See if you might be accepting,
See if you might be non-judgmental by simply redirecting,
Turning your attention softly and gently back to the sensation of directing your breath to your heart.
You're welcome to continue taking as many breaths as you need to,
To fully experience the sensation of being with the core essence of who you are.
And it may take practice.
And so how might you draw a sense of being into your day today that you haven't done before?
How might you slow down or sit with or be with the moment exactly as it is?
I invite you to try and practice the sensation of being in a positive circumstance today and also building the mind muscle of being when a negative circumstance emerges.
And so instead of trying to fix things or change things or wish things were different,
Can you be with it exactly as it is?
Thank you for tuning in with me today.
I wish you an amazing day of being and have a great day ahead.
