"Sensing Innate Goodness" Meditation

Dr. Michael McGee's "Sensing Innate Goodness" meditation. With more than 30 years of experience in psychiatry, Dr. McGee specializes in integrating psychiatric treatment with spiritually informed interventions and practices. He is the creator of Awakening Therapy, a contemplative-relational approach to psychiatric treatment, and The WellMind Method, a practice that teaches people how to use love to heal wounds caused by trauma and neglect.

Transcript

This is a practice for sensing our innate goodness.

We are all born with a basic sense of our goodness,

But neglect and trauma can damage this.

This simple practice can restore this sense of your innate goodness.

To begin,

Get grounded and present with the presence practice.

Then,

Imagine yourself as a child.

If you can,

Look at a picture of yourself as a young child.

It's good to carry one with you.

When you look at this picture,

See your innocence.

Sense your original goodness.

Now,

Merge your sense of yourself as a child with your sense of yourself now.

Sense deep into the innate core of goodness within you.

Sense your core perfection.

See clearly,

If you can,

The life experiences that have damaged this sense of goodness.

Feel compassion for yourself as you would for any innocent young child.

This is a great little practice for piercing through the illusion of self-hate and countering that core feeling of being bad or unlovable.

You may find it helpful,

Again,

To carry with you a picture of yourself as a child to look at from time to time when you have feelings of unworthiness.