Hey there,
It's Michael,
And welcome to a moment to pause,
Breathe,
Reflect.
In this meditation,
We will pursue something worth pursuing,
True love.
In other words,
Cultivate the love within us so we can ripple love out to the world.
Let me explain.
At the end of every meditation,
Blog post,
Video that I do,
I say the line,
Have fun storming the castle.
You may be familiar with the line.
It comes from one of my favorite movies,
The Princess Bride.
It's part of a two minute scene that includes so many wonderful qualities about life.
I say the line because it's a reminder to pursue something worth pursuing,
True love.
If you're familiar with the movie,
You know the line and you know the scene,
But if you're not,
Let me set it up for you.
In our movie,
Wesley is our hero.
He is pursuing his true love,
Princess Buttercup.
The only problem is she's about to marry Humperdinck,
Prince Humperdinck.
She's not happy about it.
Wesley's not happy about it.
And Humperdinck does not want Wesley to get in his way.
So he tortures Wesley.
Wesley's band of brothers finds Wesley and they think he's dead.
So they take him to Miracle Max because they need a miracle.
Miracle Max,
Played by the wonderful Billy Crystal,
Examines Wesley thinking he's all dead,
But he finds out he's not all dead.
He's mostly dead,
Which means that he's slightly alive.
So he continues his evaluation so he can create the best miracle.
So he fills Wesley's lungs with air and he presses gently down on his lungs.
He asks Wesley this question or these questions.
Hello in there,
What's so important?
What do you got here that's worth living for?
And as the air comes out of Wesley's lungs,
He says,
True love.
Now there's some debate as to what he says,
But he clearly says true love.
And a more noble pursuit is not known.
What's more noble than to pursue true love?
Now the scene also has wonderful qualities like resilience and overcoming self-doubt and coming together as a band of brothers,
Making the possible out of the impossible.
There even is some revenge in the scene,
Although I don't advocate for revenge,
But it has so many wonderful qualities that I say the line as a reminder to us all.
That even though life will send a lot of things our way,
We can still pursue true love.
We can still pursue the purpose that we all have and that is to love.
So in this meditation,
We will work on cultivating the love within us so we can ripple love out into the world.
So as we settle in,
I invite you to minimize any distractions so you can be present for this meditation.
Think of it as a gift from yourself to yourself.
I also invite you to take a moment to acknowledge yourself in our active,
Busy lives.
We often don't do that enough.
So take a moment here.
If it's the only moment of your day,
It's well worth it to acknowledge that you're showing up to work on pursuing true love,
True love for yourself and true love for others.
I'm glad that you showed up.
Thanks for doing so.
And when you're ready,
I invite you to find that position that feels dignified.
Chin up,
Crown on.
One that allows you to feel all the wealth that runs through you.
As we settle in,
I'm going to close my eyes,
But know that you're always at choice.
So you do you,
Boo.
You can leave them open or have a soft gaze if that makes you feel a little bit more comfortable and we'll drop in.
Just picking up the natural rhythm of our breath as we greet this moment,
Envisioning that our mind,
Body and heart are coming into alignment.
As it feels right,
You can take a healthy breath in,
Breathing out fully,
Holding at the top and then letting that exhale release ever so slowly,
Sighing it out,
Allowing yourself to let go of all you need to let go of.
Allow yourself to sink a little bit deeper into your cushion or chair.
And you can offer your attention to your body,
Checking in with it at this moment in time.
You may notice areas of strength or maybe some areas of tightness and using your breath,
Allow them to ease and relax.
You may wish to relax your jaw,
Maybe lower your shoulders and put on your best Mona Lisa smile.
And I invite you to offer your attention to your heart center and look within,
See the spark that's within us all and using your breath,
Breathing in love and compassion and allowing the spark to burn brighter and start rippling throughout your whole being.
You may wish to check in by asking this question of your heart,
What do you need from me today?
What do you need from me right now?
With each breath in,
Breathing in self-love,
Self-acceptance,
Allowing your heart to grow stronger,
Providing more energy for that wonderful spark within you to burn brighter and to saturate every cell of your body.
And if it feels right,
You can bring your hands to your heart.
As you continue breathing in love,
Kindness,
Compassion,
Feel the energy of your love that's within you,
The energy of your compassion.
Coming back to the question,
What does my heart need from me right now?
With each breath in,
Offering that as a way to cultivate more love and more kindness within you.
And bringing in now our exhale,
We'll use our exhale as a way to share the love and compassion that's within us with all living creatures,
With Mother Earth and all beings.
As we're breathing in,
We continue to breathe in self-love and self-compassion and with each breath out,
Allowing your love and compassion for others to ripple out into the world.
Envisioning that it's connecting with others,
With your family,
With your friends,
With your work colleagues.
With each breath in,
Continuing to allow that spark to burn brighter within you,
Strengthening your heart,
Feeling the love that grows within every cell of your body.
With each breath out,
Watching your ripple touch lives halfway around the world,
In every corner of our planet.
If your mind is tiptoed away,
That's normal,
You're a human,
Without judgment,
Without wondering if you're doing this right.
With love,
Gently come back to your breath,
Breathing in compassion and with each breath out,
Sharing it with the world.
And you may wish to use some mantra to help you focus.
With each breath in,
You can repeat out loud or to yourself,
May I be loved.
And with each breath out,
To yourself or out loud,
Share,
May you be loved.
Breathing in,
May I be loved,
Breathing out,
May you be loved.
And as we begin to round out this pause,
Breathe,
Reflect moment,
I invite you,
If they're not already here,
To bring your hands to heart center,
Place your hands over your heart,
As we reflect on how we can ripple more love,
More compassion within us and with all living creatures.
As we travel together,
How can we be loved?
How can we pursue true love?
Even when obstacles that are normal part of life get in our way temporarily.
What does it mean to you to be loved?
And when you're ready,
I invite you to come back to the room.
You can open your eyes,
Maybe do a little stretch,
Wiggle those beautiful fingers and toes.
I hope you enjoyed this moment to pause,
Breathe,
Reflect.
Remember that life will give us certain challenges.
We'll have moments of self-doubt.
We may be faced with an obstacle that seems impossible to get over,
But with the right people around us,
With the right perspective,
The right self-narrative,
We can still pursue the one thing that's worth pursuing,
The purpose that we all have to love,
To pursue true love.
And I also hope this meditation helps you understand why I say have fun storming the castle after every meditation.
A reminder to us all to pursue the things worth pursuing in life,
Even when life gets a little bit challenging.
So between now and next time we practice together,
If you do have a challenging moment,
Slow it down,
Come back to your breath and know that you got this because you have survived 100% of your challenging moments.
And I have a hunch you're going to get through the next one because you have so much wonderful within you that allows you to do hard things.
So you got this and we've got you.
And don't forget to have fun storming the castle.
I look forward to practicing with you again shortly.
I love you for showing up.
Thanks for doing so.
