Welcome to this guided meditation on self-worth,
Identity and the freedom to be yourself.
Today I'd like to invite you to a different kind of meditation.
We're not necessarily here to relax or escape our thoughts or even to feel better.
I'd like to invite you here to understand yourself better.
And I want to begin this meditation by asking you a question.
How much of your life are you living for others?
Maybe there's people in your life that you imagine watching you,
People you want to impress,
People whose approval you secretly hope to earn.
Maybe this is someone who has not even been part of your life for many years.
And today we're here to explore a very simple question.
What are you trying to prove?
And you don't need to find an answer immediately.
And don't even try to force an answer at all.
Let's simply remain here in a curious state for whatever what might come up.
And if anything feels uncomfortable,
Remember that you can always open your eyes,
Pause this meditation,
And return to your surroundings,
Or let a question pass.
For now,
All I ask you is to listen,
Not just to my voice,
But to yourself.
So whenever you're ready,
Find a comfortable position.
And if you feel like doing so,
You may close your eyes.
And let's allow our body to settle.
We're going to use a gentle breathing rhythm to help bring attention into the present moment.
I'm going to ask you to breathe in through your nose for four seconds and breathe out slowly for six seconds.
There's no need to hold or force a breath or breathe more deeply than feels natural.
Let's just stay with the breath and see if we can guide it to flow.
Whenever you're ready.
Let's begin with an inhale.
And out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
And in,
2,
3,
4,
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
In.
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
In,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Out,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
See if you can keep up with this rhythm.
Out.
And in.
And out.
And in,
We're going to do this two more times.
Out.
4,
5,
6,
In 2,
3,
4,
Out 2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
In for and out.
Now allow your breathing to return to its natural rhythm.
Let's see if we can turn into our body and feel the support beneath our body.
Either the chair you're sitting on or the bed you're laying in.
And remember that for the next few minutes,
There's nowhere else you need to be.
Nothing you need to accomplish or do.
And nobody that you need to impress.
Whenever you feel your thoughts wandering in a different direction.
Use my voice to bring them back into the present.
Whenever you're ready.
I want you to imagine yourself five years from now.
Not an ordinary version of yourself.
But the version you've been working so hard to become.
This person is more successful,
More attractive,
More confident,
Wealthier.
More respected.
Maybe they're in a beautiful relationship.
Or perhaps they've finally achieved something that you've wanted for years.
Just take a moment to picture this person.
Notice how they look,
How they carry themselves,
Where they live and how other people respond to them.
Now I want you to notice something.
When you're imagining this future version of yourself,
Were you experiencing their life?
Or were you more focused on imagining how other people would see it?
Perhaps you pictured people admiring you.
Perhaps someone from your past regretting losing you.
Maybe your family finally being proud.
Or maybe strangers recognizing your success.
There's nothing wrong with that.
There's nothing wrong with wanting recognition.
But let's for a moment become curious.
Who's watching?
And now let's add something unusual.
To this visualization.
Imagine that everything you desire is still available to you.
The beautiful home,
The successful career,
The attractive body,
The exciting experiences,
The achievements.
There's one condition.
Nobody will ever know.
Nobody can see what you've accomplished.
Nobody can compliment you.
Nobody can envy you.
Nobody can be impressed.
You can enjoy everything you've created,
But you can never use it to change somebody else's opinion of you.
Now visualize that.
And ask yourself what changes.
Maybe you'll find that certain things that you were visualizing before suddenly feel less important.
Maybe there are certain things that still remain just as meaningful.
Take a silent little mental note of that.
And maybe you can find within yourself a sensation of resistance.
Maybe there's a part of you that wants to say,
But I want people to see what I've achieved.
And that's okay.
Don't judge that part of ourselves.
Let's just ask it a question.
What with their recognition.
Would it make me feel more important?
Would it make me feel wanted?
Would it finally make me feel good enough?
And let's add to this question by asking ourselves,
When?
When did I begin believing that I had to become something more to deserve that feeling?
That feeling of being important.
That feeling of being wanted.
That feeling of being good enough.
When you're searching for an answer to that question,
Let's allow our mind to drift backward,
Not searching for a perfect memory that explains it all,
Just noticing what comes up.
Maybe it's a moment when you felt overlooked.
When you were compared to somebody else,
When you were rejected,
Or when you felt that being yourself wasn't quite enough.
Or maybe there's no memory at all that appears.
And that's okay too.
Just maybe somewhere along the way.
You began to form.
A quiet conclusion,
Somewhere in your subconscious.
Saying,
If I become more successful,
They'll respect me.
Or,
If I become more attractive,
They'll want me.
If I become easier to love,
They won't leave me.
Or perhaps,
If I achieve enough,
I'll finally be enough.
Feel your body if there's any of these sentences that resonate with you on a different level.
Or maybe there's a different belief that comes up.
Because maybe one of these beliefs has been quietly shaping your decisions ever since.
Not necessarily every decision or every dream you've had but Maybe more than you realized.
And let's just take a curious look if we can imagine meeting the part of ourselves that first learned this belief.
You don't need to see a face,
You don't need to know their age.
Simply imagine sitting beside that part of you.
And instead of trying to fix it.
What were you afraid would happen if you were simply yourself?
What were you afraid would happen if you were simply yourself?
And see if anything comes up.
Without demanding an answer.
Maybe nothing comes up.
And if there does.
.
.
I'd like to invite you to meet it with.
Gentleness.
Compassion.
And while you remain looking at this younger part of yourself.
Consider how much effort it may have spent in trying to become acceptable,
Trying to be impressive,
Trying to be a chosen,
Trying to get everything right.
And maybe,
For the first time,
Right here,
Right now,
You can offer it a different possibility.
Not that success is meaningless,
Not that growth is unnecessary,
And not that other people's love doesn't matter.
But that your worth does not need to wait for an achievement.
And silently in your mind.
If these words feel true enough to explore,
Repeat them after me.
I am allowed to grow without hating who I am today.
I am allowed to grow.
Without hating who I am today.
I am allowed to succeed without needing to prove someone wrong.
I am allowed to succeed.
Without needing to prove someone wrong.
I am allowed to be loved without performing for it.
I am allowed to be loved without performing for it.
I can want more from life without believing that I am less.
I can want more from life without believing that I am less.
Now let's return to the future version of yourself that you imagined earlier.
See if you can find them again.
And visualize it in front of you.
The same success,
The same possibilities,
The same beautiful life.
But this time remove the audience.
Let the achievements belong to you.
Let the joy belong to you.
And let the experience itself be enough.
And ask yourself one final question.
If I had absolutely nothing to prove that.
What would I still choose to pursue?
That's it with that.
And if there are any insights that arise.
Make a mental note of them.
Now let's begin to notice our breathing again,
The feeling of our body.
The surface beneath you,
The sounds around you.
Let's take a big deep breath in through the nose.
And then we let it all go in one big sigh of relief.
Welcome back.
Maybe there's something within this visualization that we just did that stood out to you.
Feel free to grab a pen and a piece of paper and write it down so you can return to it.
Was this insightful?
And let me just clarify one thing before we go on with our beautiful day.
In this meditation,
We weren't trying to remove your ambitions.
Instead,
We were exploring what might be driving them.
And perhaps you've discovered that some of the things you want.
.
.
Might not even be yours.
Maybe they were attempts to earn a feeling.
And on the contrary,
Maybe there were some things that you discovered that were genuinely yours,
That even without an audience you would be.
Extremely joyous and grateful for achieving those things.
And let's see if in your mind you can differentiate the two.
And I'm not telling you to not pursue one or the other.
I'm just inviting you to be aware,
Aware of the hidden intention behind your actions.
Because you don't have to resolve it all today.
Just the awareness of it is enough for now.
And as you move through the rest of your day,
I invite you to notice the moments when you want to impress or explain or exaggerate or achieve or seek approval.
And don't criticize yourself for these moments.
Simply remain curious and quietly ask yourself questions.
Who am I trying to prove myself to right now?
What would I choose if I had nothing to prove?
And then whenever you're ready,
You can open your eyes if you haven't done that yet,
And take that question with you.
Thank you for meditating with me and I wish you a beautiful day.
