The Secret Garden - Self-Care

The Secret Garden is a guided visualization meditation. This is a lovely relaxing journey into your inner self, using the symbol of a garden to represent your inner world. How do you take care of yourself? How do you love yourself? Is it time to take a rest and nourish yourself? Join me on this journey.

Transcript

Today we are continuing in the series of self-belief.

Many people look outside of themselves for care.

They look to their managers,

Their parents,

To partners or to friends to care for them,

To love and cherish them.

And if those expectations are not met,

Then feelings of abandonment and rejection can follow.

To look outside of for fulfilment is opening ourselves up to offence,

Disappointment and hurt.

I'm not saying that we can't look to others to feel encouragement and love,

But when we depend on that to bring us to self-completion,

Then we head for trouble.

Part of this self-belief series is also self-awareness,

Being aware of what is the truth for us and if necessary being prepared for change.

Surely believing in ourselves would mean we would take care of ourselves.

That would make sense.

Bring to mind something or someone that is precious to you.

It could be something materially valuable like jewellery or an expensive car or it could be a person,

An elderly relative or a child.

Think about what you do to take care of that thing or that person.

If you love something,

You look after it,

Guard it,

Protect it,

Tend to it.

This might be absolutely true for the thing you brought to mind.

You might keep your precious jewellery in a velvet encased box so it doesn't scratch,

Kept somewhere safe so it doesn't get stolen or lost.

You might keep your valuable car in a garage and have it valeted and cleaned regularly and take it to be serviced so it stays in tip-top shape.

You might do shopping for your elderly relative and take them to the hairdressers or go sit with them and spend time chatting with them so they feel special and needed.

Or you ensure your child has good nutritious foods and fresh air and exercise and you keep them under a watchful eye.

All to keep them healthy,

Safe and protected.

But what about you?

Close your eyes for a moment if you haven't done so already and think about the things that you have in place to take care of you.

Maybe you recognise lots of areas where you really do look after yourself.

The foods you eat,

The exercise you take,

The time you make for yourself,

The healthy choices in relationships and in every area of your life.

But maybe not.

Maybe you see where you don't take care of yourself at all in one or all of those areas.

Keep your eyes closed now and let's go on a journey within.

Notice the breath.

Inhaling.

Exhaling.

Do we ever take much notice of our breath throughout our day as this life giving force?

Just keep your attention here for a moment and have a sense of gratefulness for this simple yet essential force.

Notice with each exhale your arms and legs become heavier,

Softening,

Relaxing.

Your hands are heavy and totally relaxed.

Take your attention there to your hands.

What do you notice?

Can you feel the energy,

The tingling or the fizzing in your fingertips?

Can you feel the blood pooling around your palms?

Do you notice how heavy and relaxed they feel?

Feel yourself becoming heavy and relaxed around your shoulders,

Your neck,

Your head,

Your face.

Feel the jaw relaxing,

The muscles around the eyes and the forehead relaxing and allow any tension in the body to release with every exhale you make.

Any tiredness just goes.

Any knots of anxiety or stress dissolves.

Feel your eyes looking inward and down towards your stomach and imagine now yourself in front of a lift.

If you find this difficult to visualise see if you can just get a sense of my words,

A picture.

You now step into the lift and press the button to go down.

The lift slowly goes down and as it goes down with each number you feel yourself going deeper and deeper into relaxation.

The lift stops and as it opens you discover you are surrounded by a brilliant light.

This is the light of your own being.

In this light you feel loved,

Strong and capable of anything you want at any time and at any place.

You feel perfection.

It surrounds you seeping into your body and mind.

You feel wholly yourself right now and fully complete.

Nothing can disturb you in this place.

Your body feels perfect and your mind is soothed and relaxed.

You trust this light that calms and soothes.

Your emotions are balanced and you are simply enjoying this light.

Notice the shift in the energy now.

You look past the light and see there is a beautiful garden surrounded by tall trees.

It is very private.

No one was there before you and nobody apart from you knows this place.

This is your secret garden.

This is you.

The real you.

You notice a wall and a doorway in the wall and you walk through the doorway.

You see a bridge and you walk towards the bridge.

Allow yourself to notice the surroundings.

Listen to the sounds around you.

Maybe you hear birds,

Water rippling,

The gentle sound of a breeze,

The buzz of insects nearby.

These sounds are calming to you.

They are pleasant.

You stand on the bridge now and look at the breeze likely blowing in the long grasses on the riverbank.

The water gently bubbling over stones and the birds flying overhead.

These sights are pleasant for you.

Notice how these sights make you feel inside.

You feel the sun on your face.

Not too hot,

Just warming and a very slight cool breeze on your skin.

You feel the ground under your feet and you feel safe and held by the earth.

How does this feel for you to be safe and held?

What sensations does this cause in your body?

You notice a small bench to the side.

You go and sit down on your bench and take a good look at your garden.

Is it cared for?

Is it overgrown with weeds?

Is it as you want it to look?

Have a general look around and think what are the things that you would like to change?

What are the things that seem to pop up to you?

Is it how you would like it to be?

This garden is symbolic.

It represents you.

Consider how your garden is and how this represents yourself.

You see some tools against a wall.

Imagine going to these tools and doing what you need to do to tidy your garden up.

This is self-care.

You are looking after yourself.

You are doing what you need to do to take care of yourself.

Maybe you do some weeding,

Some clearing,

Some sweeping.

Rest now.

Sitting on the bench again and notice how you feel now you have done that little bit of care in your garden.

You are aware that the sun has gone down and you stare at the sky which is now bursting with bright stars.

You feel full of awe and wonder at the universe.

You hear the night sounds,

Birds roosting for the night,

Maybe a cricket or a frog.

These sounds are pleasant for you.

You look around at your garden and see there are lots of beautiful fairy lights.

It looks stunning.

The evening is warm.

You are safe here.

Remember this is your garden,

Your safe place.

This is a true self,

Yourself.

You can come here whenever you like and see what needs care.

Tend to your garden,

To yourself,

To maybe just sit and breathe and be.

And now you rise and look around.

You see the work done in your garden and you feel content.

You are glad you have tended to your garden.

You have a sense of satisfaction of knowing that this place is where your fulfilment is.

You love this place.

You want to tend to it.

This place,

You,

Your inner self is where your peace lies,

Where you can be cherished,

Encouraged,

Taken care of,

Loved.

In this place you are safe.

You are whole.

You have no need to look to others for what you have right here.

Right here you are complete.

You now move towards the lift.

You get in and press the button to go up.

As you move up through the floors you start to feel more energised and alert.

You can feel the energy move throughout your body,

Starting in your toes,

Moving up your legs,

Your body,

Your hands and arms,

The neck,

The head,

The face.

You feel alive,

Alert and well.

Take a deep breath in and slowly exhale.

Feel the energy in every part of your body.

Every fibre,

Every cell feels energised and alert.

The lift door opens and you step out feeling ready and energised.

You feel determined to keep your garden tended to make sure that it is a good and healthy representation of yourself.

And when you are ready,

Open your eyes.

Thank you.

Reviews

What a wonderful garden! Thank you.

Thank you ❤🙏
I enjoyed this very much! I'll be listening again when I need to recharge and reconnect.