Cool,
You made it.
Sitting comfortably or if you prefer standing or lying down that's totally okay.
What's important is your spine is straight and you feel relaxed,
Able to breathe naturally and normally.
Let your breath rise and fall naturally however it occurs to you.
Park what was going on before you press play and I mean really just leave it behind.
I know that's easier said than done.
This practice is going to help us let go of whatever's going on and keeping us blocked from performing the way we want to perform.
Connecting with our teammates,
Our families and friends.
We're going to use some good old empathy to do that.
What is empathy?
I believe empathy is the ability to forgive and let go.
It's to acknowledge that we all make mistakes.
We're hardest on ourselves and when we're hard on ourselves we're also hard on others and this shows up everywhere,
Particularly at work.
If you haven't already done so,
I invite you to close your eyes and just connect with your breath.
This can simply be starting to become aware of where the breath enters the body and how you experience it.
Connecting with the breath is a great way of just becoming present and what's happening now.
Just listen to my voice and experience what it's like to breathe.
Let your mind wander.
Don't try and control it.
Just observe where your thoughts go.
We all have a little voice inside our heads.
It's that one that doesn't always have nice things to say about us and about others.
That little voice is there really just to protect us.
At the heart of our psychology is this notion of survival.
Our brain's job is to keep us alive and that little voice inside our heads is just one of the ways in which it does that.
The thing is we kind of think that that little voice is us when in fact it's not.
For example my little voice is saying I bet they don't like this mindfulness practice or you're wasting your time.
Give it up.
Stop doing this.
No one really cares about mindful performance.
It's what my little voice says.
You see a way of getting past that little voice is just coming to understand that the little voice inside our head is no more real than any other thought we have.
Where are you being hard on yourself?
Where are you being hard on others?
Breathing normally?
Just noticing the breath come in.
I want you to create a space in your mind where you just scan through the thoughts as they arise looking for where you are being hard on yourself.
Negative,
Destructive,
Unkind,
Not generous.
I'm gonna give you a few minutes to do this.
It might feel a little bit uncomfortable.
Just sit with it knowing that whatever comes up is totally cool.
When you find a thought that you don't like just bring some forgiveness,
Some empathy to it knowing that all it is is your brain trying to have you survive.
Say thanks but no thanks.
All right.
How you doing?
Take some courage to look in those areas perhaps that you don't want to look and look at that little voice for what it is.
Just surround those thoughts and feelings that feel negative that you want to give up that you don't like with that empathy,
Compassion and warmth and repeat the words I let it go.
I let it go.
I let it go.
It might feel a little bit weird or uncomfortable but no one else can see what's going on in your mind so just go for it.
Play with it.
What would it be like to be free of that little voice that's holding you back?
What would it be like to be a little kinder to yourself and the people around you?
When you're ready just take a breath in slowly,
Deliberately starting to become aware of your surroundings and in your own time open your eyes.
Thanks for playing my game,
Developing a little bit of empathy and compassion for yourself and those around you and may not feel normal or natural to do this kind of thing.
So thanks for trusting me and taking the time to hang out.
