You are awesome.
You are awesome.
And I'm not just saying that.
You really are.
And before you start rolling your eyes at me,
Or letting that little ripple of doubt turn into a tidal wave of reasons why you're not,
Let me tell you why you're awesome.
You could be doing anything right now.
But instead,
You're here,
Honoring a healthy commitment to yourself.
And that's just the start of it.
You're here learning,
Even if it isn't deliberately,
How to be more compassionate,
Empathetic,
Loving,
Mindful,
And more attuned not just to yourself,
But the world around you.
You're here making the world that bit more of a better place to be in,
By choosing to face whatever led you to this meditation today.
That takes strength,
Courage,
Willpower.
So what you've done by being here is so much more than simply just whacking on a meditation.
You're setting an example.
You're choosing nourishment over numbing.
You're kicking butt at life right now,
In this moment.
That's superhero stuff.
These aren't just things I'm plucking out from the air to try to make you feel better,
Or falsely inflate your ego to try combat low self-esteem.
Whether your mean old brain likes it or not,
These are truths.
This is what you're doing every time you choose to meditate.
And I have no doubt that if you were able to halt its critical self-talk in its tracks,
You'd find an abundance of reasons why you're awesome.
In fact,
I'm going to show you that there is.
Just a quick side note here.
As you may have read in the description,
This is a journaling based meditation.
Meaning we're going to be writing down the answers that come to us throughout this meditation.
If you don't want to do that,
It's totally fine.
You can just do it all in your mind.
But for those of you who would like to journal,
Ensure your pen and paper is to hand or pause this meditation now to go find them.
Then when you're ready,
Take a deep breath,
Feeling your chest open,
Your body opening to welcoming in this new breath.
Then take a slow and steady exhale,
Feeling your body become centered,
Aligned as it expels out the old stale air.
And again,
Closing your eyes if it's comfortable to you and you haven't already and focusing on the feelings of your body opening with your inhale.
And it's letting go of tension of your muscles relaxing with your exhale.
Now turn your attention to pondering this question for me.
What is one thing that you love about yourself?
It doesn't have to be anything profound.
It can be something as simple as loving a certain body part of yourself or a quality you have.
Like you always hold open doors for people.
If love is too strong of a word for you,
That's okay.
Try on something like admire,
Respect or like instead.
Take a little time now to ponder this,
This one simple thing that you love or like about yourself.
Now,
Either jot this reason down in your journal or voice it aloud to yourself.
Starting with one thing I love or like about myself is And would you look at that.
You've just given yourself another reason to add to your abundant list of how awesome you are.
Not just what you've come up with,
But working through this question and finding a positive reflection even though your brain might have been fighting you every step of the way against it.
I'm under no illusion as to how difficult that question may have been.
I know from my own life experiences just how exhausting such a question can be with a brain that's hell-bent on putting you down.
But you did it.
But I also know because of my own dealings with the B-I-T-C-H-Y brain,
There might have been some emotions,
Some uncomfortable bodily feelings and sensations that might have arisen whilst thinking about that reason.
Or maybe even about the reason itself.
If there wasn't,
That's great.
But if there was,
I want you to take a moment right now to acknowledge them,
To identify which ones were there.
Maybe there was anger,
Doubt,
Uncertainty,
Disbelief.
Whatever arose,
As you recall which ones were present,
Don't give any single one your full attention.
Think of it like walking down a line,
Checking off their presence like a teacher would at roll call.
Those of you who didn't feel those emotions,
You can still do the same with any feel-good ones that arose.
Take this time now to notice and note what emotions were present when you were positively reflecting on yourself.
Otherwise,
I want you to take a hard look at those emotions that arose and the positive reflection you wrote down for your first answer and consider this idea as you do so.
The idea that what makes a hero isn't just the good deeds they do for the world.
What makes a hero is that when they're faced with uncertainties and things that make them self doubt,
They just go ahead and do what needs to be done anyway.
And that's exactly what you've just done in this exercise.
Just let that sink in for a moment.
And if only good sensations and emotions arose whilst you were pondering the question,
Savor and appreciate your brain for working with you so harmoniously on this task you set it.
Identifying emotions as you do such exercises is a wonderful way of being able to connect to yourself more deeply,
More profoundly.
Our emotions act as internal compasses,
Gifting us insight,
Pointing us toward things that we may need to address,
To nurture,
To heal.
So if you experienced any uncomfortable negative based emotions as you pondered the question of why you love or like yourself,
These emotions aren't there to validate any negative beliefs or stories you hold about yourself.
They're there to get you to pay attention to parts of yourself that need addressing,
To encourage you to start asking,
Why?
Why do I feel like this when I think positively about myself?
And to start moving toward unearthing the root of this critical way of thinking.
It's the exact same for positive emotions.
Moving you toward pondering why you feel good when you reflect positively about yourself and using those answers to cultivate more ways of appreciating yourself.
Now hold your hands up in the air for a metaphysical high five and a hell yeah from me.
Seriously,
You're a fricking hero for working through these exercises today.
Not only have you identified something positive about yourself,
Despite what your brain might have been trying to tell you otherwise,
But you also identified the emotions behind it,
Have learned that these emotions aren't there to validate your critical self-talk patterns,
Rather being useful tools,
Superpowers if you will,
To help you begin understanding parts of yourself that need addressing or nurturing.
That's some major stuff right there.
And if you're not feeling proud of it,
I'll be proud for you because it took guts to do all this and make it through to the end of this meditation.
Now let's take a moment to wind down and reset our energy from this activity.
Closing your journal and setting it and your pen aside.
Then taking the deepest inhale you've done all day and releasing and letting go of everything,
Any lingering thoughts,
Emotions with a loud vibrational sigh.
And again,
Inhaling even deeper than before and letting everything go with a contented sigh,
Sinking into the sensations of your muscles relaxing through your exhale.
Thank you so much for joining me in this meditation today.
I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day or night whenever you are listening to this.
And I look forward to meditating with you again soon.
From my heart to yours,
Namaste.
