Hello and welcome to this meditation to help you love and accept what is.
My name is Juana and I'm so happy to have you on this journey with me today.
Whether you're seated or laying,
Ensure your spine is tall and straight.
To help,
Imagine a string attached to the top of your head pulling you right up into a posture that is awake and alert,
But not stiff or tense.
Rest your hands gently on your lap or by your sides.
Whatever feels most grounding to you.
And,
If you haven't done so already,
Close your eyes.
Let's take these next few moments to check in.
First,
Tune into your mind.
Is it racing,
Fairly calm,
Or somewhere in the middle?
Next,
Tune into your heart.
How are you feeling?
What emotions are present there?
Lastly,
Tune into your body.
On a spectrum of unsettled and restless to peaceful and grounded,
Where do you rest?
Have compassion for whatever is true for you right here and now.
No matter how much you may wish you were different,
Try and accept where you're at without trying to change,
Solve,
Or deny anything.
If you're having a bit of trouble with this,
That's okay.
The very name of this meditation is to love what is.
That means even loving your inability to accept what is.
It's all good.
It's all welcome here.
No matter what your mind may have you believe,
You are enough exactly as you are.
Now let's settle into some stillness,
Shall we?
Become aware of the dance of your breath flowing in and out,
In and out.
In through the nose and out through the mouth,
Letting out a subtle sigh of relief.
Making your exhales slightly stronger and longer than your inhales.
In through the nose and out through the mouth,
Letting out a sigh of relief.
You were drawn to this meditation for a good reason.
To drop your resistance to whatever is showing up in your life that you may deem as negative,
Unwanted,
Or even unlovable.
Your resistance to reality as it presents itself is one of our primary sources of pain and suffering.
Go ahead and bring to mind something or someone in your life that you're struggling to accept or embrace.
It could be a difficult situation or person,
A negative emotion,
Or an aspect of yourself or another that you find hard to come to terms with.
Feel the heavy burden of it.
Dig into the frustrations,
The split energy,
The endless ruminating.
Let it wash all over you like a heavy storm,
As you stay grounded and rooted in merely observing it all come and go.
After all,
No storm has lasted forever.
The sunshine is bound to return.
Oftentimes,
While we are weighed down by these heavy mental burdens,
We can hate ourselves for it.
Hate ourselves for not being able to just be happy,
Which only makes things worse.
I invite you to choose the opposite today.
I invite you to love what is.
I invite you to love your humanness.
I invite you to love your split energy,
Your doubts,
Your fears,
Your crippling anxieties.
Love it all just like you love to feel good.
And if you can't love all of it,
If love is too strong a word for you today,
That's okay.
Can you at the very least appreciate yourself a bit for trying,
When you could have been self-soothing in a myriad of unhealthy ways,
Mindlessly scrolling,
Over-consuming,
Self-loathing?
You get it.
Be grateful for simply showing up here,
For being brave enough to face what is and not turn and run or numb it away.
That in and of itself is a huge feat.
You may like to visualize yourself breathing in warm healing light and breathing out any cold darkness that might represent your stress,
Frustration,
Or anger with yourself,
Another,
Or a situation.
So drinking in soothing,
Calming energy.
And as the air tumbles out of your mouth,
Envision letting go of cold,
Dark energy,
Expelling this tension out with a sigh of relief.
Oftentimes we resist what is before us and because we can't accept it,
Or trying to play mental gymnastics to alleviate our anxiety.
It's like we've locked ourselves within our own mental prison,
Closed all the shades and refused to open them up to let the light in.
As the beloved late American minister and activist,
Martin Luther King Jr.
So touchingly put it,
Hate cannot drive out darkness.
Only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate.
Only love can do that.
So love the frustration,
Love the anger,
The fear,
The stress.
Stop pushing it away.
For you can't fight darkness with darkness.
And it too will be transformed into light.
Just like opening the shades to let the light in.
Open the shades and let the light in,
And the darkness will turn to light.
Loving what is doesn't mean you don't take action to change things.
Of course you do.
You just take action from a place of love as opposed to fear,
Which makes all the difference.
When we fight with what is,
We suffer.
When we love what is,
We thrive.
So embrace whatever is before you.
Be here now.
Ask yourself the following,
And tune into the answer from the wisdom within.
How can I accept whatever is present?
How can I be present with what is,
Even in the most difficult of moments?
Accepting what is will transform you,
Because you'll learn from the lessons that whatever is present is here to teach you.
So ask yourself,
What is this teaching me?
How can I learn and grow from this and become a stronger,
Wiser and more compassionate version of myself?
As we prepare to close,
Affirm to yourself the following,
Feeling the words deeply and to your core.
I choose to love what is.
I choose to be present.
I choose to be present with what is.
I choose to learn and grow from this.
I choose to learn and grow from this.
I choose to come out stronger because of this.
I choose to let go of all which I can't control.
I choose to accept things as they are,
Knowing that nothing lasts forever.
And so it is.
Take one last deep breath in,
And feel the strong energy of all these affirmations flowing through you and filling you up with strength and resiliency.
And as you release a powerful exhale,
Let go of any thoughts or fears that are holding you back.
With that,
We conclude our insightful inward journey.
So when you're ready,
Feel where your body makes contact with the earth,
Grounding you to the here and now.
Enliven your body with slow and mindful movements.
Thank you so much for joining me.
If you feel the need to pull out a journal and reflect on your meditation and the insights you received,
Please do so.
It will be of great benefit to you.
As always,
Let me know how your journey went.
I love reading and responding to each and every one of you.
