Welcome to this meditation on feeling loved.
Let's just firstly settle ourselves.
So you can just be aware of how you're feeling right now,
How you're feeling in your heart,
Your mind,
Your body.
And then let's use our breath to acknowledge but let go of any feelings that might be unhelpful.
So you can just release with your breath,
With your exhale,
Any thoughts and feelings that you want to let go of.
See if you can slow the breath down and as you let go,
You let go with your body as well.
Let go of any tension that you might feel in your muscles and see if the breath can just deepen gently.
So you allow yourself to relax,
Letting go of anything that's not helpful.
And then I invite you to imagine that you are outside in a beautiful garden and you see a summer house in the corner of this garden.
A lovely wooden summer house and you walk towards that summer house and as you stand at the door,
You put down any bag or any luggage that you might be carrying and you open the door,
Seeing that in this summer house there is a lovely armchair waiting for you.
And you just take a moment to observe this armchair.
You notice fabric,
The pattern,
The colour,
The weave.
Maybe you feel the texture,
You observe the form of this chair that looks so comfortable and you turn around and sit down slowly but surely and sink back into this armchair.
You can feel your body softening into it,
Holding your back,
Maybe your head as well as you relax back.
And this armchair is an armchair that holds love for you.
As you sit here and as you are held,
You are held in love.
You're held by beauty and this holding of you accepts you as you are.
There's nothing being asked of you right now.
You're held,
You're accepted,
You're known.
And this acceptance of you demands nothing of you.
There's a kindness.
Love is all around you in this place.
So maybe you're someone who finds it easy to feel,
To feel things in your body and you can just enjoy being held in this armchair,
In this moment,
Held by love.
But love is all around in this scene.
So maybe you want to look around and look and notice the beauty in this garden where nothing is striving,
Where everything is as it should be,
Where there is colour,
There's beauty.
There are the joyous sounds of nature.
Maybe you can hear birds sing.
Maybe you hear the sound of a fountain or a stream.
And in this summer house you can feel the sunlight,
The warmth,
Landing on your body and gently warming you through.
There is evidence of beauty and love as someone has tended this garden.
Love holds you right now and maybe this love has a presence.
Maybe you recognise it as divine love,
God's love.
Or maybe you haven't yet named it.
But love has a presence.
Love holds you.
Love brings colour to your life.
Love helps you to gaze out at the world and see the colour,
The diversity,
The beauty all around.
Just as you might see in the garden.
The presence of love is all around you.
It holds you.
It invites you to see things differently.
It invites you to see yourself differently.
You are the beloved.
You're seated in love and you're held in love.
You're known by love.
And the presence of love seeks to care for the garden of your life,
To bring colour and form,
To bring flourishing,
To bring life.
And love is just like the sunlight,
The warmth,
The life-giving air.
It surrounds you.
It allows you to be you as it holds you.
Love is patient and love is kind.
Love hopes in you and trusts you that you will become who you've designed to be.
Take a few more breaths,
Just breathing in the love that is all around.
And hold on to the love that holds you.
