Yay!
You pressed play.
That's the most important part for this practice.
The second most important is to stay till you've gone through this whole practice.
This is a practice to find belonging within oneself and to recognize thoughts that might hold us back from feeling like we belong.
This is a self-awareness practice.
My name is Patrick Christopher Ehler and today I will lead you through this little belief awareness practice.
So let's do this little eight-step practice,
Which is one of ten practices to help identify beliefs that aren't helpful in thriving.
As a community at large.
Before we start,
Take a deep breath.
And with the out breath,
Try to ease any tension within your body.
If it's helpful,
Move the next in breath to a short body scan and see if there's any tension,
Maybe in the jaw,
The eyes,
The nose and the tongue,
The shoulders,
The chest,
The back,
The fingers,
Or even in your legs or your toes.
For the next exhale,
Try what happens if you ease this tension a little more.
With this presence in your body and this eased tension,
Get up and grab a pen and a paper that you can write a little down.
Press pause till you took your pen and paper.
Take a moment to reflect which group you recognize that you would not feel comfortable drawing and maybe even have a feeling that they don't have anything in common with your life.
Be aware that this is a self-awareness practice.
It's to becoming aware of those groups and thoughts.
Important is that you just identify them and also are clearly aware that awareness doesn't need to mean that you have to change anything or that you should let go of your values or important things that help you to thrive within your identity,
But rather to simply become aware.
Let's start with this eight-step practice.
Write down what it is that those people do that you recognize as a behavior that should not have been expressed.
Write down three examples and pause here till you wrote down those three examples.
Step two,
Please write down three advices for them of how they should instead behave.
Press pause and write down three advices for them of how they should instead behave.
Step three,
Please write down things that the people from this group and you have in common.
Three examples.
Press pause and please write down things that the people from this group and you have in common.
Three examples.
For the upcoming points,
Please notice that there are no rules.
You can write whatever comes in your mind regarding those steps,
But keep the answer within the question.
You don't have to show this to anyone and try to be as raw as possible.
Don't try to impress yourself.
Step four,
Please write down what experiences you might have in common with this group.
Three examples.
Press pause and please write down what experiences you might have in common with these group.
Three examples.
Step five,
Please go now to step two and take those advices to turn them around and see them as a mirror.
Each of the three examples,
Write them down as an advice to yourself.
For example,
If you wrote the person should,
Then turn it into I should.
Press pause and turn all the advices around into,
For example,
I should.
Step six,
Write down three examples where it would be that you should take those three advices.
Press pause and write down three examples where it would be that you should take those three advices.
Step seven,
Go to step one and take those three behaviors to turn them around and see them as a mirror.
Each of the three behaviors,
Write them down as if you would have those behaviors towards yourself or others.
For example,
If you wrote the person behaves or the person is,
Then turn it into I am,
I behave.
Press pause and turn the behaviors around.
For example,
If you wrote the person behaves or the person is,
Then turn it into I am or I behave.
Step eight,
Take a moment and read what you wrote and where it is that your external world may mirror your internal world and the other way around.
Before you start rereading,
Press pause.
Yay,
Congrats,
You went through it.
You participated in this belonging ingroup and outgroup and behavior practice.
It's also time to let go of the practice.
Let's take a couple of deep breaths together and with the exhales,
Ease the tension within your body.
And to end this practice,
Send some kind wishes towards yourself.
Repeat those sentences inwardly.
May I be well.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
And feel how those wishes expand into every cell of your being.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be at peace.
May I be well.
And now move those wishes towards the group that you identified.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be at peace.
Thank you for participating in this practice.
My name is Christopher Ehler and I want to leave this room with a quote,
Which is a Sufi wisdom that's actually a salutation,
A little hello,
How Sufis would meet each other.
And it is,
For love,
I come to you without me.
For love,
I come to me without you.
I come to you without you.
