About Perfectionism: Diabetes Discussion & Meditation

This meditation is for people who live with diabetes. The session begins with a short discussion on perfectionism inclucding insights and strategies to feel more stable and able. A guided meditation follows that offers healing and peace to the parts of the body most impacted by diabetes.

Transcript

My name is Patricia Daker,

And I am the owner and founder of a company called Better Diabetes Life.

And the purpose of the company is to provide support,

Inspiration,

And other tools and insights that really can help a person manage diabetes first on the inside so they can take better care of their outside.

And as I said,

I have been a nurse for 35 years.

I've worked as a corporate executive for about 17 years.

And now I'm a board certified nurse coach specializing in diabetes,

Which really draws from many aspects of my background.

Obviously my clinical experience,

My own personal experience living with diabetes,

Corporate wellness and corporate sort of how people get along,

What people buy.

There's just a lot of corporate training we do about human factoring,

I guess would be the right word.

You know,

And I wrap all that together and then I went and got certified as a coach.

And so coaching is like,

Oh my gosh,

There's actually a whole profession that does what I have figured out really needs,

That's really successful to help other people.

A little housekeeping before we get started.

So basically the way the format of this session tonight is I'll focus on a topic.

We're going to cover some background,

Why we are this way,

How it shows up,

What it looks like.

And then I'm going to help you with some tools,

Ideas,

Strategies,

New perspectives,

Just some insight on how to help deal with it.

And then after that we do a guided meditation.

Diabetes is hard on our body and it takes a lot out of us mentally and physically.

So this is a really,

Really great way to give back.

And I have never found really the mainstream clinical practice helping us in this way.

So I think it's really important to do that.

And I'll talk a little bit more about that.

If you happen to know anyone who has diabetes that is struggling,

Please invite them,

Send them a text.

I think you can forward this link to someone.

So if this might be useful to a friend,

I'd appreciate you sharing that message with me.

I will do a little Q&A at the end.

So if you have questions,

If you don't mind holding them to the end,

Then we can talk about that then.

Let's see,

Insight Timer does ask me to remind you,

There's a little donate button up there.

And if you feel so called to do that,

Then you can donate and it helps support the whole platform and me as well.

If you want to know more about what I do,

My information is in my bio.

So you can get my website.

And if you get to my website,

It has my story,

All links to my blog and social media.

I post quite a bit on there.

Okay,

So I always like to do a mental gathering to get started.

So you know,

When it comes to healing and health and feeling connected,

I think being with a bunch of other people who get it,

And for me diabetes,

It's not really about type one or type two,

Because we all have to change things.

We all have to deal with this,

We have to check our blood sugars,

The modality of how it's dysfunctional.

You know,

Each of us have to,

We have to figure that path out.

But the struggle and the hardship and the judgment,

All that stuff is very common.

So it's really not about type one or type two.

So I think there's really something healing about coming together as a group with other people.

And even though we don't get to be in the same room,

We actually share the same mental space.

So we're all on this together,

You're hearing my voice.

And everyone else on this call is a community.

And there's something very powerful.

So let's take a deep breath and get present.

You know,

We're just going to put our worries,

Our stress,

Our cares,

We're going to set them out of the way for right now.

We're going to enjoy this time because we deserve it.

And I want you to mentally picture this group of us coming together for calm,

More peaceful.

Take a deep breath.

Breathe in and relax.

This is going to be fun.

It's going to be easy.

You don't have to do anything.

You can't do it wrong.

No pressure.

Again,

We're going to pause on that worry and stress that just has no place for us right now tonight.

Right.

So I always like to kind of gather,

Imagine this coming together,

Breathe a little bit,

Just relax.

Let your shoulders go.

What I find often I do it myself too,

This is very common,

Is we brace against the world.

If you think about it,

We have our shoulders tight,

We're kind of in a strong,

Stiff posture,

Waiting for what's coming,

Right?

Right now we're going to relax and receive.

We are not going to brace.

Nothing bad is going to happen.

This is going to be easy,

Breezy.

So unclench your jaw,

Relax your shoulders,

Breathe peacefully,

Let your heart open,

All that good stuff,

Right?

And we'll set an intention.

And the intention today is for the highest level of self-care and love.

So again,

We need to give ourselves back because diabetes can take so much away from us.

And so practicing self-care and being nice to ourselves is not something we're often encouraged to do,

But this time,

During this time with me,

We're going to be really nice to ourselves.

Okay,

So the topic for tonight is perfectionism.

I have to admit this one is near and dear to my heart.

I'm a recovering perfectionist,

Type A.

I love spreadsheets,

I love data,

I love things to line up and match.

And when I was diagnosed,

It made me crazy because I couldn't do it perfectly.

And so I can tell you I'm kind of a recovering perfectionist.

So what I'm going to share with you,

Really,

I get it.

I know how hard it is,

And I know how hard we can judge ourselves.

So I want to go unpack that a little bit.

Let's talk about why we get this way,

Right?

Why do we,

Where does perfectionism come from?

Because I think everybody who lives with diabetes has it to some degree or has experienced it.

So why?

Why do we do this?

So one reason is other people have,

Want us to be safe.

So if we look at our doctors,

Our family,

Our spouses,

Friends,

Coworkers,

Right?

They want us to be safe.

And it's about their feelings,

Right?

Like if our blood sugars are normal,

They feel better,

Right?

And that's not a bad thing at all.

It's a place of love for most people.

Like,

I really want you to be well and healthy.

I want your numbers in range.

You know,

In range,

In range,

There's always that goal of getting yourself in this perfect place,

Right?

So if we're perfect,

Then their fear goes down,

Right?

And some of that applies to us too.

But a lot of the reason why we have this perfectionism tendency is because we feel judged,

Right?

So we have family and friends who with goodness and probably good intentions want us to be well and to be our best,

But it leaves us feeling very judged,

Right?

So you don't want to tell anybody what your blood sugar is.

You don't want to tell them that you didn't stick perfectly to your diet.

We have all this fear of doing things wrong.

And so we get these expectations.

Okay,

If I do it really well,

People will like me.

People won't be mad at me.

People won't judge me.

They won't be so harsh,

Right?

So there's this expectation of I can do it perfectly,

Right?

An expectation of ourselves and others.

I can be perfect.

Everything else is perfect,

Right?

We have this fear of doing it wrong.

We have a fear of disappointing others.

We want to be liked,

Right?

We want people to like us.

We don't want people to think we're lazy or bad or stupid or not trying our best.

And you know,

Diabetes doesn't play fair.

Nobody ever remembers that.

But this disease,

You know,

It's always going to throw some kinks in the work,

If you will,

Right?

So we have people that want us to feel safe.

We have expectations of ourselves and others that we should be this way.

That's a whole other topic.

But you know,

You've heard the phrase of shoulding on yourself.

We shouldn't do that.

Shouldn't.

Should is all about expectations,

What other people think we should or shouldn't do,

Right?

And I think a lot of us are pleasers.

Like we want other people to be pleased,

Right?

So it's not bad.

None of this is bad.

But what happens is the bar gets set really,

Really,

Really high,

Right?

So I just remember like mentally beating myself over the back with a whip every time I checked my blood sugar.

And if it was 214,

I was horrible.

I was a bad person.

I'm a nurse.

I'm a doctor.

I should have done this.

I should have done this.

I should have eaten.

I should,

You know,

All these things I wished I could have done to make the number get in the range.

Does it make sense,

Right?

Well here's the truth.

The truth is nothing in the human body is ever static,

Right?

We're very dynamic.

So when we think of how our physiology works,

And I'm going to talk about,

You know,

Body,

Mind and spirit,

We're going to focus on the body right now for a little bit.

So our body is a constant system interacting and reacting to each other.

So not even talking about blood sugar,

When you stand up,

Gravity pulls your blood down into your legs.

So then the muscles in your legs and in the blood vessels in your legs contract to shunt it back up so all the blood doesn't come out of your head and you pass out.

There's different chemicals and hormones and things that are released to help manage your blood sugar,

Your potassium,

Your sodium,

All these things are constantly in flux.

They're never really flat.

And they might not,

You know,

They might be little,

Little waves.

But if you've ever been in a hospital,

Seen a TV show with someone on a hospital,

Blood pressure,

Right?

It's never static.

It's always moving and it's always reacting and it's always shifting.

We oversimplify diabetes by saying it's food,

Glucose and activity and medicine.

So therefore,

If we're going to control those four,

Those three things and get our glucose to be right.

We all know that's not true.

It's the weather.

If it's really hot or if it's really cold,

If we're hydrated or not,

If we've had enough sleep,

If we're stressed,

If we're angry,

If we're happy,

You know,

If you have other disease processes,

What you ate yesterday,

What you drank with it.

I mean,

There's just so many variables on and on and on.

Your mental state,

Right?

Just your stress can cause it.

So we're trying to move or control a couple little variables to keep this one number in a perfect range.

So the expectation is that we do that perfectly.

The reality is no one can.

Like we're getting technology pretty close,

But even those people,

Even people with the most extreme technology,

We still have variations.

I've seen runners and some people that are doing keto,

They're actually wearing some glucose sensors,

Not diabetic at all,

Just wearing them just so they can watch their blood sugar and know how their bodies are reacting.

They are not always in range,

Right?

Our body is constantly adjusting in dynamics.

So there is no perfection except for how God does it.

And we're on our own now,

Right?

So the God part of us,

The pancreas,

The part that's working on its own independently and we don't ever think about it,

That's checked out.

So now we're having to manually try to control something that's really,

Really hard to control.

Let's see.

So it's impossible,

Right?

There is variability.

And I'm going to say this over and over again.

The only time in clinical practice when things are perfectly flat is when you're dead,

Right?

Your heart rate goes up and down,

Your respiratory rate goes up and down.

Even in a healthy person,

Our glucose goes up and down.

It's constantly changing and adjusting and we're doing our best to constantly change and adjust.

So that number,

We're going to try our best to get it where it needs to be,

But it's not 100% possible to understand all the variables all the time.

It is variable.

It moves,

Right?

The other thing is it's a number.

It is a digital readout on a piece of equipment that gives you a piece of information.

And what you do with that information is how you care for yourself.

That number is not a judgment of your character.

It isn't.

And I used to think that I thought bad number,

Bad Patricia,

Right?

And those two concepts were so tightly intertwined and it took me a lot of mental gymnastics to realize they're different.

It's a piece of information.

I could do my best.

I could do the best possible thing I could do.

Some days it's just weird,

You know?

And other days I'd hardly even pay attention and I'm normal all day,

Right?

So there's just some unknowns in there.

Somebody's helping us get a lot closer,

But the number is still,

Right?

So if our goal is to make the world happy,

To make people like us,

And we feel like this number has to be in range for that to happen,

That's where the perfectionism comes in,

Right?

If my number's bad,

I'm bad.

People won't like me.

And nobody wants that.

So what can you do,

Right?

So that's kind of bleak,

Right?

It's always going to be variable.

It's never going to be perfect.

What do you do?

So the question is,

In my opinion,

Not what do you do,

But when?

When do you do it?

So if we think about that,

Well,

We can't change the past.

Whatever our blood sugars were,

They were,

Right?

They're gone or over.

The only thing we can do with the blood sugars from the past is learn from them.

We can go back and look.

We can try to make associations.

We can realize and learn patterns.

And we can go back and we can learn,

Is this a one-off,

Right?

And so we can learn.

We learn,

I did this food,

I did this thing.

And over time,

We get this innate knowledge of kind of knowing how it works for us.

And it doesn't work the same way.

If you talk to anybody else who has diabetes,

What you do is so different from them.

You know,

I remember when,

Again,

When I was first diagnosed,

I worked with someone.

She had type 1 and we were totally,

Totally different.

There was just no comparison.

But so you can't do anything in the past.

The past has two purposes.

You can drag it around and it can be heavy.

It can make you feel bad.

It can make you feel like you missed the mark.

It can make you feel imperfect.

Or it can be your wisdom,

Where you just look back,

You learn,

And you let go.

So that's the thing.

So we can't change that.

Whatever it was,

It was,

It's gone.

The day's gone.

We never get to go back.

So again,

The question's when.

Can I do it in the future?

Well,

No,

Right?

Like tomorrow's not,

We never get to the future.

The only thing we have is now,

Right?

So this is the only time that we can do anything about it,

Right?

Let's see.

Right.

Okay.

So can we be perfect now,

Right?

If we're talking about perfectionism,

There are some things we can be a little bit more perfect about.

But maybe if we take the lens,

Our focus off of perfect blood sugars,

When we try something different.

So I'm going to talk a little bit about baseball.

So the best baseball players in the world,

And guys or whoever's on here that has more baseball knowledge than I do,

You know,

Most professional baseball players hit about 30% of the time.

So they go up there,

They swing the bat,

You know,

They miss seven out of 10 times,

Right?

Seven times out of 10,

They only hit it three.

It should be really,

Really good.

And that's considered really,

Really good.

I want to use that baseball analogy to put something in your head.

So even a baseball player knows they can't go up and hit a home run every time.

But what do they do?

This is what they can do every time.

They go up to bat,

They adjust their grip,

So they get it where they like it.

They look around at the wind,

They look at the pitcher,

They understand the landscape,

Who's on which base.

They think about what possible pitch might come their way.

They prepare,

Right?

They're present,

They're paying attention,

They learn from their past,

Or kind of anticipating maybe some future things,

But they're present.

They're paying attention,

They're noticing.

And that's the best we can do.

Because when you notice,

You're going to get information.

When you have new information,

You make new decisions,

Right?

And so this idea,

And I think a lot of us get resistant to our blood sugar because it's bad.

So how many people don't even want to check it because you don't want to know the number?

Well,

That would be like a batter going up and closing his eyes and swinging,

Right?

There's no way to even know how to play the game if you're not looking at the number.

So let's step away from the number.

There is no perfect number.

It's a piece of data,

It's a piece of information.

You use that to your best advantage to do the best you can.

So there is no perfection,

But we can sure be persistent.

And I like that word persistent.

I'm not perfect at diabetes at all,

But I play the game to the best of my ability every day.

And some days that's checking my blood sugar quite a bit because it's off for weird.

Some days I kind of don't pay attention to it because I'm fine and I'm stable.

Every day is different.

I just have to notice and be present with what I can do.

And I can't do it perfectly,

But I can always pay attention.

Right?

Does that make sense?

Okay,

So if we go back and we think,

So we go up to bat,

I'm going to use the baseball analogy,

We go up to bat,

Check out the surroundings,

We use our best judgment.

And this is one thing I didn't say.

We act in the most loving way to ourselves,

Which is kind of the analogy of the baseball player taking his best swing,

Right?

You're not going to do something that's going to hurt yourself.

You really want to be able to connect with the ball and have a good outcome.

But doing something that's loving towards yourself.

So when you act in a loving way towards yourself,

You're checking your blood sugar,

You're noticing what the number is,

And you're not beating yourself up if it's not good.

You're noticing what it is and you're thinking,

How,

What can I learn from this?

What do I need to do next?

What can I do the next time?

That's all it is.

It's a piece of information.

It's a digital screen that's measuring the concentration of a substance in your blood.

You are trying your best to control.

And when you think of it that way and you act lovingly,

So a loving thing to do if your blood sugar is high is,

Maybe I'm going to pass on XYZ thing,

Or maybe I'm going to go for a walk.

Maybe I'm going to drink a little extra water just to help hydrate myself.

If your blood sugar is low,

You're loving care for yourself because I'm going to get some glucose.

I'm going to eat something with sugar in it,

Right?

So we do things that are helpful to us,

Right?

That help us.

That's nice.

That's good.

We like good stuff is good,

Right?

Perfectionism hard,

Judgmental.

Taking care of ourselves and treating ourselves kindly,

We're much,

Much more likely to do those sorts of behaviors.

Okay,

So no perfection.

Expect variability.

It's going to be weird.

It's going to move.

Pay attention.

Learn from it.

Do your best.

Act in loving ways towards yourself and learn and let it go.

Like it's not failure,

Whatever happened in the past is just what happened,

Right?

We learn from it.

So I'll leave you with that.

So perfectionism,

Right?

We have choices and it's how we approach it.

And that's probably the easiest thing.

What happens,

I guess the other thing is that being present,

Notice when you're doing it to yourself.

That's probably the most powerful thing you can do because when you're just talking to yourself in your head and beating yourself up,

As we've talked about in weeks past,

That's putting you into fight or flight mode,

Right?

So I'm going to talk about that a little bit more as we get to the meditation,

But your body has two default states of your nervous system,

Fight or flight,

And that is looking outward.

It's the vigilant system that's 911,

EMS,

Looking for trauma,

Looking for danger,

Saving the body.

Worry is the same as 911.

Perfectionism is the same as 911.

We are in high stress mode.

When our body physiologically is functioning that way,

We are not in parasympathetic mode,

Which is our rest and restore.

And that's where we heal,

We recover,

We grow,

We repair.

It's all of that good stuff.

And this meditation is what we're going to do to help get into a parasympathetic state.

So I'm going to do it a little bit different.

I'm trying to do some of these meditations different just to give you different flavors so it's not the same.

So I want to do an inside out.

I want to kind of think about this meditation experience as an inside out.

We talked about bracing against the world,

Being tense.

We're just ready for something to get us.

We're all just kind of looking out.

We're hyper vigilant and we are in that 911 fight or flight mode.

And that's because we're looking out and that's using our senses,

Our eyes to see,

Our ears to hear,

What people are saying,

Our mind.

We're assuming what people are doing.

So it's all this synthesis of data as we're trying to figure out what's going on and we're in high alert mode.

So what we're going to do during this meditation is turn all that off.

We're going to take all that external world.

Now you really want to just give it a pause.

Then we're going to go intern,

Right?

So our internal world,

If we can go inside where it's quieter,

That's where we have some calm and some peace.

That's where we can restore and we can actually gift ourselves with attention and focus on different areas of our body and just tell ourselves to calm,

To be calm.

One thing I want to also share about meditation is it is not making your mind go blank.

That's really,

Really hard to do.

The two things that I would offer is one is that we're just moving our attention in different areas and if your mind does kind of get distracted,

Just notice it like it will happen.

You can't turn off your thoughts.

It really,

I've never been able to do that anyway.

So what we want to do is get out of fight or flight and into parasympathetic and parasympathetic and letting it go.

So let's do that.

So get yourself comfortable.

Lean back.

We're going to do some deep breaths.

And as I do this meditation,

Exhale.

I'm going to go through different body parts that are commonly and often affected by diabetes.

We're going to breathe into each one.

I'm going to use the term glow.

I want you to imagine a glow in that part.

And glow could be warm.

Glow could be light.

Glow could be just relaxed,

Whatever that means for you.

And I'm just going to ask you to glow in each of these areas.

As you're thinking about those areas glowing,

What we're thinking about is health,

Restoration,

All of the repair parts of our body,

Our immune system,

The parts inside are like the little workers that are going in and repairing tissue.

Those are being unleashed and released.

So we're going to give permission with this idea of a glow.

When we're glowing in a certain area,

We're opening the floodgates for healing,

For repair,

For all that good stuff to come in.

And so if there is damage or if there is tissue problems or if there is impaired circulation,

So you think about this glow,

We're just going to let that wash over each of those areas that I'm going to focus on.

And we're just going to instruct our body to heal.

Go take care of it because right now there's nothing to worry about.

All right?

Okay,

So let's go.

I want you to close your eyes.

Lean back.

Get comfortable.

Again,

Take a deep breath.

In through your nose.

Drop your shoulders.

Relax your jaw.

We're going to do three breaths where we breathe in and then breathe out longer.

And that helps to shift us from the sympathetic into parasympathetic.

So we'll breathe in for a count of four and out for a count of eight.

We'll do that three or four times.

All right.

So breathe in,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Five,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten,

Eleven,

Twelve.

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten,

Eleven,

Twelve.

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten,

Eleven,

Twelve.

Drop your shoulders.

Relax your chest.

One last time.

In,

In,

Two,

Three,

Four,

Out,

Six,

Seven,

Eight,

Nine,

Ten,

Eleven,

Twelve.

Let your breathing be normal and relaxed.

Soften your body.

Mentally turn off the switch to your eyes.

Soften the speaker on your ears.

Swallow.

Release tension in your mouth and throat.

Let your teeth relax.

Notice any sensations on your skin.

We can tell our mind that we know all these things are going on and we give ourselves permission to put that away for just a minute.

I want you to turn inward and notice as you focus on the inside of your body where your bones live,

Where your organs are,

The quiet and deep black inky stillness,

The space between your thoughts,

The space where your body lives and breathes every day.

It's the inside.

Millions and millions of processes and function take place here every day and you're never aware.

During this time,

We're going to invite our bodies to shift,

To move our attention inward and to gift every part of our body with any healing that it may need.

We'll breathe in on each body part dimension.

I want you to imagine blood flow,

Warmth,

Healing,

Restoration.

As you exhale,

Imagine anything that's no longer necessary just melting away in the vapor.

Let's start with our heart.

Breathe in.

Imagine a warm glow over your heart area surrounding the center of your chest.

Relax the muscles between your ribs.

Open your heart.

Allow healing to come in.

Allow this glow to highlight the areas that need repair and restoration and care.

Exhale and let everything that's no longer necessary,

Any anxiety,

Worry or stress melt away.

Your heart is beating calmly,

Easily and incoherent,

Effortlessly guiding blood throughout your body.

Again,

We'll thank our heart.

Once again,

Pay attention to this glow as we focus now on our liver.

We'll move from the center of our chest and imagine this glow in the right upper quadrant below your ribs on the right side above your belly button.

Imagine this glow in this area.

Imagine blood flowing cleanly,

Easily and effortlessly,

Bringing healing,

Bringing nutrition,

Bringing repair.

Breathe in and feel this part of your body swell.

Exhale release,

Letting go of tension,

Letting go of anything that no longer serves.

The liver is one of the organs that's most easily able to restore itself.

As you relax this part of your body,

Imagine it opening up and receiving all the healing and nutrition.

Move slightly towards the center behind your belly button.

Your pancreas lies tucked in next to your stomach.

We can imagine that glow washing over your pancreas,

Optimizing any insulin production that exists,

Enhancing blood flow to the parts of the organ that aid in digestion and glucagon production,

And allowing any inflammation to calm down.

Breathe in again,

Let this area expand,

It receives healing,

Light,

Warmth,

And all the goodness inside.

Exhale and let it go,

Releasing anything that no longer serves and no longer benefits.

Continue to the left,

In your left upper quadrant is your stomach.

As we think about our stomach and our digestive organs from our mouth all the way to the end of us,

Food enters and is processed and is fed by a large network of blood vessels and the nervous system throughout our digestion.

I want you to imagine this warm glow extending from your stomach through the rest of your abdomen.

Gentle pulsating waves will let your belly be relaxed.

Breathe in,

Let it fill fully,

And exhale and release.

Rich nutrition,

Immune products,

And healing,

Bathe your abdomen and everything that's necessary to aid digestion,

Remove any pain,

And heal any injury.

From your abdomen I want you to place your attention towards your back,

Above your waistline,

Behind each side of your ribs.

That's where your kidneys lie.

There are two of them,

One on each side.

Imagine that glow,

Seeping out through your ribs as warm light,

Love,

And healing covers both of these organs.

Blood flowing cleanly and easily,

Repairing any damage from abnormal glucose levels,

Letting go of anything that causes tension or stress.

The kidneys are easily able to filter fluids,

Water,

Protein,

And help manage blood pressure.

One more breath in and out as we breathe into the kidneys.

Warm glow,

And exhale.

Let them relax and snuggle back up against your ribs.

We'll move to your extremities,

To your legs.

The circulation to our lower extremities can be impaired by diabetes,

And so we're going to take a journey,

Place your focus on the inside of your legs,

See if you can mentally imagine your bones traveling from your hips to your knees,

Surrounded by blood vessels that are clean and clear,

Bringing fluid,

Nutrition,

And hydration to every part.

As you continue down the inside,

Noticing the bones,

The nerves,

Allow this glow to wash over them,

Writing calm,

Healing.

Imagine any excess fluid being carried away.

Imagine new blood vessel growth if it's necessary to bring nutrition to this distant part of your body.

Mentally offer support to help fluids return from this most distant part of your body that has to overcome gravity.

You might mentally imagine the blood vessels squeezing and flexing,

Assisting the blood to come back up.

Imagine that warm glow in each toe,

Your big toe,

Your second toe,

Your third toe,

Your fourth toe,

Your fifth toe.

Imagine these areas open,

Receiving healing,

And repaired.

You want to offer thanks and gratitude to this most distant part of our body that carries us every day throughout our day.

Let's travel back up to the upper extremities,

Starting from the shoulders.

Once again,

Place your attention inside your body.

Notice the darkness.

You can sense the bones in your arms,

And you can sense the blood vessels traveling down past your shoulders to your elbows,

Continuing to your forearms.

As your attention moves,

This glow travels down your arms,

Bestowing goodness,

Healing,

Repair,

Restoration,

Calming any nerves that may be upset,

Removing any swelling,

And offering the greatest repair to fingertips that may have been poked as we check our blood sugar.

Let both of those hands turn upward,

Like you're receiving a gift.

I want you to imagine holding this ball of light in your hands that's covering every finger.

And inside this ball of light,

Healing happens,

Repair happens,

Restoration happens.

I want you to take that ball of light and bring your hands up and hold them over your chest again.

Move our attention to our heart.

We're going to go back up through our neck,

Swallow and relax.

Breathe again.

Imagine this light traveling from your heart up past your throat,

You're inside your body in your airway.

You can feel the vibrations of the air moving around you.

As you travel up into your head,

The glow surrounds your entire skull.

Within this glow,

Blood vessels are open.

Blood is flowing freely and fluidly.

Nerves are calm.

Your scalp is relaxed.

Take a breath and let anything go that no longer serves.

Bathe in this nice glow around your head,

Allowing the light to focus in two orbs in your eyes.

Allow the muscles around your eyes that are vigilant all day long to relax,

Give them permission to soften.

Let the glow cover the back of your eyes where your retina lives,

Opening these vessels,

Feeling any leakages,

Strengthening and making these vessels pliable,

Restoring optimal vision,

Circulation and health to your eyes,

Which are the window to your soul.

Take a breath and relax.

Let the muscles of your face soften.

I want you to imagine this glow that's surrounding your head.

Imagine that it's growing from inside to outside,

But it's getting larger,

Covering your shoulders,

And it's comforting and peaceful.

It reminds you of being held as a child.

Allow this glow to continue past your shoulders,

Over your torso,

Past your hips,

Past your knees,

And finally to the tips of your toes.

From the inside out,

Notice this glow surrounding your entire body,

Where you're floating and relaxed and safe.

In your mind,

I want you to say,

I am safe.

I am breathing.

I am healing.

I am capable.

I am worthy.

I am loved.

And I deserve to be taken good care of by others and by myself.

I'm feeling your hair,

Just a moment.

Picture that glow waving over you.

You might feel tingling in your skin,

Warmth.

I want you to know that right now your body is in a parasympathetic state.

Your nervous system is calm.

Your body is primed for healing,

Primed for relaxation,

Repair,

Restoration,

To grow new tissues.

You have an inner wisdom that knows how to do this without you instructing it.

We're going to encourage it tonight to do its magic,

To offer healing to every part of you.

Take another deep breath.

I want you to imagine that glow shrinking down now.

I want you to put your hands over your heart.

We'll sit there and know that that's available to you anytime that you want to bring that back out.

Okay,

We're going to open our eyes.

I hope you feel peaceful.

I hope you feel calm and warm.

I want you to know that you did a great thing for your body.

But even if you don't know how or why or what's working,

This calm and peace that you've given yourself,

This time is important.

It's doing things you have no idea.

But the more you do it,

The better you will feel.

I want to thank everyone for joining me for spending this time.

But before we do the questions,

I do want you to one more time,

Let's in our mind gather as a group,

Our energies for some reason,

I think of it above our heads,

That we're together,

Or a collection of people who understand what it's like to live with diabetes.

Other people may never understand truly what that's like.

But together,

We can comfort each other and support each other.

So I want you in your mind's eye to turn to the person on your left and offer them love and healing and turn to a person on your right and receive it from them.

So recapping again,

Thank you for this guided meditation,

We switched you from sympathetic 911 worry into parasympathetic rest restore and healing state.

The topic tonight was all about perfectionism.

And even though it's a common tendency,

We have tools and strategies that we can use to notice when it's happening and make a new choice.

Well,

I'm not seeing a lot of questions.

So I'm going to wrap up.

My name is Patricia Daker.

I'm a registered nurse and diabetes coach.

And I'm the owner and founder of a company called Better Diabetes Life.

And you can learn more about what I do and my products and services in my bio.

Thank you so much for joining me.

And I will.

The other thing is you can follow me on this and then if I when I do another live,

You'll be notified.

So that might be a good option for you to please check out my other meditations.

I've got quite a series going.

Okay,

To all my diabuddies be well,

Be at peace.

And that's it,

I'm here for you if you need any help.

Take care.

All right,

Take care.