Change Your Life Story Session 5

We all hold various stories about ourselves that we more or less believe. These narratives from the past have the power to define your present, thus creating ground for your future. In session 5 of 6 you will get a tool to observe your story without being swept by it.

Transcript

Hello,

My fellow student of life and welcome to the fifth session of the What's Your Story course.

And this in a way is the last session and there will be one more,

Sixth,

Which will be more of a recap of what we've done together,

What we've gone through and also an opportunity for Q&A and whatnot.

But here we are today,

Day five,

Session five,

And we have so far done identifying or listening to the stories that are being told by our bodies,

Feelings and thoughts.

We have had a look at if all the stories that we tell about ourselves,

To ourselves and to others,

Are trustworthy or not.

If all the stories are useful or not useful.

And today I was thinking that I could try to provide you with some space for having the story develop on its own,

Moving on.

Meaning that you will not have the future story written by your stories from the past.

If you remember in the previous session,

We talked about what we are experiencing now being the result of what we have experienced in the past and that will most likely influence what we will influence in the future.

So today we can have a look at how you can allow your future to open up more.

To not be defined to that big extent by what has been,

But more by what is and what will be as the things and events will be happening.

So,

Yeah,

Please,

If you wish,

Close your eyes or keep your eyes softly open.

And this short meditation exercise practice is best done sitting or standing,

If that is your wish.

But maybe not that much walking,

So if you can find a quiet place and just like land in your body.

Lately I heard this beautiful speech,

I know I don't remember who it was who gave it,

But it basically said allow your mind to be as vast as the earth.

So that your body can land in the earth.

So that your heart can land in your body and so that your mind can land in your heart.

So from that steady vastness,

See if there's something calling for your attention.

Whatever body sensation,

Thought,

Feeling.

Just acknowledge them.

Let them be here as long as they wish to and leave when the time has come.

And see if there is any narrative or story or whatever you would call it that you are sitting with that is kind of,

You know,

Something sitting in your lap.

In your heart,

In your mind.

That feels like this could be pretty defining for the rest of the day or a longer period of time.

And if that is a kind of what we would define as a pleasant experience,

Then amazing.

Then you can practice joy by holding this joyful story in front of your body.

Letting it be there,

Kind of levitate and enjoy.

Maybe even say to yourself,

I delight in having this wonderful experience right now.

And if there is something that you're sitting with that is maybe of a more challenging character.

You know,

Like a harder feeling or something that you would classify as unpleasant.

See if you also can allow it to kind of stay there somewhere in front of your body.

Maybe somewhere in the height of your heart.

But not necessarily,

Just in that space in front of you,

Wherever you feel the right place is.

And see if you can soften the front of your body.

You know,

Just like checking how your shoulders are feeling.

Maybe you're slouching.

Take a more upright position which shows dignity.

It's kind of helping you to allow this experience,

The story to be there in front of you.

And please,

You don't have to invite the experience inside of your body,

Of course.

Just allow it to be there outside,

In front of the body.

And it's you who decides how far from the body the experience will be.

As if it was a ball of energy,

How far would you allow it to be?

How far would you like to,

Or near,

Would you like to see it?

And it might be also varying,

You know,

From a bit closer to a bit further.

You might experiment with that.

Soften a little bit also that area around your heart.

So that you're not creating a shield,

But rather allowing the body to naturally protect itself.

You know,

We have this layer around our body that is our protective field.

So that is something to use,

To rely on.

You do not necessarily need to harden.

But you do need to see what is happening to that ball of energy,

To that experience in front of you.

And how does it feel for you to allow it to be there?

And trying to push it away,

Not pulling it towards yourself either.

Just letting the worry,

Problem,

More difficult feeling be there.

You can either have your eyes closed or open,

It makes really no difference whatever feels better for you.

Just play a little bit with the distance of the experience we're talking about from the front of your body.

Maybe you're even able to see over it.

So that you can also do it with the closed eyes of course.

It's more in a figurative sense.

If you see that experience,

That energy field in front of your body,

Then if you look at it,

You see it,

You acknowledge it.

But if you lift your sight a tiny little bit,

So that you can see further towards where the horizon would be.

Is the experience,

Is the energy field as vast as that or is there an end to it?

And if you don't see that far,

That's perfectly fine.

And if it is as vast as this,

It's also fine because there are things that are as big as that.

But maybe you see an end to it.

As if it had its borders,

Kind of its limits.

As if it could be held,

Even you could maybe hold it with your hands like you're holding a ball.

Turn it around and you know,

See the limits,

See the edges.

It's a finite experience.

But if it feels like there is no end to it,

That's fine.

Just allow it to be in the space in front of your body.

Abide with the experience.

Now you can slowly,

If you feel like,

Let the energy field in front of your body vanish.

Just,

You know,

Let it disappear on its own,

In its own time.

And continue sitting,

Just digesting the experience and reflect a tiny little bit on how does it feel when you have had a direct look at something which is occupying you.

But you decide not to react to it.

You have just observed something that is big enough to take up a substantial part of your mind or of your experience.

But you decided not to act on it,

You decided to just observe it,

To let it be there,

Which is a very very brave act.

And then you let it go.

How does it feel?

And now think about what impact this short practice can have on the rest of your day.

If something that was keeping you busy,

Something maybe that was standing in your way for the rest of the day,

Is not blocking you any longer.

I mean,

It hasn't disappeared,

But it's not a huge obstacle anymore because what you've done is that you have related yourself to it as an experience,

A story,

A field of energy that is there.

But you can easily allow it to be there and go about your day.

I have a story of this young boy who lost his sight in an accident and started using his hands instead of seeing things.

So whatever he wants to see he really touches,

You know,

With the sensitivity of his hands,

Spending the time with it.

And he said,

You will never stop loving whatever your hands have touched.

And what you've done here in this session is that you have touched something that maybe was causing you a little bit of trouble,

Fear,

Anxiety,

Problem.

But you've touched it with your sight.

You've made an effort to get to know it.

Maybe this is a good start to start loving it.

If there are any reflections turning up,

I'd like to invite you to put them into the comment section in this course.

So that we can read it,

I can read it,

React to it if that's necessary.

If you have questions,

Do the same.

Just a small reminder that there is a possibility to make a donation to the teacher and the Inside Timer community.

Very grateful for that.

I'm using the donations to further develop myself and the Inside Timer community is using the donations to develop the solutions for providing more content for more users.

Thank you very much and talk to you during the sixth session,

Which will be the last session of the course.

Have a good day.