Namaste and thank you for pressing play with me today.
I wanted to take a little bit of time before moving into a meditation around forgiveness to just spend a few moments and talk about this time of year,
Some of the expectations that are put on us,
And work through this notion of understanding that wherever we are is enough,
And whatever we can offer and whatever we can do is enough.
Traditionally,
Winter time is a time that calls us to go inward,
To reflect on our experiences,
Especially those that kind of happened in the much more expansive,
Brighter,
Warmer months,
And take inventory of areas that potentially could use some respite,
Some rest,
Some rejuvenation,
Perhaps even some reconnection or reclamation,
If you will.
And it's rather unfortunate that as a society,
We are getting busier and busier and busier and stepping away from the intuitive nature that our bodies have right now,
At this time of year to be going inside and doing the internal work.
The days are extremely short right now.
And we're leading ourselves up to the winter equinox on the 21st where we'll have our longest day of darkness in 2021 and then eventually begin to move into extending some of that daylight.
However,
The speed at which that happens is fairly slow as we know.
And with the darker days and the cooler temperatures,
We kind of get put into this idea that we want to rest and reflect and I am here to say it is completely okay to say no.
It is,
In fact,
Extremely selfless to say no.
The holidays,
However you celebrate them,
Have become so monetized.
And this idea of people,
You know,
Putting themselves into debt to think that that's a way or an expression of love or caring is it's just a really sad perspective.
When we take a look at what love genuinely means.
We're not going to find love and we're not going to find compassion and we're not going to find grace and anything that we can place under a tree or around a menorah.
What we're going to find is our tie to tangible physical things.
And that pulls us into our ego and away from our heart space.
So whatever we're feeling right now and however we're feeling it and however we're experiencing it just know that first of all,
You are not alone.
And second of all,
It is extremely normal.
In fact,
It's more normal to feel like we want to go in and retract a bit during the winter months than it is to feel like we need to consistently be out doing and achieving and buying and giving.
This is an opportunity for us to just reflect in and see spaces within ourselves that require the love that we're trying to give externally through these gifts of things.
What would it look like to gift ourselves just time,
Time without feeling pressured or without feeling like we have to meet someone's expectations,
Even if those expectations are placed onto ourselves by ourselves,
That's okay.
We can forgive ourselves,
We can allow ourselves to move through that.
And just know that the way that we're showing up is exactly how we're intended to show up right now and that's okay.
So if you feel like you want to begin to say no,
I implore you begin to say no.
The more that we try to feed and fuel our external relationships when our internal relationship with ourself isn't being met or fed.
Something else is just going to create this notion of almost stress and anxiety around it.
Because we can't show up okay for someone else or something else until we show up okay for ourselves.
And so maybe you're sitting here today and you're just feeling you know some some lack.
Maybe you're feeling a little heavy on yourself.
Maybe you're feeling a bit of unworthiness or a bit of doubt,
A bit of shame.
And I just want to pause for a moment and allow ourselves to explore that.
What does it feel like?
Where do you feel it?
Do you feel it physically in the body?
Is it a guttural response?
Do you feel it in the heart space?
Where do you feel these feelings within you?
How do they present themselves?
Can we sit back and just allow ourselves to to hear it for a moment?
And maybe we're not even at a space where we can understand the messaging from it,
But we can feel the energy of it.
We talk a lot about how our circumstances may not change,
Right?
The experiences that we're going through may be the same experiences that we meet tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
But what we have an opportunity to do when we're true to ourselves,
When we're true to our nature,
When we're true to our,
You know,
Really deep rooted authentic self,
We can change the energy around those circumstances in those situations.
So at this time of year,
Simply by allowing ourselves to understand what no looks like,
And to really allow ourselves to come back home and take this time as a respite and a time to just reconnect and come back into our authentic energy.
Maybe you're even saying,
I don't know what my authentic energy looks like or feels like.
Sounds like.
And that's okay.
Because by letting ourselves just get present with our breath,
We can begin that exploration.
Even if all you take is these couple minutes to yourself,
Then allow yourself to truly be with them.
Maybe extend some forgiveness to yourself.
Forgiveness not only for what you've allowed others to do to you,
But forgiveness for what you've done to yourself.
For all the times leading up to this moment when things have gone wrong and you took it out on yourself.
For the damage maybe that you've caused to yourself or to relationships or externally,
You know,
By maybe taking some things too far for holding on to things and holding on to things tighter than we should have.
How about forgiveness for not putting yourself first in this moment,
You can put yourself first.
In this moment,
You can call back everything that you've given away all those pieces and places within you that you've allowed someone else to take call them back.
Forgiveness for not loving yourself the way you deserve to be loved.
For thinking you deserve less for feeling unworthy for staying in unhealthy situations one sided relationships toxic relationships forgiveness.
Forgive yourself.
Forgive yourself for the wrong turns for the layovers for the stubbornness.
Forgive yourself for maybe prolonging agony in situations and know that you stayed because that's what you knew in that moment.
Forgive yourself for not believing in yourself for not believing you're enough.
Forgive yourself for consistently trying to save others.
When deep down inside you knew that it was you that needed to be saved.
How about forgiveness for taking so long to allow yourself to receive forgiveness.
One of the hardest things that we do as human beings next to loving ourselves is forgiving ourselves.
Give yourself that amazing gift this holiday season.
Wrap it up however you need to wrap it up maybe even write it down.
Put it in a box give it to yourself as a gift forgiveness what does that look like.
Forgiveness leads us home back home to our authentic self.
To that beautiful kindred energy.
You are brave.
Having the courage to admit that there are things in your life that you've done to yourself to others that require forgiveness is huge.
Thank you for breathing.
Thank you for being here right now.
Thank you for pressing play.
Thank you for being alive.
Maybe you feel that you are so far removed from the person who you know you are.
Breathe in a promise to reconnect.
Breathe in a promise to feel whole again.
One breath at a time.
One moment at a time.
One circumstance at a time we're not going to fix it all.
We're not going to heal at all.
We're not going to move through it all.
Not all at once but we will.
With every breath we have that opportunity.
I'd like to take a few moments and just guide us through just a meditative space.
A space where we can humbly and lovingly just breathe.
I'm going to invite you to get comfortable wherever you are seated lying down standing.
Whatever shape it looks like right now just embrace it.
Embrace the totality of who you are.
Embrace everything that you're feeling in this moment.
Maybe it feels good to soften the eyes and invite the upper lid down to meet the lower.
Maybe we just want to keep the gaze down the bridge of the nose or maybe the gaze is just wide open.
I'm just taking it all in.
Wherever the gaze is just begin to draw the eyes into the eye sockets so that we can bring ourselves inward a moment.
Begin to feel the breath in through the nose feel it as it moves its way throughout the body.
How it moves its smoothness.
Notice any spaces in the body that may be responding to the breath with any hesitation or discomfort and just meet it.
Maybe allow yourself to use those exhales as an opportunity to release release what's hold being held inside right now.
Release the anger the frustration the shame the guilt.
Release the constant running the energy associated with just having to do and to be all the time.
In this moment you don't have to breathe that in.
In this moment you just are.
And in that breath you begin to cultivate and curate love.
Love on the deepest level a restorative a healing energy of love.
How long has it been since you felt that.
How long has it been since you allowed yourself to feel that.
Breathing honestly without judgment without expectation just how long has it been breathing in love.
Even if it's just for this breath breathe in love you are worthy.
You are worthy.
Use your breath to send that love throughout the whole body.
And allow that exhale to carry away carry away anxiety sadness guilt just in this breath let it move.
And let yourself truly experience and feel love.
And allow love to present for you areas and opportunities just asking for forgiveness.
Maybe it's something recent maybe it's something we have been holding on to meet it and see it.
And in this breath just truly extend forgiveness I am sorry.
I have learned the lesson and I forgive you.
With forgiveness comes such a release we stop holding on to that negative energy associated and we just allow love to move in and we allow love to restore us back.
See if anything else begins to present itself to you in the next few moments.
See if you can meet it with forgiveness.
See if you can meet it with compassion.
Just in this breath just in this moment feeling it feeling it move and feeling love giving yourself the greatest gift you can breathe that in.
And know that whatever you are feeling this season just allow it maybe allow the dormancy of winter to move through you understanding that your body is letting you know it's queuing you up to know this is what I need.
This is where I heal.
This is where I unpack and explore.
And this is where I have an opportunity to release.
Allow yourself to move back into the intuitive nature that we were born with about this time of year.
We don't always have to be hustling and we don't always have to be going.
We don't always have to feel joy.
We simply can just be in this moment accepting this moment exactly what it is.
Embracing it and meeting it with love.
Bringing ourselves back up into the present moment and maybe if we close the eyes allowing them to flutter open taking a gaze around.
And just breathing in a sensation of calm and peace into this moment knowing that you are exactly where you need to be.
Breathe in the empowerment and breathe in the growth that happens when we let ourselves normalize the way that we're feeling at this time of year and talk about it and share it and know that everything that we're going through is for the highest good of ourselves and when it in turn is the highest good for ourselves it's the highest good for humanity.
Take your time,
Feel the feelings,
Experience the experiences and allow yourself to show up exactly how you need to show up.
Thank you for spending time with me today.
The light in me honors the light in you.
Namaste.
