Echoes Of Me

Echoes of Me is a guided reflective meditation that helps you notice how tightly you hold roles, labels, and beliefs and what it feels like to try them on and set them down. The practice combines breath-centered grounding, a written identity inventory, and a tactile card ritual to allow you to fully feel each label and then throw it away.

Transcript

Hello, My name is Sandra Menzies. And this is a meditation where you get to explore. Who you are. The terms you define yourself. And be able to take them off and see who. . . Shows up when you uncover it. So we need to do a little bit to get us ready. I'm going to invite you to have a sheet of paper. I've folded mine already. So you want to fold this into thirds. At the top of one section I want you to identify. How do others describe me? In the middle. Write how you feel. Identify or describe yourself. When you're meeting people for the first time. And then in the third column. I'd like to invite you to write. How? What does this inner voice say about me? Now these can be things that you do. They can be labels you associate with. Sometimes. It's like, I'm not enough or I am strong and capable. What are the terms? It might be roles that you've been in. Because especially when you are working on. Transitions. Especially preparing for leaving the workforce or moving into a new leadership role or out of a role. Understanding how you identify yourself is so important. To understand you. Because when we can let go of these labels, We can then identify who we are. And how we share one. So that's what I want from you. Is to take this. We're going to fill it out as part of the meditation. So just label the top. Then half. Set aside. You can use post-it notes, Index cards. You can rip up a sheet of paper. But we're only going to use three for this. Three. I'm only going to use three sheets for this particular activity because we want to keep it short. If you want, You can repeat this later with using more. I've used up to 10 at a time. And. . . This is an opportunity for you. To empower yourself and to say, Who am I? Without. All of the labels. Let's start off grounding ourselves. Feel your feet on the floor, Lengthening your back. Taking a breath in. Letting your breath out. Noticing what's going on in your thoughts. Noticing your emotions. Your energy. What are those voices in your head saying about you doing this practice? Be honest with yourself. Take another inhale and exhale. Now I'd like for you to take a moment, Have your sheet of paper close by. And think about. We're going to start off with how others describe you. And think about and reflect on your life. And think about the times when you Heard someone out talking about you. And they describe you using these terms. She's always on time, She talks too much. Whatever the terms are that people have used. Maybe in your workplace, Your professionally. People use different terms. Maybe you've had a 360, And you've seen what your boss, Your colleagues, Your subordinates say about you. Just think about what are those terms that resonate most with you. Now take a few moments. And write them down. And on your list. If you need more time. Please stop the recording. Complete your list. Take another deep inhale in. And exhale. Now let's look at that middle column, How you describe you. When you're meeting people for the first time. Sometimes we describe ourselves one way when we talk to people professionally. And another way when we talk about people personally. Sometimes we beat people. When we're on our own versus when we're with a colleague, A friend, A spouse. So think about all these different situations, And how do you describe yourself? When you are meeting people for this first time. It might be over scrolls. Might be what you do. It might be how you show off. And write those terms down in the middle column. Take another deep inhale in. And exhale if you need some more time. Stop the recording and come back when this middle column. Is complete. Feel your feet on the floor again. And now bring to your mind's eye. That little voice that's on your shoulder. The one that tells you. How it thinks you're doing. Maybe as something didn't work out quite as well as you thought it should. You didn't run that race as fast as you thought you could. What does that voice say about you? How does it describe you? And write these terms. In the third column. If you need more time, Stop the recording and come back. Take an inhale. Exhale. Now I'm going to invite you to look at your list. All of your terms, What others have said about you. What you've said about yourself, As you've described yourself. And what that inner voice says about you. Look at all the terms. Are you seeing a term that resonates across all the lists? Circle, Underline, Mark. The words, The terms. And now come in. Having this list. Hold your three sheets of paper that you're going to use for this activity. And on as you look at just the terms you've marked. Look at those and say, What do you see? Only three, But what are the three terms? That resonate most strongly for me today. And write those terms down. One at a time on a piece of paper, Each. So one term per paper. Now place your list off to the side. You now have your three terms with words on the front. And now for the next stage. Of our meditation of letting these go. Hearing our souls. Feel the echoes of these terms. And letting them go. So what we're going to do is look at these three terms and say, Which term. Resonates most with thee. Right now. And take that term. And place it to the side. Now look at the next two. And take the next turn. And place that on top. So this is the term that resonates next most strongly with you. Place it on top so now you've got two terms stacked. And then take your third term and put it on top. So you've got a stack of your three terms. And I invite you to pick up just the top term. I want you to look at this term. Feel as if it's up. A second skin. This term. As if it is resonating within your soul. As you feel this fully. Or as fully as you can right now. I want you to take them. A deep inhale in. Ball it up, Rip it up. And throw it away. What does it feel like? To let that go. Who am I? Without. That too. Fill in that name of that term. Who am I? Who am I? Take another deep inhale in. And exhale. Maybe brush it off. Shake, Whatever feels good in your body right now. Let's get ready. This is the next term that resonates more the second strongest to you. Let's take this turn. Pick it up. Look at it. Feel what it feels like. When you hear this term said about you. When you say it about yourself. When that little voice. Uses this term. You And now take a deep inhale in. Ball it up, Rip it. And then throw it away. Who am I? Without this term. Taking this in. Acknowledging it. Who am I? Who am I? Great. Take another deep inhale in. Exhale if you need to shake, If you need to brush, Whatever is needed. Let's get ready. This next term is the one you said resonated most strongly with you. You're safe. You're capable. You're curious about who you are. So let's pick up this term. And look at it. Is it eternal? Others have said about you. You said about yourself. That voice has said about you. What does it feel like? To say this. To feel it. Take another deep inhale in. And lights. Get rid of this term. Throw it away. Cleansing breath. Ooh. What are the echoes without this term? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I? Take another deep inhale in. You can shake it, You can brush. Whatever feels good for you, As we are. Going to just take a moment and reflect. On how does this feel. What resonated for you? As you. Explored removing. Each of these terms. What that meant, And what does it feel like to take them off. So I've got a few journaling prompts for you. First, What insights or awarenesses emerged as a result of this practice? Did you feel anything? What came up in your thoughts? Then maybe. You put them in reverse order. Was there a particular term? That resonated as harder for you to let go of. And if so, Why? Maybe it was a term that is part of your identity. That you don't want to let go of. Knowledge. But who are you? Without all the labels. Finding that echo within your soul. Of your true self. How did your body respond? When you put on and really looked at those terms. And what happened in your body when you removed a particular identity. And another question, Is what surprised you? About who you are without all these labels. So as you continue, This meditation is going to come to a close. But your learning from it has not. So I'd like for you to come back to this. As you want to explore more about that. The echoes of your true self. As you are facing a transition. Whether it's preparing for retirement, Empty nesting, A new leadership role. Or at any point where you feel that something is not resonating within you. And you want. To explore. Who are you? Without all of the baggage. My name is Sandra Menzi. Helping you tell your story. Your way.