Hello my friends,
And welcome to this meditation of letting go of stress and anxiety.
To begin,
I invite you to be still.
Set your mind,
Relax your body,
And close your eyes if it is safe and helpful to do so.
Adopt an attitude of gratitude and non-judgment,
Especially toward yourself,
And embrace a heart and mindset of peace and loving kindness.
Once you are calm and relaxed and comfortable,
I invite you to position your hands together in front of you,
Palms up,
Slightly cupped,
As if you are receiving a gift small enough to hold in your hand.
From now on,
I'll refer to this hand position as the receiving position.
And to start,
Let's just imagine ourselves receiving peace,
Receiving calm,
Receiving serenity,
Receiving peace.
Take a few deep breaths,
If that is helpful,
And just continue to receive peace for a moment longer.
Now this next part might be difficult.
If at any point it becomes too difficult,
Feel free to pause this meditation and come back to it when you're ready,
Or just skip this part.
And if at any point it feels like you need to just take a deep breath,
Just take a deep breath in,
Only,
And out.
Imagine something that causes you anxiety.
Imagine holding it in your hands.
It's important to note here that anxiety is not inherently bad.
Anxiety is a gift.
It alerts us of something we need to let go of.
It alerts us something's not quite right.
Just try to view the anxiety as a gift,
What is it telling you?
Now cup one hand over the other,
Forming a ball with your hands,
As though you may have held a frog or a bug as a child.
Imagine that anxiety in your hands,
And just hold it there for a moment.
Just hold your anxiety in your hands.
This is what we do,
Isn't it?
We hold on to our stress and our anxiety.
Now let's take a deep breath in,
And with a big exhalation,
Let's open our hands,
Let's release that anxiety.
Open your hands as if you're letting a butterfly or a ladybug fly away,
Spreading your hands and lifting them to the skies.
Let it go.
Imagine the anxiety flying away,
Drifting further and further away.
Keeping your hands lifted to the sky and watch as your anxiety drifts further and further away.
Finally,
It drifts so far away that you can no longer see it,
As if it were never there.
Then return your hands to your sides or wherever,
Whatever feels natural.
Simply be without the anxiety for a moment.
Simply be.
Now let's return our hands to the receiving position.
And once again,
Let's receive peace.
And take a few more deep breaths in and out as you continue to receive peace.
Imagine peace sitting in your hands.
What does peace look like?
Does it have a color?
Does it have a shape?
How big or small is it?
Let's just sit here for a moment,
Holding peace,
Receiving peace.
Now I invite you to put your hands on your chest as though you were placing that peace on your heart.
Feel the peace flow into your heart.
Feel the peace flow into your heart.
Feel your heart pumping that peace throughout your whole body.
Feel peace flowing into,
Throughout,
And emanating from your body.
Feel peace flowing into your heart.
And now once again,
Lift your hands to the skies as you continue to both receive peace and send peace out.
Sending peace,
Sending peace back out.
So return your hands to whatever hand position feels natural and comfortable.
Continue to receive peace and send peace out as I speak these words over you.
Peace and loving kindness is the only truly renewable resource.
Because the more we give away,
The more we receive.
The more we give away,
The more we receive.
And just sit with that for a moment.
Seeing peace flow,
Acknowledging that peace and loving kindness is the only renewable resource.
The more peace and loving kindness we give away,
The more we receive.
The more peace we give away,
The more we receive.
The more loving kindness we give away,
The more we receive.
And so let's just continue to receive and send out peace and loving kindness just another few moments.
And with whatever hand position feels most natural,
Let's continue to receive and send out peace and loving kindness.
Whenever you are ready,
You can slowly flutter your eyes open.
Give your body a light stretch if you want to and just be filled with peace.
Thank you for meditating with me today,
My dear friends.
May grace and peace,
Light and love be with you.
