From Shane Pinata,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is Everyday Magic for Ukraine.
Today we gather in the wake of the U.
S.
Elections to talk about hope.
Welcome to the Circle.
Welcome to Everyday Magic for Ukraine,
Where we honor Ukraine and also practice self-care to stay strong as allies.
If you're new here,
Welcome.
So,
Friends,
I am so glad you're here with us today,
And I invite you to take a breath if that might feel good to you.
This episode is being recorded the day after the U.
S.
Election completed in November of 2024.
So,
If you're listening around that time,
You are probably feeling some of the strong emotions that are going around right now.
And if you are joining us in that time,
I wanted to create a space to gather us together to remember that there is so much hope that is still there for Ukraine and for the world.
And to do that,
I would love for you to grab a notebook,
If you happen to have one.
And what we're going to do is we're going to just write out,
Just sort of brain dumping out every feeling we're aware of that we're having at this moment.
The good,
The bad,
The ugly,
Just get them all out of your body,
Out of your heart and onto the paper.
And if you don't have a notebook with you,
A simple way to do this would be to pretend your hand is a piece of paper and pretend your other hand is holding a pen and just kind of fake write,
If you will,
On your hand.
You can also just imagine how you feel.
See if you can just become aware of how you feel and let it out.
Let it out.
Just all the feelings you're having.
You don't need to put any meaning on them.
Just write them down.
Remembering to breathe.
Just letting your feelings be witnessed,
Writing them down,
Honoring them.
If you feel complete,
Just maybe take a moment and notice if anything else is there.
And so let's imagine on the inner,
Lighting a candle for each thing we wrote down.
No matter how many things you thought of and wrote down,
Just light a candle for each one of them.
And just imagine how you feel right now.
And no matter how many things you thought of and wrote down,
Just light a candle for each one in your mind.
Each feeling is valid.
Each feeling is respected and honored.
And if there are any particularly strong feelings,
You might light a bigger candle for those.
You might light a very big candle for democracy and a very big candle for Ukraine.
Maybe a big candle for the world,
Whatever you feel called to do.
And now that we've honored these feelings,
We're just going to let them go.
And now that we've honored these feelings,
We're just going to let them go.
And now we're going to do another piece of writing.
So maybe turn to a new page or wipe your hand off,
Wipe the energy off your hand if you were writing on your hand.
And this list is things we are deeply grateful for,
Things that fill us with joy,
Things we love,
Ways we take care of ourselves.
So just begin to see what are some of those things for you and begin to jot them down.
Things that make you smile,
Things that are beautiful,
Things that touch your heart,
Things that maybe make you laugh.
And now we're going to do one more list along with this list.
And now we're going to do one more list along with this list of things that make us smile and laugh and fill our hearts.
And this next list is things that give us hope.
Little moments when our hope for humanity is sparked.
Things that bring a smile to our face when we see them that are along the lines of going forward and Ukraine being victorious in this war.
All of the wonderful people who are working for Ukraine's integrity and freedom.
All of the new connections that have been made even just since the full-scale invasion.
The rich history those of us who are just learning about Ukraine are learning and the deep appreciation of the language,
Those of us learning the language are gaining.
Things that give us hope in regards to the world and in regards to Ukraine.
So go ahead and write those down also.
It's okay if you're having some sadness too.
Whatever you feel is fine.
Just find those moments of hope.
Okay,
Just another minute.
Wonderful.
So now the last piece of this meditation is to gather up all of the things that we are grateful for and gather up all the things that give us hope.
This is a very simple and lovely practice developed by Louis Boswick.
What you do is you gather up all of those things and you imagine a gold sun above your head.
You can place your hands above your head if you want to,
Kind of like you're holding a beach ball,
Like a nice big beach ball.
This is the gold sun.
We're going to fill that gold sun with all of those gratitudes,
All of those things that make us smile,
All of the ways we have hope.
Allow this gold sun to just fill,
Fill,
Fill.
Fill with beautiful hope.
Fill with promise for tomorrow.
Fill with the things that fill your heart and make you smile and make you laugh,
The things you most deeply love in the world.
And let this golden sun get really,
Really big,
Really,
Really,
Really big until it can't hold any more gratitude or any more hope.
And when it feels completely full,
Bring it down into your body.
Just pull your hands down,
Bring that sun down into your body,
Into your energy body,
And just allow it to fill you.
And just now allow it to flow into everywhere in your body,
Your skin,
And your fascia,
And your eyelashes,
And between your toes.
Just allow it to filter in and just fill you.
Maybe take a few breaths to really pull this into your system.
And as we transition out of our meditation today,
I'm so grateful to you for being here.
I'm so grateful to your heart for the hope it holds within it.
And I'm so grateful that you're part of our circle.
May we continue to release what we no longer need and fill ourselves up with hope.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy,
And your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
Remember to breathe today.
Breathe and expand.
And I hope you join us again next time.
Please consider inviting a friend.
