This is the inner critic and self compassion for needs meditation.
Just taking a few moments to notice your body,
Bringing your attention to the sensations of the body,
Touching whatever it's touching.
The floor,
The ground,
The chair,
Whatever you're on.
Just beginning to invite a more embodied whole sense of yourself through these points of contact.
Taking a moment to notice any sounds,
Just letting them be.
Also sensing where you are.
So here you are,
Sensing the breathing in the body,
Your limbs.
Perhaps just inviting a softening and a quality of presence,
Allowing the body to adjust and adapt to be the way it wants to be right now.
Comfortable,
Balanced,
Easy.
And just taking a moment perhaps to imagine your inner critic or the inner critic,
That part of us that sometimes judges,
Blames,
Fault finds,
Analyses.
Oh,
Why do I always do that?
Why does she always do that?
Or he should know better?
Or I should know better?
Or I'm no good?
This is the inner critic.
That's something that expresses itself in a way that might cause disconnection in our lives,
In ourselves and with others.
Causing a painful rift,
A sense of hopelessness or despair sometimes or pain.
And the inner critic,
He just or she just has needs,
They have needs,
That's why they're there.
They're doing their best to communicate something as important in our lives.
And underlying the inner critic,
Underlying the feelings of the inner critic,
Things like despair,
Hurt,
Pain,
Frustration,
Anger,
Irritation.
They're all pointing to needs,
Universal needs.
The inner critic has a positive intention to meet,
To help you meet these needs.
So a feeling of fear or insecurity could be pointing to the needs for safety,
For security,
For stability.
And all the other feelings are pointing to needs.
The need for peace,
For care,
For respect,
For freedom,
For ease,
For playfulness,
For love,
For intimacy.
For friendship,
For community,
For authenticity,
For spontaneity,
For wellbeing,
Whole being,
Openness,
Freedom,
Space,
Order,
Organisation,
Joy,
Meaning,
Learning,
Understanding.
To be heard,
To express,
To be seen for who we really are,
To contribute.
All these needs is what the inner critic is really pointing out and coming from.
So when we hear the inner critic just sensing into the body and sensing the feeling tone and going,
Ah,
That feeling is telling me I have needs.
So we can be thankful of that inner critic and shift and switch our attention straight into the body,
Into the emotional quality that might pervade us in that moment.
And just sensing in there for the needs that at that moment in time may be very important for us,
An unmet need.
Perhaps sensing your own unmet needs right now.
With a sense of kindness and care,
Just holding a space around that.
What needs are important to you right now?
More peace,
More ease,
More gentleness.
And of course there are met needs,
The needs that you have right now in your life in this moment.
Needs for presence,
Needs for stillness here.
Just noticing what needs are met for you right now.
And perhaps inviting needs in that you would really enjoy right now.
What need would you really value most right now?
And allowing this perhaps to manifest in your body,
Allowing the body to remember or invite this need to grow,
Emerge,
To begin to emerge in you somewhere,
Either now or later.
If it works for you.
As we begin to just complete this short needs meditation.
