I Am Here, I Matter

How often do we struggle with self-compassion? Social media, advertising, the news all engage us in a hypnotic meditation that we are less than and incomplete, and that if only we were more productive, more efficient or consumed more, than we would be worthy and enough. In this practice recorded during a bi-weekly live Zoom meditation session, we practice interconnection and self-love, connecting to the fact we are all worthy and enough as we are now.

Transcript

Hello everyone,

Nice to see you all again for another of our bi-weekly guided meditation sessions.

In this time of social distancing it is so nice that with the use of this technology we can all come together to practice.

And that brings us to the focus of today's meditation.

The fact that you're showing up here today,

It speaks to your intention,

Showing up now.

And I want to talk a little bit about interconnection,

Interdependeteness,

But also the modern meditation that we're all engaged in.

Our modern culture,

Well let's just say US modern culture,

Perhaps we should say social media and advertising culture.

These are so focused on the individual.

Advertising and marketing repeatedly tell us that you need,

That you need,

What you need to be enough.

Now I'm not suggesting that we go off into the woods,

As nice as that might sound,

That we disengage from everything.

But I encourage us to recognize the meditation that we are doing unconsciously every day.

When we see these messages,

These messages repeatedly over and over to ourselves that we are not enough,

We are not good enough,

We are of no value.

That impacts our psyche.

So I encourage us to recognize the subtle ways we practice these messages to ourselves over and over that we're not good enough.

So connecting to mindfulness and compassion work is the first step in interconnection.

By showing up to here today,

By taking a firm seat on your cushion,

Your yoga mat,

Your bed,

Whether or not you are saying it directly,

By showing up you're saying you matter.

We cannot disengage from these mindless meditations we practice all day long about not being good enough if we do not attend to ourselves.

So to start this interconnectedness piece,

I invite you just to look around at whatever device you are now streaming this meditation on,

If you're listening to this.

What device are you using?

Your computer,

Your phone,

A tablet?

As I look around,

I see my computer,

I see the bench that it's resting on,

I see the microphone,

The camera light.

Now I didn't make any of these.

Hundreds upon hundreds of people were involved in these devices being here in front of me right now today.

Hundreds of people were involved in the creation process.

From the people who delivered it going backwards to the people who packaged it,

The people who assembled the parts,

The people who made the parts,

Even the people who mined and forged for the raw material.

This is an important message to remember.

In order to be here to listen to this meditation right now,

Hundreds of people were actually involved in the process.

Hopefully that gives us pause when we reflect on worth and value.

So,

Let's begin by finding our posture.

If you're lying down for this,

You can choose to lie down in that position though.

I do encourage you to lengthen your spine.

If you are sitting up,

I invite you to find,

If possible,

Only if possible,

A way to move away from any back support so that you can feel your spine elongated.

If you need the back support today,

Feel free to do so.

Use it and find your buttocks,

Your sits bones resting on your cushion,

Your mat,

Your chair,

The floor.

Envisioning a string from the crown of your head,

Lengthening and lifting your head,

Elongating your neck,

Lifting your torso.

Creating what we call that dignified pose.

Feeling your sits bones,

Your pelvis,

Your buttocks secured and rooted into the floor.

The floor is supporting you.

And as you find this posture,

Take a moment to reflect on the fact that I am here right now.

I am sitting here.

I invite you to sit into,

Feel into this declaration.

I am here right now.

I am here.

Notice where in the body that statement lands.

Perhaps for some of you,

You can feel further lengthening,

Further grounding into your seat.

And yet for some of you,

This simple declaration might be a bit cautious,

Hesitant.

Perhaps you find that your posture contracts just a little bit,

Almost like a cringe.

The thought of taking our space,

Sitting here firmly rooted into our cushion,

Our mat,

Our chair,

With spine elongated.

You might feel how your body responds to that.

So set that declaration again.

I am here right now.

And when you breathe in and breathe out on your own at your own rate,

Without manipulating your breath or changing it in any way.

As you breathe in and breathe out,

I invite you to say silently to yourself,

I am here.

As you breathe in,

I am here.

As you breathe out,

I am here.

Again,

You don't need to take a deeper breath or adjust it.

Allow the breath to happen naturally.

And this is a variation,

You might say,

On a mindful breathing practice.

You can always adjust the silent phrase to,

As I breathe in,

I allow myself to breathe in.

As I breathe out,

I allow myself to breathe out.

I allow myself to breathe in life.

I allow myself to breathe my spirit out into the world.

And simply abide in the subtle dance.

When your attention wanders,

If you sense your attention getting tight,

Just come back to your posture.

Allow it to lengthen.

And settle into this gentle declaration.

With every breath in,

I am here.

With every breath out,

I matter.

Notice where in the mind,

Body,

You might contract against these statements,

These phrases.

Invite a little gentle softening into those areas.

And allow yourself to take an unencumbered breath.

Despite any negative meditations,

Any negative narratives that we have subtly adopted from social media,

Media,

News,

We do not require anything to make us whole or complete.

Breathing in,

I am here.

Breathing out,

I am enough.

I matter.

You might find some impatience arising,

Some hesitation.

Note that condition patterning,

To want to get on with it,

To need to do something more.

Or hesitation of,

Am I allowed?

Am I allowed to say this?

Connect with the posture and allow the breath.

Silently repeating to yourself,

I am here.

I matter.

As I mentioned,

This is a variation of a mindfulness practice where we make a mental note as we breathe.

As we breathe in,

We silently say to myself,

As I breathe in,

I feel myself breathing in.

As I breathe out,

I feel myself breathing out.

By showing up here today,

You're declaring,

I matter.

In order for us to care for the world,

To care for others,

We must care for ourselves.

And this act right now,

We are caring for ourselves.

Just like the fact that the devices that we are using to connect have been touched by hundreds of hands,

So too does this practice right now touch many people's lives.

Although you might fail to see it,

How you practice showing up in any given moment ripples throughout your and others' entire life.

Connect with this next breath.

Observe where in your mind and body you might feel resistance to breathing in,

To breathing in life.

Where in your mind and body might you be reluctant to breathe your breath,

Your spirit,

Your life back into the world?

Wherever you find constriction,

Tightness,

Practice compassion.

Connect with your seat,

Lengthen your spine.

I am here.

I matter.

And you can stay here resting in this point of the meditation,

Just continuing to focus on the breathing,

Softening the breath,

Allowing the breath,

Softening the mind-body,

Allowing yourself to breathe in life,

And allowing yourself to breathe your life back out into the world.

And if you'd like to go a step further,

The next step,

I invite you to call to mind one,

One individual you may know,

Someone in your circle,

Someone you may know from another person,

Colleague,

Friend,

Someone else who also is struggling,

Who often doubts themselves,

Who questions their value,

Their worth.

Call them to mind.

See them clearly in your mind's eye.

Now connecting to your heart,

Simply recite silently to yourself.

As you witness them,

You see them,

Say to them,

You are here,

You matter.

Using these phrases or any phrases that speak to the same quality,

You are here,

You matter,

I care about you.

What is your heartfelt wish for them?

And it is so often easier for us not to doubt someone else's inherent value.

And yet here we are wishing for another.

We wish for them to know within their bones,

Within their tissues,

With every fiber of their being,

Your life matters to me.

Now rest in that realization.

Someone else's life does matter to you,

Someone who is suffering,

Their life matters.

Well,

You may not realize that applies to you as well.

It applies to us.

Now stay with the flow of the breath.

Lengthen the spine.

Perhaps in your mind's eye you envision holding the hand of that other individual,

And as you breathe in and breathe out,

You simply repeat,

We are here,

We matter.

We are here,

We matter,

We care.

And let's take a moment to think about all those individuals who have touched our lives,

All those individuals who've had a part in the creation of these devices that we're using right now.

They may not know us.

They don't know who we are,

And we don't know where they are,

But they are essential.

They matter.

We care.

So you might imagine all those people standing with you,

All of you standing together,

All those hands,

Those lives,

Those souls that have touched yours,

Imagining them all standing together,

And if you want to go big,

Let's call them all sentient beings,

All life on this planet,

On this earth,

And remembering that we all behave in very particular ways.

We all create our own narratives of being good enough,

Of worthy enough,

Because we feel unsafe.

To think about when we feel unsafe,

What do we do when we feel that we're not enough.

As advertising will do,

It makes us consume,

Makes us behave in certain ways.

If it's about being productive,

Efficient,

Perfect,

We all act out in certain ways.

So let's take this final moment for some meta,

Connecting to our heart and sending out our heartfelt wish,

Repeating some of these phrases in a rhythm that is pleasing to you,

Saying silently with every breath in and out.

May we,

May all beings everywhere be safe.

May we,

May all beings everywhere be healthy.

May we,

May all beings everywhere be at peace.

May we,

May all beings everywhere live with ease.

And as we go about our day today,

I invite all of us to bring a little bit more awareness and thought about this interconnection.

As you go about your day,

Whenever you notice that impulse,

That conditioned response to see how other people's are negatively impacting our life,

Take a moment to pause and reflect.

Think about these heartfelt wishes.

May they be safe.

May they be at peace.

May they be healthy.

May they live with ease.

And whenever you doubt yourself,

Let's practice disengaging from this cultural narrative that we are not enough unless we perform,

Consume more,

Move faster,

Be more productive,

Be a certain way.

I invite you wherever you are in your day to either plant your feet firmly on the ground standing or root your sits bones deeply into your chair,

Lift your torso.

I matter.

I am here.

We are all connected.

Thank you so much for joining me today.

I'll see you at the next meditation.

And may you please go gently,

Knowing your goodness.

Thank you.

Reviews

Thank you for your wisdom Dr. Brad 🌺

Wow. Incredibly helpful in helping me process an anger trigger from a family member who refuses to see/hear me and continues to speak to their story they have about me. I started by thinking about healing myself (and since I struggle to see myself as a result of a lot of invalidation since early childhood, my mind kept wandering away to other things I wanted, like to sit in my resentment and self-pity) and stayed with it (my inward focus on my self). When the meta aspect was introduced, I initially pictured someone who doesn't see me. In turn, I saw them in a different way, then I saw myself in a more whole, complete way. Like a hole in my heart and back of my heart was filling up, radiating even. I didn't even know I needed to be healed there, yet here we are. Thank you for this great meditation/talk. Truly in gratitude for your work, effort, and energy.