A warm welcome back to this seven-day compassion challenge,
Where together we're saying yes to meditation and the positive ripple effect it has on our lives.
Today's practice is all about meeting the thoughts within our mind with awareness and compassion.
So settling in.
Closing down your eyes if you like.
And enjoying three deep breaths.
And feeling into the parts of your body that come in contact with the surface that supports you.
And with each exhale,
Seeing if you can let go a little more into this sense of support.
With every long,
Smooth exhale.
Noticing how you are held.
How you belong here in this moment.
And now together,
Let's direct our attention into our brain.
As you breathe in,
Imagining that fresh oxygen is moving through your third eye or the space between your two eyebrows into your brain.
And as you breathe out,
Imagining that a soft energy is moving through your brain.
On the inhale,
Oxygen is greeting your brain.
On the exhale a soft cleansing energy is seeping into all the different parts of your brain.
The prefrontal cortex.
The amygdala.
Brainstem.
Soft cleansing energy washing over the hippocampus and the midbrain too.
Inhaling fresh oxygen into the brain.
Exhaling soft cleansing energy.
And now seeing,
Sensing,
Feeling or imagining that within your mind there is a garden.
Taking some time to notice what's in the garden of your mind.
Perhaps trees,
Plants,
Shrubs or flowers.
Birds,
Insects or other animals.
What else do you notice?
As you settle in a little more into this garden of your mind.
Perhaps you can notice the temperature.
If there's a breeze or any sunshine.
As your awareness deepens,
You begin to notice some weeds within your garden.
These weeds represent thoughts that feel critical.
Negative or fear-based.
For example,
Negative thoughts about your personality,
Your physical appearance,
Your success or life stage.
These may be the weeds of self-criticism.
Pass judgment.
High expectations.
Perfectionism or control.
Taking a long smooth inhale.
And a long,
Smooth exhale.
And locating one weed in particular.
Which thoughts does this weed represent?
And imagine,
Feel or sense yourself pulling this weed from the garden of your mind.
Can you feel into a sense of spaciousness or relaxation in your mind or body after pulling this weed?
Now moving your awareness to the rich soil in the garden of your mind.
Filled with nutrients,
Minerals,
Bugs and earthworms.
Notice that within this soil there are many different seeds.
You can see seeds of compassion.
Forgiveness.
Gratitude.
Trust.
Acceptance.
Vitality Purpose.
And so on.
In your own time picking one seed that you would like to grow in the garden of your mind.
Give it a name.
And in your mind's eye.
Imagining offering it everything it needs to germinate.
Water.
The right temperature,
Sunlight.
Noticing it break through the soil.
How does it feel to cultivate this seed?
And coming back to that lovely cleansing breath practice.
Inhaling through your third eye.
Exhaling beautiful soft energy into your brain.
Repeating this intention silently in your mind after me.
It feels good to attend to the garden within my mind with curiosity and compassion.
Feeling your body as it sits or lies in meditation.
And in your own time and in your own way,
Transitioning to your writing practice now.
A key element of self-compassion is learning to respond to yourself as you would respond to a friend.
So as you move through this writing exercise,
You might like to imagine a friend making these self-critical comments and you responding in thoughtful ways.
Begin by writing two headings across the top of your page.
Heading 1.
Inner critic.
Heading to.
.
.
Inner Ally.
Now take some time to write down all the self-critical thoughts or phrases that you often say to yourself.
Include the harsh judgments you make about your personality,
Your looks,
Your life stage or success.
The comparisons you make with other people.
See if you can identify at least 10 things here.
Take a break and read over the list.
How does it make you feel?
It can certainly feel quite confronting,
Quite shocking when we put pen to paper and realize just how hard on ourselves we are.
Now populate the inner ally column by responding to each of these negative comments with a phrase that feels more supportive.
Encouraging and friendly.
Read over these inner ally phrases and see if you can soften your body as you do.
Taking a few deep breaths into these more supportive phrases.
Allowing this to feel like a moment of self-compassion.
Now in the final few minutes,
Write a specific intention about when you will gently challenge your inner critic with the voice of your inner ally.
Remember,
The more specific the better as you are sending a clear message to your brain and the universe that you are ready to cultivate a more compassionate mind.
Great work today.
You might like to write one of these phrases on a post-it note or email it to yourself.
Let it act like a pep talk,
A reminder that you are your own friend.
Looking forward to meditating with you again tomorrow.
