Hello.
So if you're like most people,
You might find yourself hurrying through the hard parts of life,
Thinking maybe that the good times matter more than the challenging times.
But I don't know about you,
But I don't want to get to the end of my days and realise I have hurried through huge parts of my life,
That I haven't been willing to feel the pain of being human and that I haven't had the opportunity to learn the incredible lesson that comes with being with the hard parts and realising that you have what it takes to face challenging times and that there's a resilience,
A grit,
A determination and a grace inside you that you can call upon when life gets dark.
So today,
This is nothing deep,
This is nothing scary.
It really is a short,
Simple practice to meet yourself where you are.
Because so often we're pushing things down,
We're hurrying through and so I just wanted to offer you an empowering moment to be with yourself just as you are.
So we don't need to close down our eyes,
We don't need to do any fancy breathing,
We can start this by just acknowledging where you are in the world.
Your home.
Are you in your bedroom?
Are you in the kitchen?
Are you in the living room?
Can you notice the walls around you,
The roof,
The door?
And can you get a sense of where your body sits in time and space?
So are you at the back of your room?
Are you near the door?
Are you in the center?
Are you lying on the floor?
Are you sitting up?
Your nervous system really loves to know where it sits in time and space.
And as a way of really expanding on this sense of where you are,
You might like to cross your arms over your chest.
And just gently squeeze down your arms.
This is my body.
These are my edges.
I know where I sit in time and space.
And then you might like to rub your feet slowly across the floor,
Letting your feet know where they are.
This sense of support,
Feeling the hips and pelvis,
The weight.
The support.
You might like to sigh,
To take a deep breath,
To acknowledge that without even closing down your eyes,
Without even trying.
You've already offered yourself a little gift of regulation,
Of present moment awareness.
And now together let's expand this present moment.
Maybe you might like to place a hand on your heart or the centre of your chest.
And just asking yourself,
How am I?
So often when friends or family ask us that,
We just say,
Good,
Thanks.
But here in this moment.
Can you get really honest with yourself?
How am I?
Are you tired?
Are you worried?
Are you bored?
Are you yearning for something else?
And what would it feel like to not try and fix anything?
To not try and push anything down,
But just to allow however you're feeling.
Whatever emotions are here,
Whatever physical sensations.
What would it feel like to just allow them to be here?
Now,
This doesn't mean we have to love whatever's going on in our lives.
Doesn't mean we have to feel good.
Doesn't mean we give up.
Just means we offer ourselves the gift of self-friendliness in this moment.
So often we abandon ourselves in big and small ways.
And what we often notice is through the simple but radical act of meeting ourselves exactly where we are.
As things shift.
We create a little more space.
Some freedom to attend to ourselves with kinder eyes.
To observe a situation or an emotion with a little bit more spaciousness.
To be on our own side.
And so can you get curious?
What would self-friendliness look and feel like for you today?
And can you make one small commitment to yourself?
To offer yourself what you need today.
This gesture doesn't need to be grand.
You don't need to overhaul your whole life.
Maybe you might speak to yourself more kindly.
Go to bed a little earlier.
Speak your truth to someone you care about.
Have a bath instead of scroll on social media.
What we're practicing here is self-friendliness.
Self-trust,
And the ability to meet ourselves wherever we are.
This is an amazing skill that you can take into all different stages of your life.
And one that you will never regret cultivating.
From my home to yours,
From my heart to yours.
Thanks for sharing your practice with me today.
