Welcome to this meditation that was recorded live at a wisdom circle I was facilitating.
It's entitled Treasure Yourself and includes some readings from a book called Wild Mercy by Mirabai Starr.
Arriving and settling into your space,
Into this moment,
Getting a sense of yourself in the room,
Maybe noticing your feet on the ground,
That you are rooted and grounded,
Supported,
Sustained and noticing of your breath and coming into your body,
Into the centre of you,
Once more gathering yourself in,
Really gathering all of you into this space.
Bits that you like,
The bits that you're not so fond of,
The parts that get dismissed or left behind,
The parts that you don't want to spend time with,
Allow all of you to be here,
Just as you are.
No room for judgment or opinions,
Simply here in your new-ness.
Be in this body of yours,
Notice your skin,
Your hands,
Notice your legs and your arms,
Your face,
Your head,
This heart of yours beating inside of your chest,
These lungs that are yours,
Rising and falling with the inhale and the exhale.
This is you,
Right here,
Right now,
Alive,
Breathing,
This you with your history and everything that has brought you to this present moment,
This you with your joys and sorrows,
With your broken parts and your healed parts,
Your whole parts.
Welcoming this space to be with you,
Simply be you,
Here,
Now.
Allow you to be held and enveloped in a place and space of compassion,
The heart and the goodness of divine love,
Divine mother,
Beloved,
Becooning you in this moment,
In you in this moment,
The within and the without of the beloved,
The merging of new with the divine.
I offer these two words,
Treasure yourself,
Treasure yourself,
Treasure yourself.
Let them come in through your ears and also come into your body and land in the core of your being.
In this moment,
Let them be written and etched upon your heart.
Treasure yourself.
You're invited to treasure yourself in this moment,
Without judgment,
Without opinion,
Simply treasuring yourself.
Allow these words to unfold within you,
To bring their gift.
Allow them to offer image,
Vision,
Awareness,
Treasure yourself.
Maybe you notice where you need tender care right now.
Notice what it feels like to treasure yourself and receive tender care of this you that you are.
I'm going to slowly read this paragraph from Wild Mercy.
And you can let the words fall away.
Or you can notice any of them or any phrases that capture your attention.
Many of us have been conditioned to avoid taking up space in this world,
Expressing our opinions,
Asking for what we want.
We are compelled to beg forgiveness for being and may use this compulsion as a kind of preemptive technique,
Accusing ourselves before we can be accused,
And thereby escaping condemnation.
While we may find this habit of apologising for every little thing annoying in others,
It's harder to catch our own self deprecating behaviours.
We would never speak to a beloved child the way we talk to ourselves sometimes in the middle of the night,
When we can't help rewinding the tape of our lives and blaming ourselves for a thousand missteps.
We wouldn't even treat a stranger so harshly.
What would happen if we cultivated tenderness toward our own broken being?
What revolution would unfold if we embraced the teachings of the mystics and practiced cherishing ourselves?
You notice if you're being invited to take up space,
Express your needs,
Ask for what you want.
You notice being one that over apologises.
And maybe if you do,
And you reflect on this,
Do you realise why you do that?
Are you being invited to cultivate tenderness towards yourself?
Cherish myself.
How do these words land within you?
Cherish myself.
I'm going to give you some,
A few minutes to continue to be with any of these questions,
To be with any of the words or phrases that stood out to you.
As you're ready,
Slowly returning into this space.
