Welcome.
This is a meditation to help you create mental space.
It's a complement to the talk,
Mental Space,
Tonic for Mental Fatigue,
Self-Pressure,
And Stress.
Oftentimes,
When we're feeling mentally fatigued,
Brain tired or exhausted,
We reach for a bubble bath,
A yoga practice,
And maybe even a little bit of Netflix.
It helps to know that what you're really looking for is mental space.
A moment away from the noisy,
Chattering monkey mind,
Where there's no thinking,
Fixing,
Or trying.
A place where you don't have to worry,
Where you can just be.
Be okay.
To know that you're enough and that nothing has gone wrong.
This meditation,
Inspired by Tara Brach's Rain of Self-Compassion,
Is intended to bring you to this place of mental space.
Begin by finding yourself in a comfortable position,
Seated or lying down.
As you allow your eyes to flutter closed,
All of that fixing,
Thinking,
Learning,
And trying.
Put that aside for now.
And begin to slow your breathing.
On your next inhale,
Notice the air coming in through your nostrils,
Down your throat,
And into your lungs.
And on your exhale,
Notice the sensation of the stale air leaving your lungs.
Inhale,
Fully filling up your lungs.
Exhale,
Fully emptying out your lungs.
As you settle into your body,
Begin to turn your attention inward and scan your inner landscape to notice what's happening inside you right now.
You might turn to yourself with inquiry,
What is happening within me right now?
Notice sensations and emotions as they arise.
Which ones are you most aware of?
Perhaps there is a worry,
Fear,
Judgement,
Or shame that comes up.
There's a feeling of not enough.
Perhaps you feel a tightness in your chest,
Constriction in your throat.
You notice your brows furrowing.
Whatever is arising within you,
Even if it's uncomfortable,
Be willing to give it permission to be here right now.
It is the rejection of,
The resistance of what is coming up,
Especially if it's uncomfortable,
That perpetuates the tangle of mental fatigue,
That perpetuates the chatter in the monkey mind.
So practice allowing it to be here right now.
Perhaps you send it the message,
Yes,
To signify the allowing.
Tara Brach suggests,
Let be.
Notice the sensations come up within the body.
Notice the emotions like waves in an ocean,
Rising and falling.
And as they rise and fall,
There's this whisper of yes,
This allowing.
Keep breathing.
Keep being with what you are.
Keep breathing.
Keep being with what is.
With kind,
Curious attention,
Begin to explore these possibly uncomfortable emotions and sensations honing in on the one that is most predominant,
That draws your attention to it the most.
What is the worst part of this?
Inquiring with yourself with this kind,
Curious attention.
What am I believing about myself?
Perhaps you notice there's a judgment within this emotion that you're holding against yourself.
I'm wrong,
Not enough.
I needed to do more.
Where does it live in your body?
Perhaps you feel this as a gripping on your stomach,
A tightening of the chest.
A constriction of the throat,
Staying with it with this kind,
Curious attention.
Almost as if you were watching it from outside of yourself.
If the most vulnerable,
Hurting part of you could communicate,
What would it express?
Perhaps there's a softer,
Smaller part of you that's just wanting to sleep or just needs rest.
Maybe the softer,
More vulnerable part of you is trying to tell you that it needs to be loved,
Knowledged.
As you continue to communicate with this softer part of you,
Notice how this part wants you to be without you right now.
What does it most need?
As you sense what is needed,
Call in your kindest,
Most compassionate self.
Perhaps offer up from this kind,
Compassionate place a gentle message or an inward embrace to that softer,
Vulnerable part of you.
Perhaps sending it the message,
It's okay.
I love you anyway.
I'm here for you.
I hear you.
You matter.
I love you.
You might imagine another figure.
Someone or something that you trust and represent someone's comfort.
Perhaps a pet,
Spiritual figure,
A parent or the all-loving universe itself.
Imagine a compassionate message coming from them.
Maybe it comes in words or perhaps it comes in touch,
Images or energy.
You might imagine healing white light.
This figure is sending you whatever it is that allows that vulnerable part of you to feel safe,
Acknowledged,
Love.
Imagine your heart blossoming,
Opening up,
Receiving.
Being in the arms of comfort.
Being in the arms of love.
Being loved.
Be loved.
Now,
Sit in beingness.
Noticing after this scan,
Awareness and nurturing of your inner landscape,
What if anything has shifted within you?
Then settle back in this beingness.
Just breathe.
Just be.
There is no more perfect for you to be right here.
There is nothing more perfect for you to be doing than this right now.
Breathing.
You are enough.
Just as you are.
Being is enough.
So bask in this moment.
Open hearted and trusting the truth that in this moment you are okay.
And all is well.
Open hearted and trusting the truth that in this moment you are okay.
Open hearted and trusting the truth that in this moment you are okay.
Open hearted and trusting the truth that in this moment you are okay.
Bring one hand to your heart and your other hand over top.
Close this practice by bowing in toward yourself.
Inward acknowledgement of all that you are.
The enoughness that you are.
Beautiful light that shines within you.
Namaste.
Namaste.
