Hello and welcome to the session.
Today we're going to do a guided calm breathing relaxation meditation and have a little talk about expectations,
What they are and how they can be the cause of a lot of duress.
And how if we can eliminate our expectations of other people and of ourselves,
Happiness will spontaneously arise.
So take a seat or lay down and get yourself comfortable.
Close down the eyes if you wish.
And we're going to do three slow calm breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.
For the duration of the session I want you to continue breathing deeply and slowly.
This breath should go in through the nose,
Filling up from your belly,
Then your chest and then your throat.
And when you release the breath,
You release it in the reverse order.
First from your throat,
Then your chest,
Then your belly.
This breath should not be strained or forced or cause you any psychological tension.
All you need to do,
All you need to do is breathe a little bit slower than your usual rate of breath.
In through the nose and out through the mouth.
These three breaths cause tension.
They are tension.
If you believe someone,
Including yourself,
Should be saying or doing something,
Or should act or be a certain way,
You may be finding yourself in conflict with the nature of reality.
Your expectations are causing you tension because you want something that isn't occurring.
Let's take another few breaths.
I want you to draw someone to mind,
Someone that you care about,
That you're close to,
That you desire to live a happy,
Fulfilled,
Loving,
Positive life.
And hold that person in your heart and wish them well.
Take a breath.
Just take a moment to examine your expectations of that person.
Do you want them to act in a certain way?
Maybe doing more of something or less of other things?
Do you wish that they just or hoped that they might?
What expectations do you have for this person?
Take a breath into that space.
Holding this person in your heart for a moment at least,
I want you to practice dropping your expectations of them,
And just sitting with their energy in its fullness.
Taking a slow,
Calm breath,
I want you to accept their energy as it is,
Fully.
If you can accept them as they are,
For what they are,
In this moment,
Right now,
There'll be far less tension in your relationship,
And thus far less tension in your life.
Take another breath.
Now I want you to hold your own energy in your heart.
Consider yourself in your totality.
Everything about you,
The good,
The bad,
And the things you want to change,
The things you're unhappy with.
Can you hold your shadow with love?
Take a breath into that space.
We can be our own worst critic.
We can expect ourselves to do things that no one else could or would.
We can be unfair in our judgements to ourself,
Desiring that we act in a certain way all the time,
Holding ourselves to a higher standard.
And then,
When we fail to reach those expectations,
We berate ourselves.
All of this is tension.
All of this is energy.
All of this is something that we can practice self-acceptance,
And breathing into that space.
Whilst holding the energy of your totality in your heart,
Say the following to yourself.
I accept myself as I am for who I am right now.
I accept myself as I am for who I am right now.
And take a breath.
I accept myself as I am for who I am right now.
As we come to the end of this session,
I would like to leave you with the following little bit of advice.
If you notice yourself feeling tense or frustrated at yourself or at someone else for failing to do something,
For not living up to an expectation that you had,
The first step is to acknowledge those feelings.
Then take a breath,
And then repeat to yourself.
I accept them as they are for who they are right now.
The acceptance of the feelings,
The slow calm breathing,
And the repetition of a positive sentiment won't change what they are or are not doing,
But it will help you to reduce tension and thus continue functioning.
Combined,
This will see that your day,
And thus your life,
Will start to improve.
Thank you,
And have a great day.
