Take a breath and let yourself land,
Then when you're ready,
Sit straight with your spine engaged,
Allowing your eyes to close or just keep soft if you prefer,
And then taking one long,
Slow,
Deep breath,
Breathing in through the nose and then gently out through the mouth.
Now place a hand on your chest if that feels right and gently bring yesterday to mind,
Not every detail,
Just the shape of yesterday.
And now ask yourself honestly,
Did I treat myself yesterday as someone I deeply love?
If the answer to that is yes,
Even partly,
Then let yourself feel that,
Don't rush past it.
If the answer to that question is no,
That's okay,
There's no need to pile on yourself,
Just notice and let it go.
Today is a new day,
You get to try again.
So bring your attention to today and to right now.
Ask yourself,
Where am I being hard on myself at the moment?
It might be something obvious,
A mistake,
A struggle,
Perhaps something you're avoiding.
Maybe it's something quieter,
A low-level hum of not-enoughness that's been running in the background.
Find one thing,
Get specific.
Notice where you feel it in your body,
Any sense of tension or weight or contraction.
And now instead of fixing it or arguing with it,
See if you can soften toward it.
Not letting yourself off the hook,
Not pretending it's fine,
Just meeting it the way you would meet a friend who was struggling.
You might silently say,
This is hard and I'm not going to make it harder by attacking myself.
Breathe into wherever you feel this in your body.
Remember that this is the practice,
Not fixing but instead softening.
And next,
Looking ahead,
How do I want to treat myself today?
This is not a to-do list,
It's more of a stance.
Find a sentence with your own words.
It could be something like,
Today I'll be patient with myself or I'll rest when I need to or I'll speak kindly to myself even when I mess up.
So find that sentence.
What's true for you today?
How do you want to treat yourself today?
You probably won't manage it perfectly and that's fine,
That's okay.
The intention is what matters.
You can come back to it throughout the day.
Taking in another big,
Long,
Slow,
Deep breath.
Breathing in through the nose and then gently out through the mouth.
And go into your day knowing that you're practicing being on your own side.
That is the work,
Small movements repeated over time.
See you tomorrow.
