5 minute meditation,
Focusing on recognising your inner critic.
Find yourself a place to sit or lie,
Where your back can be straight yet relaxed and where you can rest comfortably.
Feel your body supported by what is underneath you and start to relax.
It's time to slow down and to relax.
Feel the sensations of your chest as it rises and as it falls,
With each new breath in your own time,
Watching the rise and the fall.
Notice the rib cage expanding,
Notice the muscles working,
Observe the air drawing through your nostrils.
Let yourself leave behind what you were doing and what you were thinking and be here now.
Allow yourself to be present.
The world outside can wait,
Your worries and thoughts and pressures can wait.
This is your time.
Breathe in for a count of five.
Breathe out for a count of five.
If you find your mind wonders,
It's not important.
You can acknowledge the thoughts,
Send them on their way,
Like a cloud drifting across the sky of your mind and you can return to the breath.
Breathing in for a count of five.
And breathing out for a count of five.
Today we're going to think about our words and phrases,
About our attitudes and reactions.
We're going to be exploring our judgments of ourselves and the things that we experience.
We all have an internal dialogue that chatters away and sometimes this voice is helpful and sometimes it is not helpful.
We can tell ourselves,
I can't do it,
I'm not good enough,
I'm lazy or I'm stupid.
These thoughts can limit us,
Stop us doing what we want to do,
Stop us doing what we want to achieve.
Today we are going to set an intention to become aware of our inner critic and recognize when they are being harmful and hurtful.
We are going to change that repetitive tape and replace doubt and fear with confidence and opportunity,
With courage and with calm.
We are going to set an intention to turn any negative words and phrases into positive ones.
Notice your posture and notice your tension.
Love whether your mind wants to comment on any of these areas.
Is it telling you that you aren't sitting right,
That you are uncomfortable?
Is it telling you that you are failing to do it right,
That meditation isn't for you?
Listen to the voice and notice that it is not the truth.
Let those thoughts drift away and come back to the breath.
From now on,
When you notice negative thoughts,
Choose to focus on letting them go and return to the here and to the now.
And now we turn our attention back to the breath,
Breathing in for a count of five and breathing out for a count of five.
Focus on deepening your breath and take one last biggest breath of the day,
Breathing in and in your own time,
Breathing out.
And take this opportunity to smile and feel that smile throughout your whole body.
And when you are ready,
You can open your eyes and return to the world.
Your challenge for today is to listen out for the inner critic and replace the negative thoughts with positive ones.
And taking this awareness of the inner critic with you,
Have a wonderful day.
