Hello and welcome to the daily insight.
My name is Anne-Marie Rowley and I am a meditation teacher in Melbourne Australia and it's a pleasure to be with you here on Insight Timer.
When I was little all I wanted was to be loved,
Heard and to belong.
I didn't value the qualities with which I was born.
Well does anyone truly appreciate the gifts early on in life?
What was I all about?
I never thought I was enough and everything I did never proved to be good enough.
Does this sound familiar?
I just kept striving and striving to be better,
Busier and more accomplished.
You may be thinking to strive is a good thing and it can be,
But it is also exhausting if the underlying premise is not one of a healthy self-esteem and self-acceptance.
I was on a mission of self-discovery.
I studied everything I could on how to be a better and a good person,
Not realising that I was already one.
And then one day I woke up.
I realised and understood that self-acceptance cannot be discovered from external sources.
The teachings and answers all come from within.
Let us together spend some time mindfully entering a quiet state,
A place to learn,
To observe,
To discover.
Note what arises within you as you allow the breath to guide you.
What is the pace of your breath?
Long or short or somewhere in between?
Are your breaths deep or shallow?
Can you hear your own breath?
Just observe as you come fully into the present.
And can you now just retreat from the breath and observe it as though you are witnessing it from afar?
The breath enters,
The breath leaves.
Receiving,
Releasing.
The breath enters,
The breath leaves.
Receiving,
Releasing.
I shall remain quiet for a little while as you simply breathe and soften throughout your whole being.
As the breath of the mind darts off in all different directions,
Just bring it back to your breath,
The gentle,
Soft breath.
Whatever arises,
Let it come.
Observe,
Accept and then let it go.
Making way for new beginnings for clarity and comfort.
Perhaps whisper to yourself,
I am enough,
This is enough,
I have enough,
I give enough,
I am doing enough,
I am doing my best.
Simply breathe and be present to all that is around you.
Sounds,
The air that surrounds you,
The spaciousness in which you reside,
Textures beneath you,
The breath,
The breath,
The breath.
Breathe with awareness,
Slowly and gently.
Continue observing.
Become a witness to your mind and its emotions and observe them too.
If thoughts keep arising,
Just allow them to float past.
Am I enough,
I would hear myself say,
As I pushed and shoved my way through the day.
You are doing too much,
My friends would exclaim.
And when I was so weary,
Who was I to blame?
Always doing,
Rarely being,
Looking back,
Looking forward,
Without really seeing.
Facing on the flaws and not the gifts.
Screaming when burdens were too heavy to lift.
When ploughing through life,
Yes,
Things can get tough.
But isn't there a time when enough is enough?
If I am healthy and whole and have a roof over my head,
Plenty of sunshine and friendships and a life genuinely led.
Seeing what I love in work and in play,
With peace in my heart having found my way.
No need to struggle to give or to have more,
For in stillness resides the results of life's test.
I am,
I have,
And I give enough.
And now I know I am doing my best.
Perhaps you would like to recite to yourself the ode to self-compassion.
May I be happy.
May I be peaceful.
May I be healthy.
May I be free.
Free from pain and strain and old tensions.
May I walk through this world in a state of grace,
At ease and with an open heart.
Peace,
Peace,
Peace.
