Welcome to this Men on the Path to Love meditation,
Seeing your relationship patterns without blame.
Find a comfortable position,
Either sitting or lying down,
Whatever works best for you.
When you're settled,
When you're ready,
Just allow your eyes to gently close.
Bring awareness to your natural way of breathing.
Notice the breath coming in and going out.
Now,
I invite you to take a deep,
Slow breath in and slowly exhale.
Again,
Deep,
Slow breath in and let it go.
Allow your body to continue to settle and let your mind begin to slow down.
There's nothing you need to solve right now.
All you have to do is just be here in this moment.
Once again,
Bring your attention to your natural breath.
Notice your breath's natural rhythm,
The rise and fall of your breath,
The in and out.
And as you notice your breath,
Take a moment to scan your body.
Notice any areas of tension you're holding,
Your shoulders,
Your chest,
Your stomach,
Your back,
Hips,
Your legs,
And your feet.
And take another deep,
Slow breath in.
And on the exhale,
See if you can soften those areas of tension.
Just let it go the best you can.
No pressure to completely relax.
Just allow your body to shift.
Take notice of where you shifted,
Where you softened the tension in your body.
And notice where you feel comfortable or neutral in your body.
And be okay with whatever is going on.
Now,
As you begin to move forward,
There's something important I'd like for you to look at.
Not to judge,
Not to criticize,
But to simply understand.
And that is patterns,
Your relationship patterns.
Think about the ways you showed up or didn't show up.
Think about the choices you made,
The things you allowed,
The things you avoided.
And this part is really important because without awareness,
We end up repeating the patterns.
Now,
I'd like for you to bring to mind your last relationship.
No need to relive everything and get into all the details.
Just allow a few moments or a few interactions to come into your awareness.
Whatever pops into your mind and sit with it and just notice,
Observe what's coming up for you.
And as you continue to observe,
See if you can take a step back like you're watching it on a movie screen.
Not in it,
But that you are an observer,
You're watching it.
And you're doing this without judgment.
Notice how you responded in different situations.
How did you respond during conflicts or arguments?
How did you respond when you felt distant?
How did you respond when you felt connected?
What did you do when things felt uncertain?
What did you do when things felt good?
What did you do when things felt hard?
Again,
Just observe without any judgment.
And as you notice these patterns,
See if you are judging yourself in any way.
And if you are,
See if you can let go of the judgment.
No blaming yourself,
Thinking things like,
I should have known better.
No,
I messed up everything or no,
I'm such a loser.
No beating yourself up.
Just notice and simply see it as information that will help you grow.
And in not blaming yourself,
No placing all the blame on the other person as well.
This isn't about blame.
It's about awareness.
Because awareness is what gives you the power to choose differently next time.
As you start to notice any patterns that come up for you,
Understand that every pattern you see was learned somewhere.
So it's not what's wrong with you,
But what happened to you.
What did you learn?
What you learned was a way of coping,
Protecting,
Navigating and survival.
And at one point,
It made sense.
And now,
You have the opportunity to choose something different.
Not from shame or blame,
But from understanding.
Now,
With this awareness,
As you go through your day and the days ahead,
Start to notice when you see your patterns show up in your day-to-day life.
Even if they're just thoughts.
Ask yourself,
How do I want to respond to these patterns or these thoughts?
Because you have a choice.
Awareness gives us that choice.
And with that awareness,
See if you can shift and respond differently.
Respond in the way the man you are becoming would respond.
In terms of what's important to you,
Your values,
Your standards.
That's how you respond.
Not from the old pattern.
Now,
Sometimes the old pattern may take over.
And that's normal.
That's how the brain and nervous system work.
The more you practice choosing differently,
The easier it is to create new patterns.
So be gentle with yourself.
Give yourself grace,
Because this is a process and it takes time.
And acknowledge yourself and offer gratitude for taking another step on your path to love and rebuilding after a breakup or divorce.
Now,
Once again,
Bring your attention back to your breath.
Your natural breath,
In-breath and out-breath.
Noticing your breath in your body once again.
And as you bring your awareness to your breath and body,
Take a slow,
Deep breath in.
And let it go.
Feel your body.
Feeling the ground or surface beneath your body.
Feeling grounded and supported.
And remember,
You're not here to judge yourself.
You're here to understand yourself.
And that is where real change begins.
Now take one more deep,
Slow breath in.
And let it go.
And when you're ready,
When you feel the time is right,
Gently open your eyes.
And when you do,
Notice what you see.
Take in what you see,
Moving your fingers,
Toes,
Stretch,
Whatever you need to do at this time.
And please know that this is a meditation you can listen to over and over again.
Because this is how patterns begin to change.
Repetition helps you to change those patterns.
Thank you for sharing your practice with me.
