Hello and welcome to today's guided meditation.
My name is Paul McCann and welcome to this space where you can spend some time with yourself reconnecting and nurturing.
If you have ever felt lost in loneliness then you know how difficult it is to shake this feeling.
So we often distract ourselves in a variety of ways.
It might be eating,
Shopping,
Alcohol,
Busyness in life,
Anything to alleviate this gnawing ache within us.
But luckily when you combine desire with dedication amazing changes can occur in your life.
Daily meditation is a simple technique yet so profoundly powerful.
So implementing a task such as this and sticking to it is how we make new habits.
So loneliness is simply a feeling that has become a habit and it cannot be cured by external means.
Your life could be full of people and yet you still feel lonely.
You could have no friends and feel lonesomeness.
You could be completely alone and feel lonely.
But you see it's simply a thought of separation that creates the feeling of loneliness.
But this is not the truth.
The truth is we are all connected via universal consciousness.
But at some point we have forgotten this.
Desire always tells lies but we have chosen to believe these lies as reality.
So this can all be a never-ending circling effect until you change your focus.
So now find yourself in a very comfortable position.
You could be seated or lying down.
Just make sure you're completely comfortable,
You feel safe and you won't be disturbed for a little while.
Have your phones on silent and out of the way and dedicate this time to you.
And let's begin by acknowledging the person who needs you most.
You will find this person when you look in the mirror.
So place your hand kindly and gently on your heart and say,
I am here.
This moment is an opportunity.
An opportunity to connect.
To give yourself now the time to breathe your very best.
For most of us we go entire days without even consciously connecting to our breath.
Yet it's the very thing that's keeping us alive.
Your breath is always there for you and never asks questions and never judges you.
It simply does what is required instantaneously.
So let's honour our breath now and all it has been doing for us with five significant and purposeful breaths.
So the first breath,
Fully inhale through your nose,
Expanding your belly and chest as much as you can,
Holding it for a moment at the top and then exhaling fully and allowing all that air to leave your body,
Feeling a wave of relaxation sweep over you.
Second breath,
Inhaling fully again,
Right down deep into your belly,
Filling yourself with fresh oxygen,
Holding it and then exhaling fully,
Noticing again relaxation sweep over you.
Third deep inhale,
So much air coming in,
Taking a moment at the top to soak in that life force from the oxygen and then letting it all out without any effort from you.
Fourth inhale,
Bringing in that beautiful energy and life force,
Purifying your entire body and then exhaling fully,
Just notice how you're feeling.
And the fifth last full beautiful breath coming in,
Holding it at the top,
Feeling the goodness of this simple task and exhale fully,
Feeling that wave of relaxation again sweeping over you.
And just return to your normal breath without forcing it at all.
Just take note of how you're feeling in this very moment.
You have an abundance of oxygen and this is how we are truly created to feel.
Breathing deeply and fully is an expression of self-compassion.
So this is a tool that you can use whenever you're faced with feelings of negativity or loneliness.
Take a moment and take five deep purposeful breaths and it allows you to connect and relax.
These conscious and dedicated breaths make it difficult for you to even think negatively.
So next time you catch yourself feeling hopeless,
Feeling lonely,
You can take these five healing breaths.
There are many meditative techniques that can give you back the reins,
Allowing you to take control of your emotions instead of letting your emotions control you.
Mindfulness through meditation helps you become better acquainted with yourself and your emotions.
So right now you are probably feeling a bit more relaxed,
Feeling safe and comfortable where you are.
No one needs you right now and this is your time.
You have dedicated to yourself and nothing is disturbing you.
You have nowhere to go and you have nothing to do right now.
You are completely safe and relaxed and you are able to make great changes without much effort.
You are now being guided by your relaxation.
It's amazing really how our feelings come and go like waves on the ocean.
And we all know that there is absolutely nothing wrong with feeling relaxed.
So it's just the same as there's nothing wrong with feeling uncomfortable.
These are only sensations that you are experiencing.
Sensations that come and go,
Come and go.
So now gently bring into your awareness the feelings of loneliness.
And notice how and where any sensations of discomfort arise.
So checking in with yourself,
Scanning through your throat,
Through your chest,
Through your belly.
These areas in particular often hold our emotional energy.
So which area is attracting your attention the most?
So start here.
You might like to place your hands gently and kindly on the area as a way of focusing your compassion and attention.
So breathe into this area now and investigate with kindness.
What do you notice here?
How does it feel?
What does the energy feel like here?
Is it pulsing?
Humming?
Vibrating?
Is it tight?
Is there a colour?
How does it feel?
So staying with this feeling gently and just breathing into the space,
Allowing it to be there without judgment,
Without trying to fix it.
Just to welcome it and allow it to be.
Sometimes this feeling might be very subtle and quiet.
This is why taking some time to sit quietly with ourselves is so beneficial.
So be with this feeling as if you are with a friend who is very upset about something that's happened to them.
Be there with your discomfort.
As if you were consoling a dear friend.
Join with your loneliness or however you feel.
As if you're meeting up with someone you love because they called and needed you.
Is this feeling of loneliness actually scary?
Or is it more like a friend who is experiencing a bad day and is calling out for someone to console them?
You soothe your friend's tears with compassion,
The same as you soothe lonesome feelings.
Be present and listen because you are the only one who can give solace to this feeling.
You alleviate feelings of desolation or separation by being there.
Being present with yourself with whatever is going on inside you.
Working with the feelings and not pushing them away.
Would you tell a troubled friend to go away when they called you,
Asking for your presence?
No you wouldn't.
So there's no need to tell your loneliness to go away either.
So now just allowing any feelings of seclusion,
Discomfort or pain to just pass by like a rain cloud that has brought a heavy rain.
The cloud passes by and the sun peaks out again,
Beaming with light and warmth.
When you console uncomfortable feelings and sit with them as a friend,
You are allowing a storm of upset to rain down,
To let it go and then continue in the wind,
Seeing the sun break through,
Drying up the waters with its warmth.
This light and warmth can come from your own heart.
Your heart only wants to love you.
So you can begin to see that a feeling or an emotion,
While they might be strong and overwhelming at the time,
But they're not all of who we are.
It's like they are one of the stars in the vast open sky of who you are.
This meditation practice allows the space to recognise what is there within us and send to ourselves what we truly need.
For as we are more compassionate and loving with ourselves,
We are able to be so for others.
So the cure for loneliness is to change our focus as soon as we feel it arise.
Practising these necessary techniques makes for meaningful encounters with your inner self,
Allowing your loneliness to become your ally and urge you to reconnect and nourish yourself.
What about self?
You you
