Breathing in softly,
Gently,
Lovingly.
Breathing out softly,
Gently,
Lovingly.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing out.
Just let there be a natural breathing.
As I invite you to be curious around your self-image,
About your vulnerability.
We've learned so much about how to be in relationships which are external.
Family,
Spouses,
Boyfriends,
Teachers,
Bosses,
Colleagues,
People outside of us.
That's where the main relationship energy has been directed.
Hence the self-images,
The beliefs about what life is or not.
The beliefs about what we are or not.
And most of us go around knowing what we do,
How we do it,
But not why.
We actually believe that we are our thoughts,
Our emotions.
That we are our self-images that makes us feel pain.
That we create pain from by maintaining.
Remembering the calm,
Slow,
Loving in-breath.
The long,
Slow,
Loving out-breath.
Softening the mind,
Softening the body.
Letting go of the maintenance of the self-images.
Just taking a short rest,
Just for five minutes.
Sometimes when we get closer to why we do stuff,
We can experience ourself declining or pushing away or contracting.
Most of us spend so much time protecting our self-images.
Really trying to maintain a positive self-image.
And underneath,
Most of us experience vulnerability.
And my message today is that that is okay.
But also that maybe it's time to stop maintaining those self-images.
Maybe it's time to start challenging those self-images.
If they are the primary reason for you suffering,
I should be this,
I should be that,
I should have said that,
I should have done this,
I should like this,
I should not like this,
I should look like this,
I shouldn't look like this.
I should have done this,
So I could make more money.
I shouldn't have done that.
Now I lost money.
Why?
Why such a beautiful question to ask yourself when you do things?
Why?
Why am I drinking this fifth cup of coffee?
Not from a negative critical standpoint,
But from love.
From authenticity,
From connection,
From vulnerability.
Why?
Remembering the calm,
Slow,
Loving in-breath.
The long,
Slow,
Loving out-breath.
The best way to break down is by doing it from inside out.
The best way to challenge our self-images is from inside out.
We all know the pain of somebody pointing at something and us rejecting it from the pure pain and shame or guilt of it.
Let's do it from inside out.
Let's challenge our own self-images.
Really loving that vulnerability.
Loving who we are.
Understanding who we are.
Getting to know who we are.
What we are.
Just being.
And it all sounds good and it seems right and then we continue doing what we do.
Continue majoring in minor things.
Continue telling the same stories about ourselves and there's nothing wrong with that unless the pain continues.
The pain is like a friend trying to catch our attention.
Saying,
Hey,
There's something wrong here.
You should have a look at this.
Emptiness is a friend.
Hey,
There's something wrong here.
You should have a look at this.
The pain is the friend.
The dreams that show us images are our friends.
So what I'm challenging myself on and encouraging you to do as well is to really have a good look at yourself with loving eyes.
What do I know that I should stop doing?
What do I know that I should start doing?
Will it shake me up?
Will I become more vulnerable?
Great.
Let's do it.
Who would I rather live my life with?
My true,
Authentic self?
Or a shady self-image?
You can ask yourself this question or many other questions that pop up,
But do it from love.
I'm not pointing at things being wrong or being bad.
I'm just pointing at.
.
.
Am I authentic towards myself?
Am I a loving being towards myself?
Am I happy?
Or have I created a world of energy-consuming thoughts and habits and behavior because of my self-images that I'm maintaining towards the whole world?
We actually have so many thoughts about what other people think of us when analyzing.
Pretty much nobody's having thoughts about us because they're having thoughts about themselves.
They might think for a second or two about us,
What we're wearing,
So on and so forth,
What we're saying,
What we're doing,
And then no more.
So why the self-image?
And don't take my words for a truth or something that's real for you.
See it as something that you can look at and notice whether it's true for you too.
And please do write me on Inside Timer if you have any thoughts or sharings or go into the circle,
Color circle,
And share your experience.
When we start being more authentic and more honest about what goes on,
We start shining that light and inspire others to do the same.
Let's do that.
And in the whole process,
Remembering the slow,
Loving,
Calm,
Natural in-breath.
The slow,
Loving,
Calm,
Long,
Natural out-breath.
Thank you so much for practicing with me.
Thank you so much for doing this work which is so important for ourselves but also everybody around us and the generations to come.
They will learn from this if we show them.
Thank you so much.
Bye bye.
