So let's take a moment first to center into this present moment.
You can go ahead and close your eyes if you are somewhere where it feels safe to do so.
And start by taking one deep,
Cleansing breath as if you could fill all of your lungs to capacity.
And then a slow,
Luxurious exhale,
Releasing all of that air.
And now find yourself in a regular breathing pattern,
Allowing your body to breathe exactly the way it wants to breathe.
Allowing your attention to be drawn to the expansion of the abdomen with the inhale and the gentle contraction with the exhale.
Bringing your full awareness to the experience of your body breathing.
And surely by now a thought or a worry will have come up,
Planning for the rest of your day or remembering recalling something that happened earlier.
And if that happens,
Just allow that thought to be there in your mind and then fade away just like a cloud in the sky.
Mindfully returning your attention to the breath.
Making the mind serviceable and quiet for this practice.
And now I invite you to call to mind the last time you are feeling something difficult.
These could be sadness,
Anxiety,
Stress,
Or even physical pain.
As difficult as that moment was,
Try to bring that memory fully to mind.
Allowing that difficult emotion to be there.
Make up as much space inside of you as it wants to.
And imagine now that even in that moment you could hear a soft inner voice saying,
It's okay.
It's okay to feel this way.
You're going through something really challenging right now and you're only human.
You're doing okay,
Just as you are.
Keep holding within the space of your heart and your mind that difficult memory.
And find your own words of self-soothing now.
Using a gentle inner voice,
What would you like to say to yourself,
That earlier version of you?
What would you say to take care of yourself in that difficult moment?
Staying with the feelings,
Staying with the emotion without going into story.
The story of what happened,
Who did what.
Bringing your focus back to the feeling you were having at that moment and to your own self-soothing practice.
Feeling that soft,
Empathetic witness to your experience.
Feeling self-acceptance.
Feeling love for yourself and compassion for yourself.
Telling yourself that you're okay,
Just as you are.
Feel your own self-acceptance.
Has the weight of that memory shifted?
Does it feel just a little bit more manageable?
Something you can handle better with these inner resources.
Even if it doesn't feel any different to you,
That's okay too.
Just notice whatever you are experiencing right now.
With all of the self-compassion that you can muster.
And if you like,
You can set an intention now that whenever you experience something difficult,
Today and in the coming days,
You will call back the gentle voice of your own empathetic witness.
This soft presence inside of you,
Let us observe your experiences with compassion,
With gentleness.
And a warm feeling of self-acceptance.
Taking a moment now to move your body around.
Beginning to come back from this practice.
Maybe taking one more deep,
Cleansing breath.
And whenever you are ready,
You can open your eyes and come back into this moment.
