Begin by arriving.
Begin by beginning.
Stepping out of wherever you were,
Whatever was consuming you or absorbing your attention,
Energy,
And emotion.
Take a moment,
Literally or figuratively,
To say goodbye to what was before this meditation.
Notice where you are.
If you're ready,
You might close your eyes.
Settling in.
Arriving home as if after a long travel.
Home to your body.
Noticing it in all of its majesty,
Capacity,
Strength,
Flexibility,
All of its gifts.
Scan your body with a generous awareness from bottom to top.
Take a moment to think about the strengths and capacities and history of your feet,
Feet,
Legs,
Midsection,
Torso,
Arms,
And head.
Continually scanning from bottom to top,
Top to bottom.
And again,
Just to notice,
Be curious,
And be grateful for all that your embodied form offers your existence.
Breathe into the whole body,
Giving special breath to any places of tightness,
Tension,
Tension,
Clenching,
Distress.
Using your inhale and exhale to offer them,
Those places,
Support.
Steady and strong.
When you get distracted,
Not if,
But when,
Because our minds are distractible,
Sometimes more than others,
Just return to scan your body,
Experience your breath,
Or listen.
Whatever sensory focus can pull you out of the cognitive ramblings and churning.
We're going to meditate on challenges,
Spiritual and material,
That we've gone through in this lifetime.
Since we'll be addressing sometimes difficult imagery and memory,
It may get uncomfortable.
If it does,
Take a little break to breathe,
To settle still in the quiet,
And then come back when you're ready.
Take a few deep breaths,
Deeply in,
Long out.
Let's start with youth.
Childhood can be joyful,
But it inevitably comes with challenges and problems.
A difficult class,
Math test,
Seventh grade,
Challenging relationship with a family member,
Sometimes explicit trauma.
If it's safe to do so,
You could call up a memory,
Or just recall some sensation.
Or safer yet,
Just think in the abstract that it can be a challenging time to be a child.
Notice what feelings come up,
Sensations in your body,
Even changes in your breathing or digestion.
Acknowledge,
Be generous with yourself,
And then take a moment to take stock and realize you got through it.
You persevered,
Succeeded,
Went through,
Sometimes even with a smile.
Breathe into that sensation with perhaps some words of congratulations to yourself,
An appreciation for the capacity and resilience it took to get through difficult times of childhood.
Now we'll consider young adulthood,
Adolescence as it flows into later education,
Early career,
Beginnings of stability,
Or even a family of your own.
Perhaps first loves and heartbreaks,
Good or bad bosses or landlords.
What sensations does that period call to mind?
Images,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Feelings in your body.
What comes up?
If it's tough,
Don't hold onto it for too long.
Just acknowledge,
Be kind to yourself,
Witness what arises.
Breathe into that and recognize that then,
Just as in childhood,
You found the resilience and the wherewithal to get through.
You did the work,
Read the right book,
Talked to the right person,
Did the soul searching,
Made the difficult choices,
And grew.
Congratulate yourself.
Give yourself words of praise and approval and appreciation for getting through.
You made it.
Bruised,
But you made it.
Take a few good breaths with all of that.
Now we'll consider adulthood.
Perhaps this is the period when you established a career or family,
New habits,
Passions,
Becoming more of yourself,
Even though that's not easy.
This may be the period you're in now or not,
But assuredly it has been challenging.
Physical aches and pains,
The strains of being a leader or a mentor or a doer,
Feelings of being an imposter,
And the challenges keep coming.
No matter how tall you get,
How big,
How developed your resume,
There's always work to be done.
Notice those feelings,
The work that happens,
The challenges that are,
Sensations,
Emotions,
Embodied noticings.
What do you experience when you think about and witness adulthood in your life?
Maybe it's much harder than you imagined it would be.
Breathe into that with acceptance and think about all the challenges you get through.
Getting sober,
Physical therapy,
Getting the kids off and established at college.
You are overcoming,
Persevering,
And still growing and going through.
Breathe into that and applaud yourself for it all.
In our remaining time,
Let's take seven breaths and with each breath,
Remind ourselves that we have the resilience of the hard work we've already done.
You are resilient and capable of figuring it out.
