When you're in need of a new beginning,
A fresh start,
Sometimes the first step is just saying yes.
Saying yes to life as it is right now,
And to letting go of everything you're holding on to that is just weighing you down and holding you back from moving forward.
Practicing saying yes,
Recognizing where you're at and just allowing,
Is a way to create a clearing in the dense forest of your life,
As Martha Pausal-Waite writes in her poem Clearing.
Only then can you actually start to see with clarity the path forward.
You might already have an idea of where you want to go,
But finding stillness and saying yes helps to create the space and energy to actually get you there,
To create that new beginning,
That fresh start.
This 10 minute meditation is a great way to create that clearing,
To begin to see the path forward.
Let's get started.
Find a comfortable seat and close your eyes.
Take the next few moments to gather your awareness and begin to focus on your breath,
Feeling it move through your body with each inhale and exhale.
Let your breath get deeper,
Moving further down into your belly,
Expanding completely as you breathe in and relaxing fully as you breathe out.
Feeling more and more relaxed with each exhale.
Bring to mind a situation that you feel stuck in,
That you'd like to work through and move past.
It might be a situation that elicits an emotional reaction of hurt,
Frustration,
Anger,
Guilt,
Shame or confusion.
That's okay.
Just let yourself feel that emotion,
Knowing it's only temporary.
Now shift your perspective and begin to review the situation as if you're watching it unfold on a giant movie screen.
Pay attention to the moment at which you feel the strongest emotions and freeze that frame.
Now ask yourself,
What's happening inside me right now?
And simply notice any and all painful or intense feelings.
Now can you begin to become aware of your attitude towards those feelings?
Are you resisting in any way?
Are you maybe thinking that you shouldn't be feeling that way,
That it's wrong or it shouldn't be happening?
Are you blaming yourself for what you're feeling or are you blaming anyone else?
Take a few moments to just notice.
Now let's do an experiment.
Find the word and energy of no directly to that place inside where you're feeling distressed.
Sense what happens in your body,
Heart and mind when you do that.
Is this feeling familiar?
Is this something you experience often?
Bring your awareness back to your breath.
Take three deep belly breaths to reset.
Now bring to mind that same situation and recall the feelings that are most painful.
This time,
Experiment by directing the word and energy of yes to your most intense feelings.
What does that feel like?
What does yes feel like in your body,
Heart and mind?
Notice the space it creates,
Simply allowing yourself to just sit with that feeling.
Bring your awareness back to your breath.
And this time,
Imagine a future scenario in the days and weeks to come where this situation arises again.
But this time,
Instead of resisting,
You let it be.
You stop,
You recognize the emotions you're feeling and you say yes.
You allow them to be just as they are this time.
What does that feel like?
What possibilities might open up if you can simply pause and say yes to the feelings you experience?
It might be helpful to imagine your most difficult,
Painful feelings as weather patterns moving through your inner world,
Like little rain clouds passing through.
And rather than resisting,
Let it just move through you,
Knowing it's only temporary.
What kind of space would that create for you?
To say yes to what you're experiencing,
No matter what?
Notice and breathe into that feeling of expansiveness.
Yes.
Yes creates a clearing.
Yes doesn't make anyone's harmful behaviors right,
But it does create space in your life to move past the experience.
It creates a clearing in the dense forest of your life,
And only from this clearing can you actually see the path forward.
The music will continue for a few minutes,
So stay in stillness as long as you need.
I hope you remember the feeling of allowing,
The next time you're feeling stuck and in need of a fresh start.
Thank you for listening.
