Welcome to today's session everyone.
It will be a special session focused on the Inner Development Goals.
I don't know if any one of you have heard about them before.
I guess you have all heard about the SDGs,
The Development Goals,
And we haven't reached them yet,
But we need to radically change our world in order for it to function and not collapse.
And researchers and NGOs have been looking into why haven't we reached them,
Why don't we push further while we see our world being as it is and concluded that it starts within need to make our inner change in order to create this outer change that the world needs.
Hence the Inner Development Goals were created.
They are evidence-based and focus on what inner change we need to do to reach the outer change that the world needs.
And the Inner Development Goals comes with a toolkit which you can find online.
Meditation is one tool that is mentioned in order to make this inner change happen.
And I will conduct a meditation today that will be focused on seeing yourself on your 80th year birthday party to see,
Yeah,
To give some perspective to your life.
I hope it will be rewarding.
As usual you can just choose if you want to follow my instructions or just do it your own way.
Or if it feels like it might be too deep for you,
You can just relax for a little while and stay as long as you like.
We can start with taking a few deep breaths with our belly.
If you want you can put a hand on your belly and feel it moving in and out.
Notice if you can feel some of the oxytocin flowing in your body from this kind of breathing.
It's a relaxing feeling.
Notice what it feels like when you breathe in.
Notice what it feels like when you breathe out.
It's measurable how your body is relaxing when you breathe out.
The heart rate variability is decreasing which is a sign that you're relaxing.
Notice if you can feel that in your body,
How you're relaxing every time you breathe out.
And notice what it feels like to be you right now.
Do you have a feeling somewhere in your body,
Maybe in your chest or in your belly?
Does that feeling have a color,
A shape or a form?
Is it constant or is that feeling shifting as you focus on it?
And what does it feel like for you to have this feeling in your body?
This is called qualia,
The unique experience of being you which can never be fully explained.
So what is it like being you right now?
Notice how you manage to create a distance between yourself and your feelings.
You are not your feelings and you are not your thoughts.
For a little while you were in your observational you which is a concept we didn't have in the Western world for until lately.
That's connected to well-being and to be able to be in that and not be fully engulfed in the feelings or thinking.
Notice if you manage to be in that observational you for a few milliseconds,
Just observing your feelings and thinking and thoughts.
And come back to breathing with your belly.
Now imagine sitting at a long table for your 80th birthday party.
Visualize what you see ahead of you.
Do you see anything on the table?
Any food,
Lights,
Flowers,
Candles?
Do you see any people sitting around the table?
Do you hear any sounds?
Visualize how one of the participants in your birthday party is standing up clinging to a glass to have a speech for you.
It's a close friend or family of yours.
Listen to the speech of what this person has appreciated the most of you,
The qualities in you that have been shining through your life.
Listen to when this person describes a few examples of when your positive qualities have been shining through and been given to the world so that people around you appreciate it.
This friend or family continues to describe the impact you've made on the world and the people around you,
The legacy that you're leaving behind.
Listen to that.
The speaker knows you really well and continues by describing some of your learnings that you've made through your life.
The speaker is ending the speech by expressing the gratefulness and love to you.
And finally raising the glass to a toast to your honor,
Together with all other participants.
You lean back in your chair and take in all this.
An old colleague or manager is standing up to give a new speech to you.
Listen to how this colleague is describing your qualities that have been shining from you at work.
Listen to the examples the speaker is giving of when these qualities have been shining and been evident to the people around you.
The speaker is continuing by describing what you,
Your impact,
The legacy that you're leaving behind from all these years that you've been working and creating a better world.
The speaker is thanking you for everything you have created and raising the glass to a toast to your honor.
You're leaning back in the chair and taking in the whole situation.
You think back to your life,
The choices you've made,
The path you've walked,
The learnings you've made through your life.
You think of what you're most proud of.
You think of what you're most grateful for.
Sitting in this chair on your birthday party,
You think back to when you were a lot younger,
Doing a meditation about your 80th birthday party.
Is there any message you would like to give to this person meditating today?
Imagine communicating that to your younger version of yourself.
And come back to the room.
Take a few deep breaths with your belly.
When you think of your older version of yourself,
Is it anything you would like to communicate to that person?
Imagine how you communicate that.
Is it anything you would like to communicate to anyone around you?
Friend,
Family,
Colleague?
Visualize how you communicate that.
Is it anything that you would like to do differently in your life?
Can you take a small step in that direction?
Imagine what that small step could be today,
This week,
Or the coming weeks.
And come back to breathing with your belly.
The formal meditation is finished.
If you want to continue just breathing deeply with your belly,
You can continue for as long as you like.
