Hello,
I'm Jen Norton,
And this is a guided meditation around awareness of using social media.
Let's begin this meditation by sitting down in the cross-legged position or sitting in a chair without having your back resting against the chair,
If you can.
We're going to sit in this position with a straight and tall spine for about two minutes.
You can close your eyes at any time if you wish to do so.
Having nice posture shows that you are dignified and that you honor yourself by how you hold yourself.
Check in and make sure that your chin is just slightly lowered and that your head sits balanced at the top of your spine.
Allow a gentle smile to appear across your mouth,
One that you can hold easily for the duration of about two minutes,
And take a nice breath in,
Suspending it for just a second at the apex of the breath,
And then letting it go with a sigh.
With the next breath you take,
Allow for yourself to draw in relaxation,
And then suspending the relaxation for just a moment,
Letting it expand,
And then letting go,
Feeling that relaxation just pour over and out of you.
Hold for another moment before taking another conscious deep breath in,
But this time imagine that there is a medium-sized bowl balancing on your head.
And when you breathe in,
Imagine you are filling this bowl with relaxation.
Inhale,
Filling the bowl that balances easily atop your head,
And suspending it,
Noticing the relaxation you have collected,
And then let your breath go,
Releasing.
And imagining the bowl is pouring this beautiful relaxation out,
Overflowing,
Just letting it spill all over you.
And become aware now of how well you're holding your body up with your shoulders drawn back and down.
And perhaps this posture doesn't really feel very comfortable for you because you don't hold yourself with dignity very often.
That's all right.
Do it right now.
You only have about a minute left,
So you can finish this minute sitting strongly through the sensations that this posture creates in your body.
Take one last breath in,
Filling yourself with relaxation,
And suspending it with a good posture,
And let it go,
Adjusting yourself into that honorable tall spine.
Let your posture just kind of relax back to what it was before we started the meditation,
And begin to think in your mind about checking social media.
Imagine in your mind looking at a screen and seeing other people's lives,
And thinking to yourself,
Wow,
Their lives sure look better than mine.
When you scan through people's photos,
You see people always have happy faces and lots of friends.
Maybe sometimes you wonder why you don't have as many friends as they do.
You see people getting married.
It seems like everyone is having such a wonderful time,
White dresses and smiling faces,
Lots of people,
Lots of pictures.
Maybe you wonder why you weren't invited,
Or where is your happy wedding?
In this imagery,
You see a notification comes in,
Someone liked your photo,
What you posted.
This brings you an ounce of joy,
Because the person who liked your photo,
Well,
You don't talk to them very often.
It's good to see that they noticed your pictures,
And they notice you every now and then.
Again,
Following this imagery,
You scan along the social media wall,
Thinking,
Oh,
You'll only look for about a minute or two,
But then you see the clock,
Shocked that 30 minutes has passed by.
You've been reading people's posts and watching other people's lives.
You've forgotten about your own.
Check in.
How's your posture now?
How do you feel compared to before you imagined social media?
Do you remember how your spine used to be tall and straight,
And how happy you felt about yourself,
Breathing in relaxation,
And allowing that relaxation to spill over and sweep over you?
So now join me,
Correct your posture again,
Tall and proud.
Breathe a nice,
Sweet,
Loving,
Conscious breath in,
And imagine relaxation,
Being present with that breath.
And now exhale,
Letting that relaxation encompass you,
Embrace you,
Wash over you,
Bring a smile to your face,
And notice how the air feels around you.
What's the temperature like?
Become aware of the sounds around you.
How many different sounds do you think you can hear?
Take another nice,
Sweet,
Slow breath in,
And listen to your breathing more than you pay attention to how your body feels.
Really listen to how your breath sounds as you breathe in deeply,
And exhale deeply.
Listen to the sound again as you inhale and exhale.
I find my breath sounds like the wind blowing through a snowy forest.
How does your breath sound to you?
Maybe your breath reminds you of the ocean,
Of waves.
Take another sweet,
Deep breath in,
And imagine that your breath sounds like something in nature.
Allow yourself the feeling that you are creating this sound of nature when you breathe deeply.
Wonderful.
And again,
Make your spine straight and aligned and tall,
Honoring yourself by having good posture.
And notice this for a moment.
Notice feeling confident and feeling calm.
Great.
Notice how you feel right now in your body.
What kind of thoughts do you see your mind is producing?
What kind of feelings do you notice your body is feeling?
You may feel pretty good right now.
I hope you do,
And that that good feeling invites a gentle smile across your mouth,
And perhaps even sparking a memory of a time when you were laughing,
Joyful.
It could be a long time ago.
It could be yesterday or just recently today.
Just remember yourself laughing right now.
Where are you and who's around when you're laughing?
And be present in this situation,
And notice how good you feel laughing,
Remembering this memory.
What are you doing in this visualization?
Are you by yourself?
Are you with someone else?
Are you laughing really hard?
Is your gut aching?
Or are you just laughing a little bit,
Maybe giggling?
Feel how your body feels when you're laughing.
I bet you weren't looking at social media in that moment and in this visualization,
Because social media is an illusion.
And when we live on social media,
Our life is an illusion.
So the invitation is to begin living your own life by having good posture and a dignified smile.
Instead of worrying about what other people are doing on the illusion that we have called social media,
You just remind yourself that this is not a moment that is making you laugh or smile.
This is not a moment that you will be remembering in the future.
Social media is taking moments away from you,
Especially when you think others are living a better life than you.
So maybe sometimes,
Instead of checking on social media to see if somebody liked your picture,
Sit tall for two minutes with good posture,
Honoring yourself,
And you will see amazing insights arise.
So just now visualize yourself having that urge that we all have to check your social media and just feel that right now,
That urge,
But instead catch yourself before you turn to your device and instead make your posture tall,
Align your spine,
Go ahead and do it right now.
Straighten your spine again and hold your chin just slightly lowered,
Allowing a gentle smile on your face and your skull to rest at the top of your spine.
Take a deep breath in,
Noticing the air moving in through your nostrils,
Expanding and then moving out,
Contracting your lungs and belly.
Feel noble and dignified.
And now say to yourself quietly or repeat it in your mind as a mantra.
Hear a few positive affirmations.
Try this one on for size.
I don't spend much time looking at social media.
Social media does not reflect real life.
Looking online at other people's lives is a waste of time.
Living my life now and laughing in the moment is so much more rewarding.
I enjoy laughing with people in person.
I enjoy creating lasting memories and letting go of the need to post all of my memories to social media.
Post moments are better left to enjoy while they're happening.
I release the need of approval from others on social media sites.
And I enjoy my life much more than I enjoy social media.
Oh,
Great.
You've done a wonderful job with this guided visualization and meditation.
And whenever you're ready,
You can open your eyes gently,
Feeling proud and dignified to live your life and create lasting memories.
Thank you for joining me.
Until we meet again,
Namaste,
Peace to you.
