I AM (From SAIL Above the Clouds - Book 1)

This is Carol Fontaine and this is the accompanying meditation from the book,

Sail Above the Clouds,

How to Simplify Your Life.

Close your eyes and focus on your breath,

In and out.

Breathing naturally,

Relaxing,

Allowing and opening yourself for a guided visualization.

In your mind's eye,

Imagine that you're in the safest,

Coziest and prettiest place that you could ever dream of.

It could be anywhere in this world or in a made-up world.

You are the captain of this ship,

Steer it wherever you want to go.

You could be sitting or laying down.

Around you,

You are surrounded by all your favorite things.

The room is absolutely beautiful.

If you're outside,

You're surrounded by your favorite sights,

Wherever you are,

Surround yourself by your favorite colors,

Your favorite smells,

Your favorite touches and senses.

You are absolutely comfortable and feel content,

Safe and relaxed.

From this place,

Imagine that you have the power to fly up and take a bird's eye view of your life.

You can see all that encompasses your life right now from up above.

Just envision the images of your present life today,

No past,

No future.

Include all that you want from your present life.

Have an open heart and see it from a place of non-judgment.

Compassion permeates everything that comes to mind.

You let go of absolutely all judgments and act as a neutral observer.

As you contemplate your present life,

Ask yourself this simple question,

Who am I?

Who am I?

Let all the description you tell yourself come to mind,

Words,

Images,

Feelings,

Sensations.

Who am I?

I am a mother,

Sister,

Daughter,

Son,

Husband,

Woman,

Man,

Transgender,

Non-binary,

Fill in whatever resonates with you.

Who am I?

I am a carpenter,

Teacher,

Hairdresser,

Designer,

Chef,

Pilot,

Doctor,

Dancer,

Writer.

What words do you use to describe yourself?

Who am I?

I am fast,

Strong,

French,

Old,

Sad,

Better,

Sick,

Tall,

Broken,

Pretty.

Who am I?

I am coming,

Growing,

Leaving,

Winning,

Losing,

Learning,

Dying,

Rising.

Who am I?

I am better,

Brighter,

Creative,

Mean,

Angry,

Depressed,

Caring,

Loving,

Living.

Who am I?

Let your mind capture all that you think defines you right now in this present moment.

Not something that defines you in the past or may define you in the future.

What do you feel defines you right now as you observe yourself?

Be honest,

Be open,

Be vulnerable.

Let all the words and descriptions float around you like white balloons floating around in a room,

Bobbing and floating gently up and down.

Watch as these balloons gently get closer and you can read the description,

Then it floats away.

And then another balloon comes and you see maybe a word or an image or a story that you tell yourself.

See the room filling with all these balloons,

All these descriptions,

These words floating around you,

Floating around your aura.

What words or description do you allow to float around you as you walk through life?

Every single day that you think defines you.

Breathe.

Who am I?

If you get distracted,

That's OK.

Bring your awareness back to your breath and let the words naturally come to you.

Focus on the task at hand and let the words pop gently in your mind.

Observe.

Breathe.

Relax.

Now,

With a snap of the fingers,

All the words,

Description balloons are popping and disappearing all at once.

You are left in a clean white room surrounded by peaceful and soft light.

No more words,

No more description,

Just you in white light.

You focus on your breath and everything falls away.

Breathe in and out.

Follow the path of the breath from the tip of the nose into the nostrils.

Down the throat,

The breath travels into the lungs.

Visualize the breath entering your bloodstream,

Transforming into beautiful energy and journeying through every inch of your body,

Bringing life through every cells within you.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Deep inhale.

Deep exhale,

Surrounded with light,

Surrounded by beautiful,

Soothing light.

Deep down in the deepest place within your being at your core,

You know you are much,

Much more than the words you think describes you.

You are not your thoughts.

Let me repeat that.

You are not your thoughts.

If you are your thoughts,

Then who brings you back to attention when you're distracted?

Who calls you out when you're thinking of grocery shopping while meditating?

Who says,

Hey,

Pay attention?

Wasn't your mind busy thinking about something else?

Then whose voice is it that said,

Hey,

You're distracted,

Pay attention?

Could it be that you are much more than your thoughts?

And if so,

Then could it be that you are much more than what your mind tells you you are?

Could it be that your mind is a tool for you to experience life and you can learn to utilize it to create the life that you want?

Maybe instead of being at the mercy of your thoughts,

You can learn to use your mind effectively to create the life of your dream.

Who you are in your mind's eye can be defined by whatever you want.

It is your choice,

Your voice.

The balloons are like your thoughts bobbing away in your head and the room is your mind.

You are the consciousness that decides when to turn on the light.

You are the life force creating and orchestrating your life.

You are not your mind and you are not your thoughts and you are not the picture that your mind has created of who you think you are or should be.

You are the captain of your ship and your mind is your steering wheel.

You can choose to let the onboard computer go on autopilot and spin you in circles or you can take charge and take the wheel and tell your ship where you want to go.

Now,

Does one word or description really define who you are?

How can it?

You are so much more than the shoulda,

Woulda,

Coulda or drama in your life.

Your mind is there to help you manage your life but we often fall prey to our thoughts and let ourselves be captured by the stories of what we tell ourselves.

Do not let your mind fool you into thinking that you are the sum of your thoughts.

You are so much more.

You have the power to simplify your life by eliminating all words,

Description or beliefs that limit you in any way.

Pop these balloons.

Let them go.

Stop believing all your thoughts to be true.

They're not all true.

If a math teacher told me at 14 that I sucked at math and I spent the following 30 years of my life believing it to be true,

Does that make it true?

No.

It just makes it that I believed a grown up when I was very young who told me that I sucked at math and played this thoughts and this episode in my life over and over in my mind like a broken record and I started to believe it myself.

And one day,

I realized that this wasn't my throat.

I stopped listening to that thought and it gradually lost power over me.

What stories are you believing that are untrue?

What balloons can we pop?

Can we let go?

If we learn to purposefully guide our thoughts to create a more powerful reality for ourselves,

Then we can simplify the inner drama and turmoil we often feel.

We can get rid of the rubbish we tell ourselves or at least turn the deaf ear to it.

We can clean our mind.

We can simplify our thoughts.

We can put some emotional distance between what our thoughts are saying and what we know in our heart to be true.

Your mind is a powerful tool to be used for your best and highest self.

Learn to master it.

Get to know yourself.

What is your truth?

Simplify the outer drama by cleaning up the inner drama.

Who am I?

I am a human.

I am light.

I am love.

I am vast and energy.

I am alive.

I am infinite.

I am pure.

I am a soul.

I am compassion.

I am perfect.

Whole and complete.

I simply am.

In those two words,

I am everything.

I am.

Now spend a moment here breathing,

Observing and simply being in the presence of I am.

I will call you back when it's time and just travel into I am.

I am.

Take a deep breath in.

I will come back with the space that you're in right now,

With this peace that you've created around you,

With this sudden acknowledgement of who you are,

Of your pure soul,

Of your light or your being.

You are perfect,

Whole and complete.

Now gently start to wiggle your toes and your fingers.

Take a deep breath in and maybe start to move your body and stretching side to side.

I want to stretch your arms overhead.

Really listen to how your body wants to move.

Pay attention to your intuition,

To the subtle messages you may be receiving.

And when you're ready,

You can go ahead and open your eyes and join the presence of the room we are in.

And I invite you to journal for maybe 10 minutes or how long you want to journal for and write about the thoughts and feeling that came up during this visualization.

Be honest.

Really observe without judgment again.

Just observe your inner chatter.

Observe what busy balloons pop in your mind and let them go.

And try to connect with what lies beyond,

Beyond the thoughts,

Beyond the identifying of all these descriptions that we use for ourselves.

Who you are beyond all these taglines and these descriptions of ourselves.

And see what comes up.

Connect with that beautiful soul that you are and allow whatever message wants to come true to come up.

Really open your heart to it.

It will guide you.

It will guide you towards your best and highest life.

So continue your practice of really allowing time to be quiet,

To connect,

To open your heart and to listen,

Listen beyond the stories and beyond the thoughts.

Listen with your heart,

Not with your ears.

And allow your heart to guide your way.

Namaste.

Love you all.