Welcome to another resilience meditation with Mora Malloy.
I'm a psychologist,
Resilience,
And meditation teacher and today's topic is on saying yes to growth.
One of my favorite quotes is by Carl Rogers,
A very influential psychologist of the 20th century who said,
The curious thing is that when I accept myself just as I am,
Then I change.
Then change seems to come about almost magically.
I don't know if that's the correct last word.
You might have to look that one up.
But he realized as a psychologist if he could create those conditions of acceptance within this therapy space,
It helped his clients to grow almost intrinsically,
Which is about releasing that intrinsic motivational force present within all of us.
And last week's meditation on self-compassion was one way of looking at the value of again self-acceptance,
Self-compassion,
Unleashes motivation and positive growth.
And resilience is all about growth through adversity.
So we are in challenging times and we face challenges.
One that's been occurring for me recently and I know for so many is the recognition of needing to challenge ourselves to have conversations about race that can help us grow and move forward.
And I know that's a process for all of us but today's topic on saying yes for growth is one way of helping us nurture our capacity for resilient growth and being able to move forward with greater clarity,
Wisdom and compassion.
So let's go ahead and find a comfortable position for today's meditation.
We'll try to keep it under 10 minutes today all told.
So got about eight minutes for our meditation.
Let's see if we can you can hold me to that.
I'm always working on time management.
Alright so finding your comfortable position.
We have the flow of the water in the background to help us connect with saying yes,
Going with the flow.
Allowing your hands to rest in an open and receptive position.
Maybe palms up resting on your lap or your knees or even lying down.
Allowing the eyes to gently close if you like.
It's just a way of helping to screen out visual distractions so that we can tune in to our inner world in a different way.
Perhaps with more heightened senses of touch,
Feeling,
Sounds.
Let's begin our meditation just by allowing ourselves to bring our awareness out of the busy thought space.
Bringing that mind into awareness of sounds happening in this moment.
No matter how many times the mind goes back up into thinking,
Which especially when we're anxious it's going to be really geared to do.
Just gets kind of caught in anxious spinning.
Every time we notice that our mind has drifted back into thoughts.
We just gently invite ourselves to open up again.
Just kind of open up the mind to this more receptive,
Grounded way of being.
Perhaps grounding yourself in this moment by allowing your awareness to travel down the wave of this next breath.
Almost like that seagull alighting upon an ocean wave.
Following the wave,
Riding the wave down into the body.
And just like that seagull just rides the waves of the ocean.
So our awareness can gently ride the wave of our breath moment by present moment.
This breath that is our most intimate connection with life happening in this moment.
The gift of life.
The gift of this new present moment.
The only moment in which we can make a choice for change.
But before we skip ahead to change let's just allow ourselves to be completely present.
That actually helps us unleash the force for change intrinsically.
Just noticing how the flow of your breath,
The in and the out.
Always that sense of releasing on the exhale.
Letting go.
Allowing yourself to let go of tension in your forehead,
Your jaw,
Your throat and neck.
Exhaling tension from the shoulders.
Exhaling tension from the heart space.
So that you can more fully connect and be present with what is here.
Every time we tune into the breath we're tuning into this flow of life happening each moment.
This continual thread through our life of this breath rising and falling.
Just as we can tune into the flow of water that's continuing without end.
And this exercise will practice stepping into the flow of life.
Giving ourselves over to growth by saying yes to what arises.
So let's begin this short exercise by calling to mind,
Calling to heart even,
A recent situation or even something right now that is presenting somewhat of an internal conflict or some pain,
Suffering.
That you're getting kind of caught in whatever it might be without overwhelming ourselves.
So just bringing something to mind that you can tune into as a situation in your life that's causing some feeling or thoughts of conflict,
Pain,
Suffering.
And just noticing the sensations in your body perhaps when you call this into mind.
Notice any sensations without judgment.
Just being curious what is showing up in your body,
In your feelings,
Sensations.
And now let's practice saying no,
Almost giving an internal no to what is coming up.
No.
What's the feeling of a no?
Noticing sensations,
What happens inside when you just say no.
No to what is coming up.
Any sensations in the heart,
The belly,
The hands,
The face.
No.
Breathing.
And now we're going to bring ourselves back into that situation,
The initial situation or the present moment experience that we call to mind of conflict,
Pain,
Suffering.
And this time we are going to say yes,
An inner yes to what is arising.
Yes to the sensations.
Yes to the feelings,
All of them.
Yes to what is arising,
Moment by moment.
Yes.
You might even let the exhale be a place of saying yes,
Allowing whatever is here to be here just as it is in your experience.
And just noticing for yourself whether there was a difference,
A felt difference.
Saying yes to what arises is really a kind of radical acceptance of our experience in the moment.
Not that we're accepting whatever is,
Whatever context are around us that we might hope and wish for change,
But it's an internal acceptance of our experience in this moment.
A radical acceptance of what is,
Where we are,
And that acceptance can help to unlock greater clarity,
Greater wisdom,
Greater compassion,
Greater intrinsic motivation to move forward to help us make the change that we might like to see in the world.
When you're ready,
Fluttering open your eyes,
Taking one more body centered breath and continuing to take body centered breaths throughout your day to help you come into the present moment in your body.
And practice saying yes to what is arising there moment by moment.
Saying yes to life.
Thanks for joining me for another resilience meditation.
I look forward to connecting next week in this space.
Bye.
