Let's come into a comfortable position.
Just make any adjustments you need to make.
Close your eyes.
We'll take a couple of deep breaths in and out through your nose,
Feeling your chest rising.
And just where that inhale turns into the exhale,
Feel that sense of letting go as you breathe out.
Bring your attention down to your heart center,
Continuing to breathe deeply by directing our attention here to the heart,
Breathing in and out of our heart.
We send energy here,
Activating the heart's energy,
Heart's wisdom,
The heart's compassion.
And now let the deep breathing go,
Allowing your breath to be natural,
Continuing to keep your attention at your heart center,
Maybe noticing as your attention rests at your heart center how you feel relaxed,
At ease,
Not a care in the world as you imagine your breath expanding and contracting around your heart center.
And if we could just stay here,
How much easier our lives would be.
Just resting here comfortably in our breath,
Feeling that sense of peace,
Of equanimity.
Of course,
As we go about our lives,
Things happen.
Sometimes we get a little rushed,
We drop something,
We forget something,
Maybe we're a little bit short with someone.
Instead of being present,
We immediately start judging ourselves,
Criticizing.
And we don't just do it once,
We keep repeating over and over how stupid we are,
Clumsy we are,
Endlessly beating ourselves up.
And it's hard when we're in that thought stream to pull ourselves out of it,
To be present,
To bring our attention back to the breath.
And yet,
Just a few kind words breaks us right out of that trance,
Bringing us into the present moment in a kind,
Caring,
Nurturing way.
Just a few sweet words,
Oh sweetheart,
That was tough,
Oh sweetheart,
That was embarrassing.
Not denying what's happened,
But acknowledging it in a way that allows us to be with what happened,
With wisdom,
Compassion.
We cannot prevent making any mistakes in the future,
No matter how much we beat ourselves up for saying the wrong thing.
It's going to happen again.
These are the times when we need to be there for ourselves,
As we would for someone that we care about.
And shouldn't we care enough about ourselves to readily give our kindness to ourselves when we need it most?
We deserve our kindness.
It should be our most important practice.
And it is a practice.
We're going to slip up.
We'll have moments where we're judging ourselves again,
Berating ourselves,
Belittling ourselves.
And it doesn't matter what we said before.
What matters is once we recognize it,
That we immediately come in with some kindness.
It is the sharpest knife in the drawer,
Easily cutting through our negative self-talk.
It does not matter what the situation was,
Why you're beating yourself up.
The response is always kindness.
A few kind words bring you back into the present moment.
Open your heart.
Access the wisdom of your heart.
Passion in your heart.
So that even if there is something you need to do to go and apologize,
Or something that you might need to do in the external world,
You do it from a place of compassion and wisdom.
A place of love and care.
And every time you comfort yourself with self-compassion,
With some kind words,
Bringing yourself back into the present moment,
You are fully accepting who you are.
Not imagining that you need to be perfect,
But that you can love yourself and comfort yourself with your imperfections.
Because we are all imperfect.
And quite frankly,
We'd be unbearable if we weren't.
Love yourself when you need that love the most.
When you have fallen down,
You have screwed up in some way,
When you've forgotten something,
When you embarrassed yourself.
Practice being there for yourself with self-compassion,
Kindness.
Feel the energy around your heart center expanding and contracting with each breath.
Sealing in these words,
So you remember the most important practice of being kind to yourself.
