Awaken My Heart ~ Your Powerful Mind & Affirmations

Welcome.

I'm imagining right now that we are all in a beautiful meadow.

That's wide open space with a few clouds in the sky.

Just a couple little fluffy white clouds,

Bright blue sky,

Beautiful sunny day,

Perfect temperature.

Okay,

That's relative.

Nice warm temperature with a breeze,

Green grass,

Wildflowers just gently blowing in the breeze.

And maybe we're all under some kind of open air shelter,

Like a tent or something that has no walls,

But a nice roof so that we are shielded from the sun but in this open air together and we're all sitting together.

Sitting in community in the healing beauty of nature.

Sharing together,

Coming together in community to uplift ourselves,

To uplift each other.

And if anyone has ever had a community experience like this or any version of this,

You know there is a grace,

A joy at times,

A powerful healing energy that occurs when we are together in these in these spaces.

So you may wish to imagine all of this with me.

And even though we are in different places all around the planet,

We are here together in community in this same way,

Even though we are not physically in the same place.

So I love to just imagine that we are all here together in this sacred space.

We are in our self-love series.

Today in this journey of self-love we are going to take some time to really consciously direct loving thoughts toward our own beloved self.

It's really amazing.

Amazing doesn't do it justice what I'm trying to say.

It is profound to me how the difference between absolute freedom and absolute suffering exists in the mind.

And we're not going to go too deeply into this today.

Part of me says,

Do I really want to say anything is absolute?

Because I do believe there are always exceptions to any rule.

Okay,

I don't want to say always there either,

Because that's not the best way to say that.

It depends on what it is.

Generally speaking,

I like to make sure that we include that most things are not absolute.

That no matter how much something seems one way,

There may be another version of that in creation.

And who am I to know?

Who are any of us to really know in this vast creation that we're all part of?

Who are we to know definitively anything?

What I'm really wanting to express though is that it really seems,

Whether we're looking at it from the perspective of science or spirituality or psychology,

That our experience of suffering is rooted in our thinking mind.

It's rooted in our thoughts.

It's rooted in our perception.

And naturally there are somatic experiences that we have of suffering,

Physical experiences that we have.

And there are expressions in the body and in the cells,

Things like trauma,

That do cause us to have an experience of pain or discomfort.

However,

The suffering,

The prolonged,

The resistance,

The intensity of the pain we might feel is often,

If not almost always,

Due to what's happening in the mind.

And it doesn't mean that,

Oh,

If I don't have certain thoughts that I don't feel any emotions,

I might still feel sadness.

But I'm not calling sadness suffering.

My mind might be quiet.

The body might still have emotional responses.

Again,

This is a very,

Very profound topic that I'm just going to briefly touch on because we could spend days and weeks dissecting this and looking at this in different ways.

Hi,

Jason.

Hi to everyone who just said hi and joined.

Great to be together.

So glad you're here with us,

Jason.

You've been in my mind and heart.

So why am I speaking about the mind and suffering and perception and suffering?

And who knows this,

By the way?

Who knows that if you really have a different perception of something in the world,

That your experience of suffering to it,

Or your experience of suffering shifts when your perception shifts.

Does anyone know that experience?

Anyone know that experience?

You know,

For example,

You know,

If I'm having a thought that someone doesn't like me,

And I'm feeling insecure,

And I'm feeling like,

Oh,

This person doesn't like me,

And I'm telling myself a story about how they don't like me.

And I'm feeling all of these emotions about how they don't like me.

And this whole this whole thing is playing out inside of me.

I'm having this whole experience and I'm making myself suffering.

And I'm thinking about it.

And I'm wondering why they don't like me,

Or I'm just trying to talk myself out of it,

And all the emotional responses are arising.

And then I find out it had absolutely nothing to do with me.

That person was shy or that person was feeling upset about something else in their life.

It had nothing to do with me.

And all of a sudden,

That experience of suffering that I had so clearly completely kind of turns off.

Maybe there's a little residual experience in the body because of what I just put myself through.

But it's like,

Oh,

This has absolutely no relevance or not relevance.

It just has no weight anymore.

Because it's not true.

It was all something that I created in my mind.

So I see a couple folks wrote that they can they can relate to understanding that so much of the experience of suffering is in the mind.

So if the experience of suffering is rooted in the mind,

And the mind is so powerful,

It's like a garden,

Then what else might be possible from the mind?

I see some more comments coming through peace,

Healing question mark,

The experience of good things.

Anything we can release ourselves from our own suffering.

Love.

Beautiful.

Yes,

The mind is so powerful.

And I actually have a recording here on the app.

It's called Your Powerful Mind where we speak about this a little more.

The mind is like a garden or as my beloved teacher Saima says,

The mind is like an empty space.

And whatever we put into that empty space is what we experience.

I like to also think about it as like a garden.

Whatever seeds we're planting in that fertile soil is what we experience.

We are not good or bad for doing it.

It's not something for us to beat ourselves up about.

But it's to become aware of how powerful the mind is.

The mind will grow whatever seeds we plant.

So if the mind can be this source of suffering,

It can also be the source of any other experience including joy and love and peace and so much can come from the focus of the mind.

So why are we speaking about this today?

We're inside of a self-love series.

Why are we speaking about the mind?

The way that we speak to ourselves plays a huge role in the joy and the peace and the love that we experience in our days.

The ways that we think about ourselves has a huge impact on how we feel in our days.

Not just about,

Oh how much do I love myself?

The way that we think about ourselves can literally make all the difference between having the best day of our lives for no reason or the worst day of our lives for no reason.

How many of you here know the experience of feeling badly?

I'm just going to say badly.

It's very generalized there.

But you're not feeling good.

Maybe you're feeling depressed or you're feeling upset or you're feeling sad or you're feeling whatever.

You're just not feeling good.

You're just in a funk.

And then you start to become aware of how you're speaking to yourself.

You start to realize that your mind is kind of in a loop saying things like,

Oh you know I can't believe you made that mistake or oh you know they're not going to like you or you're not going to do a good job or whatever it is.

How many of you have ever just drop an emoji here.

How many of you know the experience of really feeling off emotionally even physically and then recognizing that your mind is telling you something about yourself that is just like breaking your heart.

It doesn't make you feel inspired or motivated or anything.

Yeah.

Yeah okay great.

Thanks for sharing here.

No issue not to have emojis.

You're always welcome to just pop whatever you can in the chat.

Okay so thanks friends.

So and this isn't for us to beat ourselves up.

I mean I know this experience so well and the amazing thing is and many of you have heard me and probably other people speak on this often that awareness is key.

This is something I learned one of the first you know Maha major teachings I learned from Saima over 20 years ago.

Awareness is the first step in transformation,

Conscious transformation.

If I'm unaware of how I'm speaking to myself then I'm also unaware of how that is making me feel inside and then I'm just left with all of this unawareness not feeling good without knowing how to shift it,

Shift my state,

Shift my experience.

So awareness is the first step.

It's not for us to beat ourselves up more or to say oh there's something wrong with us or we're bad or we're damaged goods.

All of that is just damaged goods.

All of these stories we tell ourselves no this is not what we need to do or we can just set that aside.

I invite you just to set that aside for this.

It's an opportunity.

Ah I'm aware that I do this and maybe you do it often.

Maybe you catch yourself often.

That's okay.

That's still part of the awareness.

At some point we have awareness and then we also have different tools and then we have the choice and the decision to engage our tools and it's not like oh just because I engage a self-love meditation or a self-compassion meditation that all of a sudden these thoughts completely disappear.

They don't make me feel good.

No it's it's a practice.

That's why we say things like the practice of right because it's a journey.

It is this whole journey of life and it's so it's so deep.

Yes it's it's our conditioning from our childhood from our lives.

It's it's maybe trauma in the body.

It's learned behavior.

There are so many factors as to why we live in the behaviors that we live in or think about ourselves the way we think about ourselves.

So we can come at this whole journey of self-love with this infinite well of compassion saying wow there are so many factors as to why I feel this way or I think this way about myself and just because I learn a few great tools or techniques or meditations doesn't mean that all of a sudden I'm going to feel completely different.

I come at it.

I come to myself.

I meet myself again and again and again.

You know I was just writing this piece on how you know so often we're we're hard on ourselves for not being some way that we think we're supposed to be.

We beat ourselves up.

We hold these often unrealistic standards for ourselves and some of you might say well I don't really hold high standards of myself.

I let myself be lazy or whatever it is but so many of us hold these standards like like I'm supposed to be kind to everyone or I'm never supposed to feel anger.

All of these standards that just kind of go against the grain of what it is to be a natural human being.

So it takes time.

It takes time and it's like it's like a toddler learning to walk.

Yes,

They fall down.

They get up.

They fall down.

They get up.

They fall down.

They get up.

And this is the life journey of being a human being.

This is what we do throughout our lives.

We're learning and growing and learning and growing.

So compassion is key.

So here we have these powerful minds that direct our experience,

Our perception of life.

Many of us are caught in conditioning and habits,

Behaviors,

Patterns of thinking about ourselves as being unattractive,

Not being good enough,

Not being worthy.

And we have all the stories that we attach to it.

Oh I'm not attractive because of this part of my body.

Oh I'm not good enough because I am emotionally reactive.

Oh I'm not worthy because this thing happened to me or because I did this terrible thing.

We live with all of these stories and then we tell them to ourselves consciously and unsubconsciously again and again.

And this is the mind,

Yes?

So we are going to revisit a meditation that many of you have experienced many times with many different people,

Teachers,

Instructors.

And that is the practice,

The technique of self-love affirmations.

I'm going to pause for just a moment here and check the chat because I saw a couple of comments come in.

Anika's sharing,

Yes ma'am and then I run into a mirror and do a lot of work,

The RAIN exercise.

If anyone's unfamiliar with this acronym for it,

Great technique.

It stands for recognize,

Accept,

Investigate and nourish.

It's a nice mindfulness technique.

Yes and then Maggie's sharing,

We can't get to the top of the mountain in one step.

Exactly.

Just little step by little step.

That's how we get there.

And then even when we get to the top of the mountain,

What might we see?

We might see a peak that's even higher,

Right?

Or we realize we have to go back down the mountain.

The journey doesn't stop.

There's no end game.

There's no end game,

My loves.

Whatever story you might be telling yourself about,

When I get to this point,

I will finally be good enough,

Lovable,

Worthy.

There's no end game.

The end game or the there that we are searching for is in here.

And it's not even an ending.

It's a beginning.

The end game of feeling peace because we're finally good enough is coming home to ourselves with love and compassion.

And I say it's a beginning because then it's just a new beginning.

A new beginning of learning to be with ourselves with love and compassion.

And that's just a journey that doesn't have an end destination.

Liz is saying,

What if you feel like you don't deserve to be compassionate based on what you were told?

Yeah,

Exactly.

That's what we were just speaking to a moment ago.

Yes,

That conditioning.

Many of us feel that way.

And that's actually one reason that affirmations are so powerful.

Firstly,

I just like to say that that's the way many of us feel.

Even those of us who have been on a spiritual path or a self-love path for a long time.

For so many human beings,

There's this ingrained experience of not being worthy.

Even if we tell ourselves,

I am worthy of all great things.

There's this seed in so many human beings that says,

I'm not worthy.

And that's okay.

It's okay.

We don't need to judge it or try to make it go away.

We're addressing it through uplifting,

Through elevating ourselves.

So many of us do feel that way.

And then again,

That's why we practice.

We practice coming back to these experiences.

And as I was saying,

This is one reason affirmations are so helpful and can be really transformative.

Because an affirmation,

Although an affirmation can be just a thought,

I like to approach affirmations in a way that we can actually start to rewire the brain.

When we have an experience and there's a strong emotional response inside,

That is the time when new neural pathways are created in the brain.

So if I have a thought and there's a strong emotion arises,

It's more likely that that connection is happening in the brain,

Creating or strengthening the pathway that is already there.

In this case,

The pathway of self-love or self-compassion or knowing that we are worthy,

Whatever it is.

So rather than just thinking a thought,

And of course,

Many of us,

Not of course,

But to address something that I know comes up,

Many of us don't believe affirmations when we start to repeat them out loud or in our minds.

We don't believe them.

We're like,

This is not resonant or this can't be true.

I don't feel this way about myself.

That's okay.

I invite you to say it.

And even say it as if you are a person,

You can imagine this.

Okay,

Right now,

Here's this affirmation that says,

I deserve all good things.

And you say that and you almost cringe because there's such conditioning in you or such stories you've been telling yourselves that say it's not true.

Of course,

If you ever really don't want to repeat an affirmation,

Don't do it.

It's your choice.

Yes.

Oh,

I just had a little bug up my nose.

Thanks friend.

So,

Excuse me.

So if you are having difficulty though,

I invite you to ask yourself or imagine,

What if I was someone who believed this affirmation to be true?

What if I was a version of myself that believed this without a doubt?

What would that feel like?

Or if it's just too difficult to relate to yourself at all,

What if I was a different person and I believe this about myself?

How would I feel?

How would I be in my body?

How would I think about myself?

So again,

If you're having difficulty,

This is something you can kind of do before,

After,

During,

Even affirmation meditations or practices.

Say,

Okay,

I really don't believe this,

But what if I did?

What would that feel like?

Give yourself this challenge of what would it feel like?

Who would I be if I did believe this to be true?

So again,

We are repeating these affirmations.

We're doing our best to conjure up an emotional response that matches it.

So if I say to myself,

I am so beautiful and I'm just like,

Oh,

I don't think that's true.

Maybe I kind of remember a time that I felt beautiful or I imagine what it feels like to be beautiful.

I let that start to bubble up to the surface if it can.

And when we first start repeating an affirmation,

If there's no resonance with it,

Because there's such strong conditioning otherwise,

It might take some time of us repeating the affirmation before we can even start to conjure that emotion.

And that's okay.

You might do this for some days or even weeks,

But you might do this for a few days or some days or even weeks or longer.

And then you'll start to say,

You know what,

I can kind of get a taste of this emotion.

Or maybe I just imagine the emotion of joy or peace or whatever I think I'll get to feel.

And then as I repeat the affirmation with that emotion,

It starts to again anchor that,

Helping to rewire the brain.

And then of course,

It's also transforming what's in the mind as well.

Oh,

Thank you,

Beloveds.

So much love to you.

Yes,

The insects and I love each other.

Love each other and I,

Yes.

You know,

Sometimes when words just come out and they just sound really strange,

Sometimes very simple words.

Liz is saying,

I struggle with saying I am confident.

It doesn't mean I struggle with saying I am confident.

It doesn't mean,

This is a question,

It doesn't mean I will be confident.

Here's what I invite.

And this is great too.

Because again,

Conjuring the emotion is one way for us to start to develop a belief around it being true because it creates something new in the mind and the brain.

And of course,

That is the root of our experience.

But we can also use our bodies and our voices.

For anyone who's gone through meditations or affirmations with me before,

You know,

Sometimes I'll get really passionate,

Or I'll say things differently with more power in my voice or more tenderness in my voice.

And this is also a way that I'm actually using the emotion through my voice and my body to wake things up inside.

So for example,

If I'm here and I say,

I say,

I am joy.

And you can,

If anyone who can see my body,

You know,

I am joy.

I am joy.

It's great to start to have that thought,

Especially if it's a new thought for you.

But if I'm not doing something different with my body and my emotions,

It's not really activating much in the brain,

Or you can say stimulating much in the mind.

So I'm going to use my whole being for this rewiring process.

So let's say today,

I really don't feel well.

Maybe I feel depressed,

I feel anxious,

I feel really angry or the opposite of joy,

Whatever it is.

And by the way,

Affirmations are not a way,

In my opinion,

They're not to be used to repress emotion.

It's not like,

Oh,

I feel so angry.

So I'm going to say,

I'm happy.

I'm happy.

I'm happy.

I'm so really happy.

No,

No,

No,

No,

No,

No,

No.

If you have a strong emotional response coming up,

We need to address this.

Otherwise,

We call this spiritual bypassing of oppression.

If you have emotion that is arising,

And it is in that space of needing to be released,

How do you know if it needs to be released?

Because it's up,

You're feeling it,

Right?

If find,

You know,

We're not going to go into this,

But find a healthy way to sit with,

To be with,

To release emotion,

And also come to the affirmation.

Now,

You may find that sometimes repeating affirmations shifts your emotional experience,

If that's the case,

Beautiful.

But again,

I do not support using affirmations in any way to repress emotional responses.

And for anyone who's like,

Well,

I don't know how to find,

You know,

Healthy emotional ways to address my emotions.

I have a meditation here called the self soothing practice.

That's a great way to go about doing it.

And there are many other ways that we can find healthy ways to be with our emotions.

So again,

That was a side note there.

Please do not use affirmations as a way to repress emotion or spiritually bypass.

Again,

Though,

Let's say that I'm feeling really funky here.

But I'm like,

You know what,

I really am ready to shift this.

I don't know how to,

I feel so disheartened.

But I'm going to put some energy toward it today.

So what do I do?

What's one of the first things I can do?

My friends tell me in the chat.

I'm like this.

I'm like,

Oh,

I'm so happy.

I'm so happy.

What's one of the first things I can do?

Share in the chat with me.

Come on.

I know some of you are pros in this.

I'm so happy.

I'm so happy.

I'm so happy.

What's one of the first things I can do?

Breathe great.

Kimberly.

Yes.

Anika is also sharing breath.

Okay,

Great.

Liz.

Now for some of us,

If we're really in a funk,

The breathing doesn't pull us out.

We need something a little bigger in our physiology.

So right here we have Liz said,

Pull your shoulders back.

Okay,

So the first thing I'm going to do,

Other than breathing consciously,

Which is a great beginning for anything,

I'm going to pull my shoulders back.

And not only am I pulling my shoulders back,

What am I doing?

I'm sitting upright,

I'm opening my chest by pulling my shoulders back.

I'm changing my body.

Beautiful.

Smile.

Yes.

Even if I don't feel like smiling,

And sometimes we really don't want to smile.

And that's all good.

You know,

We're not here to force everything.

Although sometimes a little extra push helps us move the emotional energy or get out of conditioned experiences of funkiness.

Because many of us have like this home place emotionally,

That might not be very pleasant.

Like sad is an emotional home for me.

And it's not someplace I want to be.

But my brain often will take me back to it.

Even if there's nothing to be sad about because it's so entrained.

Yes,

It's so conditioned.

So we many of us have these and all of us have an emotional home.

So if we find ourselves in an emotional home,

We don't want to be and we can start to consciously shift.

So smiling actually stimulates those good feelings in the brain as well.

Yes.

So Julia knows me well,

Julia said you can twerk.

Okay,

Great.

Move your body is what we're going here for.

For my friends,

Right?

We're,

We're opening the spine,

We're opening the chest,

We're opening the shoulders,

We're sitting tall,

We're making,

We're creating body posture,

We are changing our physicality.

This is one of the main things we do.

And we really want to pattern interrupt,

We change the state of the physicality.

Yes.

So okay,

So yes,

And Anamis sharing,

I've been in said funk for the last few weeks on and off,

Who can relate to that?

I'm going to put up like all my hands and my feet,

Everything's going up.

So yes,

And sometimes I know when I'm in a funk,

I have zero inspiration,

Motivation,

Anything to work with it.

I'm like,

I just want to check out and not have to love them,

You know,

One of those places and,

And sometimes that's the best time to engage these techniques.

And sometimes,

You know,

We just need to kind of be with ourselves with tenderness.

Great.

Johnny's saying if possible,

Go outside in nature.

Cindy's saying listen to some dance music,

Or maybe just,

You know,

Nourishing music for your heart space.

Great,

My friends,

We have so many awesome shares here about how we can shift our state.

So here I am,

I'm working on my affirmations,

I am happy,

I'm happy.

I'm not doing it.

Now,

One thing I didn't see,

But maybe I missed it,

Is nobody said to change my expression.

So we're talking about the body,

We said to breathe to change the posture,

Maybe to go in nature,

Listen to music,

Twerk.

But my voice,

My voice plays a big role in what I'm feeling inside.

I'm so happy.

Yeah,

Liz fake it till you make it truly.

If anyone's unfamiliar with the expression,

Fake it till you make it,

It basically means do what it is that you're wanting to do,

Even if you don't feel like it.

And often it will actually shift what's happening in the brain and therefore the physiology.

So use your voice,

My friends,

If you are if you are really wanting to feel confident,

And you're holding your body like this,

And you're saying I'm confident,

I'm confident,

You change your body and change your voice.

If anyone's familiar power poses are fantastic,

Simple poses that you can do with your body.

Of course,

If you can move your body,

If you can't move your body,

You can do so much of this in your mind.

Yes,

So many studies have shown that just imagining that we are moving a part of the body sends messages to the brain that that body part is actually moving.

So if you can't move your body,

Do your best to visualize it,

Think about it.

So power poses,

Fantastic,

Simple ways to also charge our energy and to shift what's happening in the brain.

Yes.

So maybe you take a power pose like this,

Arms,

Hands behind the head,

And you open your chest and you're breathing deeply.

Or you take this power pose,

Arms open wide,

Like you've just won some gold medal,

Right?

Use your body to stimulate what's happening and use your voice.

All right,

I don't feel confident,

But I really want to work with it.

Liz,

Let's do this.

Ready?

Anyone who wants to work with confidence?

Okay,

Good.

I thought I just pulled this mic up.

Anyone who wants to work with confidence,

Let's do this together.

So again,

If you can't move your body,

You can visualize this.

Yes.

Use your powerful mind.

It's so powerful.

If you can move your body,

I invite you to join me right now.

Sit tall,

Roll your shoulders up and back a few times,

Open your chest.

Yes.

And now choose one of these two options.

You can also do power poses with your hands on your hips.

If you have shoulder injuries,

This might be best for you.

Elbows wide,

Chest open.

If you can join me here,

Reach your arms out wide,

Open your chest.

And if this is just way too much,

You can have the hands behind the head,

But no pulling on the neck here.

Sorry,

I'm speaking quickly here.

It's passion and timing both.

I want to get to our meditation practice.

So here we go.

Arms are open wide.

And I want you to say like you are just yelling it to this cosmos here,

To the stars above.

I am confident.

And go dig down into your belly rather than I am confident.

Really see if you can find the depth of your voice.

And this might be triggering for some.

If it's triggering,

Triggering in a really not good way,

Please refrain.

But if it's just kind of uncomfortable,

Go for it.

So from your belly,

As loud as you feel comfortable to.

I know it's nighttime and people are sleeping for some of us.

But just say,

I am confident.

And I want you just to repeat this over and over right now.

Go for it.

This is part of our technique today.

I am confident.

Keep going.

I am confident.

See if you can bring some energy into your voice.

And again,

Maybe you are faking it till you make it right now.

That's okay.

Let your voice and your body guide you.

Open your chest.

Keep going.

I am confident.

I am confident.

This might seem silly.

Imagine what might be happening in your brain right now.

I am confident.

Use your facial expression.

I am confident.

Maybe even smile.

I am confident.

Keep going a few more times.

Breathe deeply.

I am confident.

I am confident.

Now say it with the power that you're trying to reach someone across the ocean.

I am confident.

And again,

If you can't yell,

You can use the power of your mind.

I am confident.

One last time.

I am confident.

And now keep your arms open wide if you can or just imagine it.

Close your eyes.

Breathe deeply and feel what's happening in your body.

Be still.

Feel what's happening.

Slowly relax the arms and just be still for a moment.

Notice if there's any subtle shift.

Relax the shoulders.

Breathe.

Even the most subtle shift.

And then open the eyes and share in the chat if you felt even the most subtle shift.

Maybe there was a tiny bit more energy in your body.

Maybe you felt a taste of confidence or power.

Maybe you felt like laughing but at least it took you out of where you were before mentally and emotionally.

Go out and share in the chat.

Did you feel even the slightest difference?

And if you didn't,

It's okay.

Again,

This is literally a way to rewire the brain.

So it's not like,

Oh,

One time and everything is different.

Yes?

Okay.

Great.

Thank you for sharing,

Friends.

Thank you.

And again,

It's really okay if you didn't.

There's nothing to judge like,

Oh,

I did this for you.

I did this for you.

I did this for you.

I did this for you.

I did this for you.

There's nothing to judge like,

Oh,

I did it wrong.

Or,

Oh,

Because I didn't yell loud enough,

I did it wrong.

No,

It's okay,

Beloved.

It's okay.

We're working with shifting a lot inside.

Yeah.

Thank you all for sharing.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

So you can use affirmations like this as a way to really stimulate what's happening inside and really start to anchor a new way of being.

And then you can also do this in a more meditative style,

Where you're maybe sitting silently and repeating affirmations in your mind.

But if you wish,

You can still bring that kind of power.

Even if you're silently repeating an affirmation,

You can be in your mind saying,

I am confident.

Yeah.

And maybe it's a more tender affirmation.

Maybe it is,

I am worthy of love.

And you find,

If you were to say to a small child or to the person that you love the most in the world,

If they were feeling tender,

If they were feeling sad,

Or if they were feeling alone,

You could imagine how much love and tenderness you might speak to them with.

And then speak to yourself with that level of kindness,

If possible,

And say,

I am worthy.

And maybe you don't believe it yet,

But you come and you meet yourself with that,

I am worthy.

What if,

What if I was someone who believes I'm worthy?

I am worthy.

I am worthy.

I am worthy.

So there are different ways that we can work with affirmations.

Yes,

That was one.

I invite you,

If you wish,

Do this on a regular basis.

Maybe just have one affirmation that you say to yourself every day.

Anchor it in your awareness,

In your body,

In your mind,

In your heart,

In your spirit.

And then there are so many other ways we can work with affirmations.

Yes,

We can have like,

This is a laminated one that I think my cousin made for me like 10,

15 years ago,

Long time ago.

And I have this in my bathroom.

It's like posted up on one of the mirrors.

So when I'm kind of like brushing my teeth and I'll like look at it and remind myself,

Or I'll read some of the affirmations,

Or I have post-it notes sometimes,

Or things like that.

And I know,

As many of us know very well,

That sometimes when we're in maybe a very habitual experience of sadness or depression or anxiousness,

Or maybe we're just feeling off,

Sometimes all we can do is just sit with that without trying to better ourselves or change ourselves or fix the problem.

It's not a problem.

Sometimes we just need to be with ourselves.

We're going to move into maybe a 10-minute or so affirmation meditation.

Close the eyes.

Start to breathe consciously.

And let your body settle.

If you're kind of moving around and fidgeting,

See if you can get comfortable and start to let your body settle.

Meditation,

One of the greatest gifts of sitting in meditation is we turn our attention inside,

Yes inward,

To our inner world.

We're always so focused outside and that is why we live in so much agitation.

We're focused on all of these things outside of our control and also in all the stories of the mind.

So let's turn our awareness inward and start to become still as this invitation to come home to ourselves with kindness,

Compassion,

And if closing the eyes feels too uncomfortable for you,

You can just have the gaze kind of soft,

Maybe looking downwards.

As you hear each affirmation,

Again you're welcome to just speak it out loud with all of the passion or love or tenderness that you wish to conjure with this feeling,

This affirmation to help to create this pathway in the brain.

You can also repeat the affirmation silently in the mind.

And again I really invite you,

If you wish,

To see if you can conjure or imagine the good feeling,

The uplifted or freeing feeling that accompanies the affirmation.

And if all you can do today is just repeat the affirmation,

That's perfectly okay.

So let's take a few deep breaths in and out together.

Let yourself be settled.

And again,

Repeat these affirmations as you hear them.

And you may wish to place a hand on your heart or if you can't move your body,

Just imagine that your hand is on your heart.

I am caring with myself.

I am caring with myself.

I am listening to myself with kindness.

I am listening to myself with kindness.

I am grateful to myself for doing my best in every moment,

Because this is the truth my friends.

We are doing our very best in every moment with everything happening.

I am grateful to myself for doing my best in every moment.

I am loving the person I am.

I am loving the person I am.

I am loving the person I am.

I deserve a beautiful,

Peaceful life.

I deserve a beautiful,

Peaceful life.

My life is a gift.

My life is a gift.

When I practice self-love,

I become more lovable.

When I practice self-love,

I become more lovable.

I am beautiful inside and out.

Just imagine what if this is totally true and you've just been conditioned in a way that you couldn't see it before now.

I am beautiful inside and out.

I am trusting myself.

I am trusting myself.

I am trusting myself.

I believe in myself.

Bring some energy into this one my friends,

Even bring some passion.

I believe in myself.

I am worthy of all great things.

Breathe deeply.

I am worthy of all great things.

And of course you're welcome to open your arms,

To really open yourself if you wish while you repeat these affirmations.

Use your body.

Remember,

Open yourself if you wish while you repeat these affirmations.

Use your body.

Remember,

Today I am choosing myself.

Today I am choosing myself.

I am a beautiful person.

I am a beautiful person.

I forgive,

Accept,

And trust myself.

I forgive,

Accept,

And trust myself.

I forgive,

Accept,

And trust myself.

I am so worthy of love and respect.

I am so worthy of love and respect.

I love life and life loves me.

It's okay,

We're reprogramming so much.

Conditioning so many stories in the mind of pain.

We're reconditioning.

It's okay.

I love life and life loves me.

It's okay.

I love life and life loves me.

I am so grateful for my strength and resilience.

I am so grateful for my strength and resilience.

All right,

Liz,

You ready?

Let's open the arms or imagine opening the arms,

Open the chest.

I am confident.

I am confident.

I am joy.

I am joy.

I am light.

I am light.

I am love itself.

I am love itself.

I deeply love and accept myself.

Hands on the heart.

I deeply love and accept myself.

Say this with tenderness,

With kindness.

Speak to yourself right now the way that you would to the most tender,

Precious person or being in your life.

I deeply love and accept myself.

And you may even wish to speak directly to yourself,

All my beloved Selena.

I deeply love and accept you.

Try this with me.

Say your name.

Oh,

My beloved.

I deeply love and accept you.

Continue.

Oh,

My beloved.

I deeply love and accept you.

A couple more times.

Say it like you mean it.

Pretend you do.

And now open the arms wide or imagine this.

Breathe deeply.

Open the chest.

Open your throat.

Take a couple of breaths in and out of the mouth.

Really open your throat.

Open the central channel.

And then cross your arms in front of your body and wrap them around you.

And give yourself a hug.

Hold yourself for a moment in kindness with love and tenderness.

And if this feels really awkward,

Relax into it.

Soften your shoulders.

Soften your chest,

Your spine.

And imagine for these next few moments that you're allowing love in.

Allowing love in.

Take a deep breath.

And then,

If you wish,

Relax the hug.

Maybe just give a little bit of lovings,

Some tender,

Tender lovings to this precious body,

To your beloved self,

Having an experience in this body.

And whenever you're ready,

You can open the eyes.

Thank you,

Sweet friends.

I love you.

Until we meet again.