Hello,
Welcome to this meditation where we are going to cultivate love to meet our shadows.
We all have times when we are confronted with our shadows.
And by shadows I mean sides of our self that causes us suffering.
Suffering is a part of being a human.
And when the world becomes unpredictable,
Our human mind seem to go into stress mode and we forget that nothing stays the same.
So we get caught up in anxiety,
Anger,
Sadness and frustration.
This is very human and everyone will meet this suffering in life.
According to Buddha and the Four Noble Truths,
The way out of suffering is first to acknowledge that suffering is a part of being a human.
And what causes us suffering are craving or clinging,
Desire and ignorance.
When we are on a spiritual journey,
We become more and more aware of how we are clinging,
How we are craving and suddenly patterns in our ego structure gets out of the shadow and into the light.
We are no longer ignorant of what causes us suffering.
It's very easy for some of us to get ashamed of these imperfect patterns.
And sometimes it leads to self-judgment,
Self-criticism.
And this again causes us even more pain.
Let me share some of my shadows,
Patterns that I'm not so proud of and which have caused me or led to a lot of self-judgment.
Sometimes when I don't feel safe I eat,
Especially sugar.
And this pattern comes out of desire for food and desire for the feeling of being safe.
Sometimes I blame others and pointing my finger when I'm suffering because I'm too ignorant to see that it's me who causes the pain in me.
Sometimes I criticize others or judging them for being who they are because I cling to my point of view.
Sometimes I'm a bit greedy and I take the biggest piece of the cake because I have a desire for the cake.
Sometimes I'm not honest,
I'm not speaking the truth because I cling to the emotion of being loved and accepted.
Sometimes I run from my emotions and watch Netflix a whole day because I don't want to take a deeper look in what causes me pain.
Sometimes I feel lazy and then I judge myself for it because I cling to this idea that I have to be effective and work hard to be accepted.
These are all patterns I'm not so proud of.
We all have them some way or another.
The shadows,
The patterns that causes us pain.
That causes a lot of trauma in our lives.
This is a part of being human and there is nothing wrong with that.
There is nothing wrong with you or me.
All the thoughts and emotions caused by all the shadows are normal but sometimes very painful.
So how can we deal with them,
The shadows?
One way is to bring them into the light of love.
We can deal with them just by being present and cultivating self-love and when we fail we can deal with it with self-forgiveness.
Now let's start our meditation practice.
Sit or lay down.
Give yourself the support you need so you can rest and feel the support from the earth.
You don't have to hold your body.
You can relax it by giving it support.
And when you have found your position please let your belly out.
You don't have to hold your belly.
Let your lips soften.
Let your face be soft and picture you are looking at a child or an animal which you truly love or maybe it's a place in the nature.
How is your look?
How is your eyes when you are looking?
Does it soften?
Can you sense the love in your eyes?
In your awareness down to your seed bones and let your seed bones root down to the earth.
Picture you are rooting down.
From the rooting of your seed bones your spine grows tall.
Feel the contact with the earth.
Sense the contact in your skin,
In your muscles,
In your tissue.
You are here on earth supported.
Now bring to mind a being that represent unconditional love for you.
For me it's often Jesus or Mother Gaia.
Sometimes Buddha shows up,
Sometimes an Indian woman.
Picture this loving being stepping out from the darkness.
Who is it?
He or she is holding the arms wide open,
Welcoming you into the space.
Welcoming you as you are with all your shadows,
Desires,
Clingings.
Welcoming you as a shining light.
This being can see your beauty.
He or she can see your beautiful heart.
You can also see your ego structure,
Your humanness,
Your suffering and all your shadows.
This being steps closer and puts his hands on your chest,
On your spiritual heart.
He looks you deep into your eyes and says,
I love you.
You are so beautiful.
You are God's shining light.
You are light and love.
You are that.
In this being's presence you feel totally safe.
You know that you are loved,
Accepted and you decide to sit down together in meditation.
Can you sit for a while just breathing,
Just resting in this loving presence?
Just noticing the air coming in and the air going out.
And seeing and feeling the body expand and contract.
While sitting here you feel the support from the Earth.
After a while he or she speaks and he speaks through my voice.
Now it's time to bring up the shadows.
I am here to show you that this is just a human experience.
You are here on the Earth to learn,
To grow,
To heal and to love in a human expression.
All the shadows are just a part of it.
But I see your suffering.
I can see how it causes you pain.
So now bring one part of yourself which you are not so proud of,
Which brings you into self-criticism.
A pattern of thoughts and emotion that causes you pain.
Let me share that pain with you.
Remember I love you.
I love your shadows.
I love your mind.
I love your emotions.
I love you.
Let us sit in this energy that may be painful to be with.
Just stay.
Feel it in your physical body.
Feel the energy of the emotions.
I feel you.
I see you.
I love you.
You are perfect.
You are beautiful.
You are love.
Now that you can stay in this presence of love.
I am always here,
Seated in your spiritual heart.
So whenever you need my love,
You will find it in your heart.
Now let me hold this space for you.
Let us light up the shadows together.
Hold everything that is in this space of love.
Remember you are love and I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
Now slowly feel the contact with the earth.
Feel your whole body and picture your whole body,
Heart and mind being bathed in a bright light.
The light of love.
And in this light of love we heal.
Remember you are the light.
Remember you are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
You are the light.
