A meditation to increase the good and awesome within

“I need to lose weight.”

“I should be a better daughter.”

“I’m not good enough.”

We often are quick to notice what may be wrong in a situation or wrong with ourselves. It seems that our minds are prone to magnify what’s wrong instead of noticing what’s good. Our self-talk too often orbits around the negative, placing a heavy weight on ourselves and those around us.

The source of this chatter most likely goes back to childhood. Sometimes it goes back generations. This week’s meditation practice is meant to help us through this mental habit not so much by thinking about positive things, but by invoking and sensing what is already good within us.

If you are feeling the weight of your neuroses (I know I definitely feel them), give yourself a little vacation this week. 

 

Meditation

  1. Ask yourself the following:  “What would it be like if I had more ___________?” or “How would it feel to have more of _________?” The blank is a quality you already possess but would like to enjoy more of on a daily basis.
  2. The quality you choose needs to be something that has a strong emotional charge. Don’t pick a quality that you “should” have. (“I should be more kind.” “I should be happier.”)
  3. The quality that you choose should not be too vague or challenging. Avoid qualities such as peaceful and loving.
  4. Once you have identified the quality, evoke it by using your imagination. Notice what sensations arise as you do. For example, if you said, “How would I feel to be more playful?” you might remember a time where you played a game and felt good or had a playful attitude and had a sense of lightness about you. Remember the moment and relive it to the point that you have the sensation of play. Use that sensation of playfulness to extend to the present moment and imagine that sensation in the future. Picture yourself more playful today and tomorrow and the next couple of days. Aim to role play.
  5. Sensing here is not merely thinking about the quality, defining or describing it. Sensing involves noticing subtle or not so subtle changes in the body–in your breath, tightness or relaxing of muscles, heart rate, temperature as you imagine. Scan the body from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head. Take your time. 
  6. Wait for the sensations to arise. We are often so closed off to sensing our bodies that we may not notice any changes right away. Holding the space for the sensation is the heart of the meditation practice. Waiting for sensations, especially subtle ones to arise, and not merely thinking about the quality is part of developing trust in the body that it is there to respond to your desires.
  7. Instead of choosing a new quality every day, consider coming back to the practice of evoking and waiting for sensory response to that one quality you identified as part of a week-long or even month-long practice. Take time during your day to come back to this practice and see if you can call the quality forth in unexpected ways.

Source: The Intuitive Body by Wendy Palmer

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