Assertive Kindness Meditation 05

Transcript

Welcome to the fifth practice in your practicing assertive kindness meditation series.

Let’s start by taking a few moments to check in with how you’re feeling. How has this day been so far? What’s going on with your emotions. And as you allow yourself to notice how you’re feeling, without trying to solve any of those feelings, just let them be as they are.

You can also start to settle into a comfortable posture for your practice.

Make any movements or adjustments that you need to make in order to feel comfortable and at ease. Then take a few deep, nourishing breaths. Bring the awareness into the body into the present moment and into the space around you. You hear the rest of the day up until this moment can drop away.

And anything you have to do later, after your practice, can wait for these 10 minutes, there is nowhere to be bought here. And nothing to do but just be you.

Bring the awareness now to the heart to the chest area. As you breathe in, notice the chest expanding and opening up. And as you breathe out, allow the chest to truly relax. Let go of all tension.

The breath moves freely. Again, inhale and expand. And then exhale and relax. Release. What could you be holding on to that you don’t need to be holding on to when we feel we haven’t acted kindly towards others. It’s very normal to experience guilt or shame.

And in these moments, it’s important to acknowledge that nobody can react perfectly to all situations all of the time. Every single one of us acts or speaks in the heat of the moment from time to time. Nobody is always kind

There will always be moments that we look back on, and see that we could have treated people around us with more compassion, patience or respect.

To cultivate a kind of way of living in the world, we have to be willing to forgive ourselves for those moments when we react to something with frustration, or lash out because we feel hurt.

And if someone else did this, you probably wouldn’t tell them, they were a terrible person.

So don’t tell yourself that either. You are human. You make mistakes. And you’re doing amazingly well. Because you’re here. You care enough about being kind to work on it within your meditation practice.

Every time you notice that you have reacted in a way you don’t want to react. You’ve created an opportunity to grow. If you are holding on to bad feelings towards yourself, about ways you have reacted to others in the past.

Notice that now I welcome those feelings in and bring them in close. So you can hold them in your awareness. You are aware of the feelings, perhaps guilt or shame that you are holding on to because of moments in which you think you are not very kind.

You are not hiding from those feelings. You accept them as part of your human experience.

And then allow those feelings to move away from you. You’ve seen them, acknowledge them. And now you are letting them move away. They are not feelings that will help you act more kindly in the future. So there’s no need to hold them close.

Breathe in and feel the chest expand. Breathe out and let those feelings go. You are a kind person. You want others to feel loved and safe and respected. It’s difficult to communicate that to others. When you yourself do not feel loved, safe or respected.

But now in a state of stillness and calm. You feel secure and at peace. Kindness is a part of who you are. Take another deep breath in and then let it go. in your own time, you can leave the space There’s no rush.

Your practice is complete.

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