Historic hurricanes and wildfires, political fights and threats of nuclear war. If your eye is trained on the external environment, there’s plenty to make you afraid.
Yet, time and time again, we see the human spirit rise above the muck rather than getting stuck in it. I remember a woman sharing with me the story of losing her adolescent son in a car accident. She described her life afterwards as a blackened, desolate forest that had been destroyed by wildfire. And then one spring, much to her surprise, little tufts of green growth began to peek out of the dark and barren forest floor, and she began growing a new life. Similarly, your nature is inherently resilient even when you’re not feeling it. Your body and spirit is driven to survive and thrive.
Where do you find resilience? Jill Bolte Taylor is a neuroscientist who suffered a stroke in her left brain that disabled her executive functions. In her book “My Stroke of Insight,” she describes that as her ability to function deteriorated, she began sensing a profound connection with the Universe that brought feelings of peace, love and joy. This inner ecstasy was so powerful, she was tempted to lie down and enjoy it. Yet, she knew she had to seek help to live. Her mind eventually was able to dial the phone for help and she survived. She now shares her message that feelings of love, peace and joy are found in our right creative brain not through the thinking left hemisphere. When we think too much, we can get wound up like a spring and lose hope, but our deepest selves are not that.
This month’s meditation is a guided trip into your inner world, so you can remember who you are, what’s important to you and where you are going… Enjoy!
Finding Resilience Meditation
DrDebSandella.com c 2007
Speak the Following for Yourself…
I close my eyes and taking a cleansing breath, I inhale through my nose and exhale through my mouth. I take another deep breath and in exhaling, I let my shoulders sink toward the earth and settle into greater relaxation. How easy it is to nestle into myself as I release any need to be “somebody” or to “achieve something.” I am merely me, a body and spirit surviving in a world of many distractions and diversions.
Setting aside all else, I claim this time, and dive into the depths of my authentic self. The descent is easy and natural as I shed any pretense of being a particular way. I am what I am, I feel what I feel, I welcome it all and trust the process of being natural.
Settling into my center, I allow the feelings to flow–like turning the faucet and letting the waters of life wash away the residue of living. Sadness, joy, anger, rage, jealousy, happiness–whatever comes rises to the surface and is embraced as a fleeting taste of life. Each drop falls as a testament to being alive, to having the human capacity to feel, and to having the spiritual capacity to see beyond it.
All else is unimportant at this moment. I am absorbed with the totality of who I really am. I awaken to the diverse continuum of my feelings–joy and sadness–laughter and tears–fear and courage. It is all me and it is not me. It is life itself flowing through me with seasons and transitions. With ups and downs. With beauty and ugliness. I welcome it all, and resistance melts away. With this disintegration, space is created. Open space, empty space. Profound space to be Me.
I am as vast as the Universe and as deep as the ocean. My capacity to experience life is pure and vital. Experiencing it all, I sense the truth of my nature. One with the one, I am imbued with powers to create, to heal, to transform. How could I have forgotten something so important? How could I have given up my nature to pretend I’m nothing more than my body? I let the questions pass and embrace the essence. Like all of creation, I too am magically imprinted with the capacity for miracles.
I am the soul who sought to be born in this specific body at this specific time. I am the energy of itself burning like a star emitting a light for all to see. I am the unique being who walks this planet with my special purpose.
I am Me… with all my foibles … and all my talents!
I am Me… a divine spirit inhabiting a human body…
I am mortal… I am eternal… I am a miracle!
And so it is!
***Feel free to share, please include the following credit***
c 2007 Dr. Deb Sandella, Founder of the RIM® Institute
DrDebSandella.com
With Gratitude, DrDeb
