I was thinking about compassion, or loving-kindness meditations this past weekend. Research shows that practicing this type of meditation, whether directed towards others, self, or both, can do all sorts of amazing things – increase wellbeing, decrease migraines, even increase gray matter volume in the brain. You can find all sorts of resources and practices with a quick search.
Many of you likely find directing compassion towards other people, at least people you know and care about, much easier than directing it towards yourself. I know I do – I am big-time tough on me. This type of practice felt strange at first, although I’m getting better at accepting some degree of kindness towards myself.
Yet I know how disheartened I feel when I witness clients being so hard on themselves about the way they manage their surroundings. Negativity can be captivatingly easy, and in my experience has never helped anyone to be consistently successful. Like, screaming at yourself to be on time somewhere, or telling yourself it’s a moral failing to have a messy desk is going to fix everything?
So, I modified the loving-kindness meditation idea a bit, and created one specific to bringing more organization into life.
Here goes:
Find yourself a quiet spot, settle into a comfortable position (even lying down is fine), and take a few easy breaths in and out of the nose (not the mouth). You could either pre-record the following statements, or read them to yourself. You can use either “you”, or “I”, in the statements, or repeat once with each. Take your time in between the statements, and maybe a little extra time at the end.
May you (I) have order.
May you (I) have peace in your (my) space.
May you be free from the excess that weighs you down.
May you let go.
May you know when it’s good to say, “No.”
May the stuff that you keep support you.
[remember to breathe]
May you think before you take.
May you experience confidence in your decisions.
May you move with ease.
May you understand what’s important.
May you care for what’s important.
May you have order.
How did that feel? Calming? Uncomfortable? Weird? Self-indulgent? Inauthentic? Reassuring? Maybe you fell asleep. I think all of that is ok. If you give it a shot for a few days, I’d love to know what you think, or what you notice.
And from me, may you be well.
