A Meditation to Heal Our Self-Image
You are born as a blank page and an untold story. From your first breath, your consciousness begins to take form and create an ego, an identity. That formation is based on the meanings we place on things as a society. Girls are given pink clothes and dolls and boys are given blue clothes and trucks.
Then our parents often encourage us to start seeing ourselves as a successful athlete, student and maybe college graduate. We are constantly compared to others in conversations to see how our skills are developing compared to each other. We are graded on these identities based on ideas that we call societal consensus.
The identities that are sculpted day by day, moment by moment, are all accepted as reality when they are actually just roles we are playing into because it’s all we know. There is a reality that is beyond these views we have created of ourselves which is our spiritual self. Our spirit is not valued by our appearance or our physical capabilities.
Our spirit is shown by our choices, our words, our treatment of others and our ability to uplift the emotions of others. The first identities we form often make us very insecure because they are an illusion we create to be accepted and yet those identities are missing the part that makes us human which is our spirit.
Here is a guided meditation to help heal how you view yourself. This can help you regain your self-worth and confidence and heal on a very deep level allowing you to regain your independence in your mind. If you want to be a revolutionary, free your mind. Go ahead and grab a journal and pen for the meditation.
You can either have a friend read it or record it in your own voice.
A Meditation To Heal Our Self-Image
Sit in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. Take a minute to breathe deeply which will allow you to enter a meditative state. Begin to count down from five to one. At five you feel your back and stomach relax. You take another deep breath and your shoulders and arms relax completely. Four.
Breathe
You take another full breath and you are in a deep state of relaxation. Three. One more breath allows you to leave your physical body. Two. Your body is breathing itself now as you raise up into outer space, a big blank void. One.
In front of you is a giant movie screen and there is excitement because the show is about to begin. You see that it is the story of your life that will be shown. The lights dim and you know it’s going to start. You see yourself as a newborn, an innocent soul. What is happening around you that showed you how to view yourself?
Are the people around you telling you how to feel and what you should look like? Are they teaching you to seek validation from your physical appearance? Are they letting you be creative or forcing you to conform? Write down what you see about the early formation of your view of yourself. This is your conditioning.
Reflect
Now the movie is showing you your teenage years and how you started to view yourself based on your piers, your failures, and accomplishments. You’ll see the people who influenced how you view yourself now and the experiences that shaped your own perspective of your abilities.
Were people kind to you and did they help you see your potential? Did they shut you down when you came up with ideas or tell you to give up? Did your self-esteem get built by your grades or maybe by your status in social circles? Is this truly who you are? Did it affect the way you behave now? How does your current life reflect the identity that was shaped at this time? How is it not truly who you are? Write down what you see in your journal.
Shine
You find yourself now standing on a stage in outer space. But you are glowing. You are so bright that you cannot see what you look like but it feels marvelous and happy. You cannot remember what your grades were, the names of the people you went to school with or if you were popular or not because your soul is starting to shine through.
It’s now time to see your true identity, you are seeing your spirit.
The Mirror
A mirror is now in front of you and you’ll be able to see the real you without the conditioning of your childhood and environment. In the mirror, you see ‘kind’ written in gold letters on your chest. You see ‘loving’ written in gold letters across your forehead. You see ‘creative’ written in gold on the palm of your right hand.
You see ‘understanding’ written on the palm of your left hand. Your right leg has the word ‘compassionate’ on it and your left leg has the word ‘humble’ written on it.
You can now see that your identity is the way you treat others and yourself. Your beauty is in this. Your radiance and magnetism are encoded in these very words written into your soul. Look into your eyes and remember this moment as the time you saw your true beauty that is always there.
The Future
Turn now and look at the giant movie screen, there is one more presentation to see.
This is your future life. You watch as you interact with the world with your new view of yourself. You show love, kindness, humility, and compassion to those around you in your life. You are smiling and self-assured. What behaviors are different now that you see your true beautiful self? How did thoughts that used to control you no longer have a grip on your life? How have your feelings shifted? Write down what you see. Take your time. This is a major life-changing vision.
Beauty & Understanding
The screen shows one message now in vibrant gold letters, “real beauty is inside and everyone has it.” Take a deep breath as you see this. Now slowly count from one to five. You are bringing your new view of yourself with you. Five. See the words written on your body as you take a deep breath.
Four. Feel those characteristics spreading into every cell of your being. Three. Feel revived and free with your next breath. Two. You realize you can help others see their true beauty too as you feel enlightened. One. You are in your body and feel grateful to have gone on this journey.
Write down any remaining thoughts and draw a picture of a person with those words on them where you can see it every day.
Conclusion
You are capable of learning new skills and developing new parts of your brain. You can heal yourself by having a healthy lifestyle and only doing things that are good for your health. If you find yourself beating yourself up in your mind first notice how you talk to yourself. Why are you hard on yourself? Were your parents hard on themselves?
Make a promise to yourself not to talk negatively about yourself in your head or out loud. Make a list of your strengths as well as the ones you want to develop. If you’re feeling down, read this list to help shift your thinking. Monitor your thoughts about yourself and direct them.
We are capable of so much when we stop thinking about what we can get from others through our appearance and start thinking about how we can uplift others with our words and actions. People will enjoy your company when they trust you and feel supported by you.
Stop comparing yourself to others and notice if you’re obsessing over how others think of you. Just start to focus on how you can be there for people and how you can be positive enough to brighten someone’s day.
As you heal your own view of yourself, you are leading by example so others can find their value is not in appearance but in kindness. Ashton Kutcher said it best at the Teen Choice Awards when he said kindness is sexy.
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