The Ask and Receive Blog

You may have the feeling of walking through life as if you are carrying the huge burden of worries and stresses on your back and shoulders, struggling to keep moving forward and longing to let go of your burdens.

Visualizing yourself carrying your burdens to the feet of someone or something much bigger than you can be a powerful daily practice. To begin, sit with your eyes closed and envision an all powerful, supremely comforting being in what ever form that takes for you, standing at the end of a road. See yourself carrying a large sack, box, or other container, imagining that all your worries are inside it. Watch as you make your way to the being of your choice, and lay your baggage down at their feet. Allow yourself to feel the lightness and relief of this action, express your gratitude, and surrender.

You will be amazed by how this simple meditation can liberate you from a burden you were never meant to carry.

Our primary relationship in life is with our selves. No one else goes through every experience in life with us. We are our one permanent companion, yet we are often our worst critic. To remind ourselves of our magnificence, we can do this exercise: “Five Things I Like About Myself.”

Continue this process for a week, thinking of five new things you like about yourself everyday. At the end of the week, read the list aloud to yourself while standing in front of a mirror. Instead of looking for flaws to fix, allow the mirror to reflect your magnificence. You may feel silly about standing in front of a mirror and reading aloud a list of your admirable attributes, but it might just bring a smile to your face and change the way you see yourself. Remember, it is when you feel the most resistant that this exercise can benefit you the most. Because we are constantly looking at the world, instead of looking at ourselves, we don’t often see what’s magnificent about ourselves that others do. When we take the time to experience ourselves the way we would experience someone we love and admire, we become our best companion and supporter on life’s journey.

Water Meditation Our bodies are over fifty percent water, so it makes sense that human beings have always considered water to be a sacred source of life and healing. It is literally half of who we are, and well over half of the earth’s surface is water. Water cleanses and hydrates, contains and produces nourishment, and when we enter it, holds us in an embrace that leaves no part of us untouched. Meditating with water can be a powerful way of aligning ourselves more fully with this support system that makes life both possible and pleasurable on so many levels.

We may wish to conduct our meditation while in physical contact with a body of water, whether in the intimacy of our bathtub or the vast container of an ocean. We might float on our backs in a swimming pool or sit with just our feet submerged in a pond. On the other hand, we may simply close our eyes and choose a location based on our imagination. Whatever we choose, we can begin by closing our eyes and listening to our breathing. At the same time, we tune in to the particular music of the water we have chosen—the loud rushing of a river or waterfall, or the surreal silence of the world beneath the surface of the ocean.

As we move between awareness of our breath and awareness of the water in which we find ourselves, we can begin to release the things we no longer need into the rushing river, or release ourselves completely into the water’s embrace as we float, in our minds, in the watery womb of an ocean or a lake. When you feel you are ready to return to more solid ground, ease your body back onto earth, in your mind or in reality, and lie flat on your back, allowing the water to roll off your skin, evaporating into the air, leaving you cleansed, healed, and renewed.

You may feel that doing your best is not good enough. If you examine this notion, you will begin to see that it does not make much sense. Your best is always good enough, because it comes from you, and you are always good enough.

You may not be able to deliver someone else’s idea of the best, but the good news is that’s not your burden. You only need to fulfill your own potential, and as long as you remain true to yourself and always do your best, you do not need to expect anything more from yourself.

It’s easy to get tangled up with the idea of trying to be the best—the best parent, the best employee, the best child, or best friend. If we try to be the best, we run the risk of short-circuiting our originality because we are striving to fit into someone else’s vision of success. In addition, if everyone is striving for the same outcome, we lose out on creativity, diversity and alternatives to the way things are done.

Let go of the tendency to hold yourself up to other people’s standards and simply know that you are good enough.

Many of us take the benefits of walking for granted. Each day we limit the steps we take by driving or sitting for long periods of time. But walking has unlimited benefits, not only for our health but for our spirit. As we walk, we connect with the earth.

The simplicity and ease of a walking practice allows us to create time, space, and an awareness of our surroundings and of the wonders that lie within. Taking a few moments to walk each day and become more aware of our breath will open the door for the beauty of the world around us to come in.

Deep within each of us lives the child we once were. For most of us, our inner child lies hidden beneath the layers that we have put on in order to become adults. In our rush to put on grown-up clothing and live adult lives, we may have forgotten the wisdom and innocence that we possessed when we were children. In meditation, we can connect with our inner child and reclaim what we have forgotten.

You can start by finding a photo of yourself as a child that you can look at. Sit in a relaxed position, close your eyes, and start taking deep breaths. Set the intention that you are going to connect with your inner child. Wait for an image of yourself as a child to appear in your mind’s eye. See your grown-up self hugging your inner child. Listen to what your inner child has to say. Perhaps your inner child wants to give you the answer to a question that you’ve been mulling over. After all, you never needed to look outside yourself when you were a child to know how you felt or what was true for you. You always knew the answers.

There also may be an ache from a childhood wound that you can now heal by talking to your inner child and offering them the wisdom and perspective that comes with maturity.

Or maybe you have merely forgotten how to see the world with childlike wonder and hope! , and your inner child would like you to remember how.

Tell your inner child that you love them and will keep them safe. Embrace your inner child and tell them that you are always there for them. Allow your inner child to always be there for you.

Connecting to your inner child in a meditation is a very useful tool, but you can also connect with your inner child by treating  yourself to an ice cream, or a walk in the park. Let yourself laugh and play more. Give yourself permission to be as wise as your inner child so you can stop focusing on what is not important and start living as if every moment is precious. Your life will be filled with more laughter and fun.

Sometimes, we may find ourselves wishing we knew what our lives are going to look like, or what challenges are going to be presented to us in the coming months or years. The truth is that we would probably be overwhelmed if we knew everything that is going to happen to us.

In many ways, not knowing what the future has in store brings out in us the qualities we need to grow. For example, it would have been difficult to commit yourself to certain people, or projects if you knew they would not ultimately work out. Yet, it was through your commitment to see them through that you experienced the lessons you needed to grow.

Your most challenging experiences with their inevitable lessons may have ultimately brought you the greatest rewards. Not knowing the future keeps us in the power of NOW. 

There is much healing provided to you by the sea. 

 The rough sounds of the sea’s waves are soothing and its salt can purify you. 
 

You may live close to the sea so you can experience the sea.

If you do not live by the sea, it does not matter. Gather together any ocean artifacts you may have on hand. Seashells, or a recording of ocean sounds can help you feel the sea energy.

 Sit quietly and visualize the ocean in your mind’s eye. Allow all of your senses to participate in your mental journey. Feel the tiny grains of sand beneath your feet and the cool spray of mist; hear the sea’s waves meet the beach and retreat; smell the salt in the air. Watch the sun’s rays play over the ocean’s surface.  

As each new wave of seawater approaches, imagine it carrying healing energy toward you. The magnificent ocean in your thoughts is sending you light and love while the sun supports your healing efforts and Mother Earth grounds you in the moment so healing can occur.

When you feel you are finished, grant the ocean your earnest gratitude for the aid it has given you. Thank the sun, the sand, and any other elements of your visualization that offered you guidance.

Perform this meditation daily or monthly in order to rid yourself of negativity. Just as the ocean’s tides sweep the shores free, restoring balance, so can the waves in our mind’s eye cleanse our souls of what no longer serves us.

You may hear being told to ground yourself, but you may not be sure what that means, and how you might do it.

One of the easiest ways to ground yourself is to bring our attention to our breath as it enters and leaves our bodies. After about 4 breaths, you will probably find being more connected to your physical self.  You might then bring your awareness to the sensations in your body, moving from head down to your feet. Just a few minutes of this, is what it means to ground yourself. 

You can go further by imagining that roots are growing out of the bottoms of your feet connecting you to the earth. The roots flow with you so you can always move, but at the same time, they keep you grounded.

We receive powerful energy from the earth, just as we do from the forms of energy we associate with the sky, and our body is a tool that brings these two energies together in a sacred union. When we are grounded, we become a strong container in which our spirits can safely and productively dwell. This is why grounding yourself everyday, especially at the beginning of the day, is such a beneficial practice.

It can be very challenging to maintain a positive attitude and a measure of faith when you are in the midst of difficult times. This is partly because we tend to think that if the universe loves us we will experience that love in the form of positive circumstances. However, we are like children, and the universe is our wise mother who knows what our souls need to thrive better than we do. Just as a young child does not benefit from getting everything she wants, we also benefit from times of constriction and difficulty to help us grow and learn. If we keep this in mind, and continue to trust that we are loved even when things are hard, it helps us bear the difficult time with grace.

At the same time, if you truly feel that nothing is going right for you, it’s never a bad idea to examine your life and see if there are some changes you can make to alleviate some of the difficulty. Gently and compassionately exploring the areas giving you the most trouble may reveal things you are holding onto and need to release: unprocessed emotions, unresolved transitions, or negative ways of looking at yourself or reality. As you take responsibility for the things you can change, you can more easily surrender to the things you can’t, remembering all the while that this phase will, without doubt, give way to another.