use this quick meditation to visualize *ease* in 2021
Getting a little personal this week, I want to share something with you that has been on my mind—and that you may find you're relating to lately.
Some of you know, but I'm pregnant and expecting my first child at the end of February. Until now, this date has felt so far away—all the way in 2021. But 2021 is here now and suddenly this massive life shift doesn't feel so far at all.
And so I've found my mind oscillating between the duality of excitement and fear. Excitement for expanding my family, drawing in new experiences, and embracing a love I've never felt before.
Fear shows up in moments of anxiety. Especially in the midst of a global Pandemic with no clear end in sight, I find myself wondering: how will I make the decisions that are best for my family, both for their physical and mental health? and worrying about tragedy, since stories of tragedy seem so prevalent right now. What if my family gets struck? Not even by the virus, necessarily—just tragedy in general!
When I find myself in these fear-of-the-future moments, I gently ask myself to return to presence. My family is safe right now.
And what happens, when I do this, is that I am overcome with gratitude. I am overcome with love. I revel in the now. Because right now, the people I love are safe and I GET to experience what that feels like. It's a privilege.
We all have moments where everything is 'just right'—even between dark and difficult days, there are glimpses of light that shine. And all we have to do is catch it.
I encourage you, as we walk together into this new year, to catch as many moments of light as you can. Acknowledging these moments will ground you when challenges arise.
Keep looking for the light and I promise you'll start to see how bountiful it is.
going deeper: your *inner* light
Another thing I've been doing over the last week is shadow work. If you're unfamiliar: it's based on Carl Jung's notion of the shadow-self archetype and the work involves embracing the parts of yourself you reject. If that sparks interest, I'd highly recommend checking out the book Dark Side of the Light Chasers.
My point in bringing this up is that shadow work, while VERY effective, can be heavy. I noticed while I was in it that the 'doom and gloom' anxiety thoughts I referenced above were more pronounced. And I started to wonder: is it possible to embrace rejected parts of ourselves without all of this heaviness?
And I *think* the answer is yes. There was a time I would have said no. "You have to feel the hurt before you can clear the hurt!" But the more I've done the work, myself, the clearer it's become that 'feeling the hurt' doesn't mean wallowing in it.
I will continue to experiment on myself and report back, but my theory right now is this: as you embrace your inner light—as you hold the general intention to EMBRACE ALL aspects of self, even the ones you don't like, you WILL feel the painful parts of yourself rise up to be integrated into the light. You might feel tears, you might notice internal resistance, but it will be swift. Because your light is more powerful. In other words: you don't have to sit in the dark spaces of your subconscious to come to terms with your shadow self. You can actually clear shadow more quickly by embracing your inner light.
Keep in mind I'm not talking about the 'toxic positivity' kind of light. I'm not encouraging you to ignore the bad for the sake of the good. We must embrace it ALL. I'm just suggesting that, when you hold space for your inner light on a consistent basis... the 'bad' won't feel as heavy.
From this perspective, light is actually just the grounding force, like the gratitude I talked about earlier. When you are practiced in acknowledging and accepting your inner light, it's so much easier to hold space and compassion for the dark bits that we also have to acknowledge, move through, and integrate.
And so that's what I'd like us to do today. Use the "inner light" meditation below and notice what comes up for you as you do so. You might feel warm and radiant. You might feel resistent or hear voices telling you it's a waste of time... but just allow yourself to sink into whatever your experience is. Meet yourself where you are.