Tara Brach - Meditation: Calling on Your Future Self (2020-05-09)

Episode Date: May 21, 2020

Meditation: Calling on Your Future Self (2020-05-09) - We have within us the wisdom and compassion that can carry us through the most challenging times. This meditation guides us in accessing these inner resources by calling on the most evolved part of our being.

The following meditation is led by Tara Brock. To access more of my meditations or join my email list, please visit tarabrock.com. We'll start with a guided meditation. So I'd like to invite you wherever you are. You might close your eyes instead of looking at the screen and adjust how you're sitting so that you're really comfortable. This guided meditation is called calling on your future self.

and as I speak, please feel free to substitute the word future self maybe substitute in high self or my awakened heart or my inner bodhisatt for any words that point to the most evolved expression of your being. Coming into stillness and let's take some long, deep breaths together, inhaling deeply, filling the chest and the lungs. And a slow out breath and sense that you can let go and release any tensions with the out breath. And again, a nice full deep in-breath. And a slow out-breath, letting go, letting go.

And once again, inhaling deeply, filling the chest in the lungs. And with the out-breath softening down the length of the body, releasing tension, letting go. and then allowing your breath to come back into its natural rhythm and sense that you can continue relaxing with the movement of the breath, opening as the breath comes in to receive and as the breath goes out, releasing, relaxing. And notice the quality of presence as you feel this breathing body. Notice if there's any parts of your body that want to let go a little more right now, perhaps softening the shoulders, softening the hands, loosening the belly, feeling your face and perhaps bringing a slight smile to the face. Now imagine you could journey

into the future, 10 years, 20 years. If you're young, more years and if you're older or shorter, but imagine you could journey into the future and encounter your future self, an older, awake, evolved version of yourself. Your future self is not so self-preoccupied, your future self where there's much less insecurity, where you're able to love freely, live fully. So visualize your future self's home. You might picture where your future self is in or outside their home, where they're located right now as they are about to encounter you and how your future self looks, their clothing,

hair, facial expression. And imagine now how they're welcoming you. the look in their eyes, the warmth, the openness, the quality of their presence, what it's like to be with them, how it feels. Sense that you're letting your future self know about how these times of the current times of global crisis are for you, what it's like and what's most difficult. So you might be letting your future self know about your fears, your anxieties, could be about health, or finances.

Maybe what's most difficult is your concerns and worries for others. Maybe it's loneliness or challenges in an important relationship. Or maybe what's difficult is the way that you're feeling down on yourself. you're blaming yourself for addictive behaviors or the way you're handling life. Whatever it is, let your future self know what's painful, what's hard right now. Let your future self know what you're believing about yourself, what you're believing about your future. That might be limiting and what you're feeling. You might even say the words for what you're feeling that are difficult and feel how that is in your body, where you feel vulnerable, afraid, disturbed.

Now imagine your future self can communicate by filling you with their awareness, allowing you to look with their eyes, see with their heart, feel with their heart. And with the presence of your future self-witness now, how your small self is stuck. Through those eyes of wisdom, see the ways your beliefs or attitudes might be limiting you. And with kindness, see the suffering that goes with self-judgment. Witnessing your small self through these eyes of wisdom, this caring heart, attune to what this less evolved part of you, this less evolved self needs most to remember, needs most to feel in order to be more courageous and loving and free.

What is your small self most need to trust, to know? In these next few moments, you might sense your future self-offering their loving care to the vulnerable small self inside. Just imagine and feel it. And it might help you to put your hand on your heart and sense your future self's presence with the touch of your hand, just gentle, letting the care of your future self in, the forgiveness, the acceptance. And listen and sense whatever message, whatever reminder your future self is offering to you right now. What is it that your future self wants you to trust and to know?

Letting that in and feeling yourself breathing and feeling yourself right here, right now. Perhaps becoming aware of the sounds around you, the sensations through your whole body, and sense how the love and the wisdom of your most evolved being lives in you now and always. You can trust that with practice you can naturally access and live from this awakened heart with more and more ease. That through all that is arising right now, all that may yet be coming, this loving awareness is here to guide you and support you. And before closing, you might sense the others that are here with you. So many of us from places around the planet, gathering to wake up our hearts and our minds,

each of us calling on the love and awareness that's our source. So you can start sensing this shared heart space that's here as we listen and as we speak together, the heart space that connects us.