The Practice of Stopping - Mindful Moment

Hey friends. Welcome to another Mindful Moment.

I don't know about you, but there are some days where you have an expectation of what you'd like to get done and the day takes a completely different turn from what you were hoping or dare I say, expecting.
All of a sudden the time has passed and so many of the things that you were wanting to get done, haven't even begun.

Can you relate?

So here I am in that situation.
And instead of getting frustrated or irritated or another emotion of lower vibration, I am stopping.

Literally stopping.

Today that's what we're going to practice.

Stopping.

Sometimes it's so easy because we know we need to rest and pause. We're ready for it.
And other times we resist stopping and go in the complete opposite direction.
It's just what we do sometimes, isn’t it? And it's actually, okay.
So as I stop and sit here with you, Slater, who is my precious 12 year old kitty, is supporting this decision and he has hopped up on the couch and is purring and lying down and just so excited to be taking a moment to stop.

So wherever you are, see if you can find a comfortable position seated or lying down.

And if you were going about your day and just listening, see if you could just pause for a couple moments with me.

And if that's not a possibility for you today, that's okay.
Once you’ve found your position, we can close our eyes.

If you are sitting and listening, maybe enjoying a cup of a warm beverage or even a meal, here’s an invitation.

I invite you to slow down.

In this moment I invite you to feel into your body,
feeling your feet ankles,
calves and shins,
feeling into your knees,
your quads,
hamstrings,
feeling your hips and pelvis.
Feeling the connection through your sit bones.

Like you have roots that are growing from you deep into the earth offering you stability. Groundedness.

Moving the sensation up into your stomach.
Up into your belly button,
up into your rib cage, 
your chest, 
your heart.

Up into your shoulders, 

into your arms, 
going through your biceps, 
into your elbows,
into your forearms, 
into your wrists 
and palms 
and all the way to your fingertips.

And then let's pull that energy back up into the palms, in the back of the hands, through the wrist. 
Up the top of the arms, elbows, through the triceps and the back of the arms, into your armpits, down your sides
and making its way into your low back. 

Taking a moment to notice your breath. 

Feeling the natural flow and natural rhythm of your system.

Feeling the connection to life.

Connecting with that energy in your low back. 
Moving into your middle, 
back up your spine, 
into your upper back 
and back into your shoulders, a place where we can often hold our tension and stress. 

Connecting to our breath. moving from the shoulders to the base of the neck.

Moving up…
feeling the muscles on either side of your spine, as it connects to your skull in the back of your head.
bringing the energy up…
Feeling your scalp up into your crown chakra at the very top of your head.

The connection between you and higher world, the higher vibration or connection to spirit and Source.

I want you to imagine a beautiful, bright light coming out from the top of your head and connecting you to higher possibility, higher vibration, infinite possibility.

Then feeling into your scalp, once again, down into your forehead where we also can hold so much tension.

And moving the energy into our temples, the side of your head,
dropping the energy into your ears,
moving into our eyeballs, relaxing our eyes and 
into the nose. 

Again, feeling the breath enter your body.
See if you notice the air passing through your nostrils,
moving down into your lips.
Noticing the inside of your mouth.

Your tongue relaxing,
relaxing your cheeks and your jaw
moving down into your throat.
From your throat, moving into your collarbones
and back into your chest.

This time, connecting to your breath…
See if you can feel or imagine, create the vision of your heart opening.

A beautiful radiant light, connecting your heart, beaming and bursting from you out into the world, projecting and exuding, sending out love, compassion, kindness, gratitude, appreciation.

And while that brilliant light is emitting from you, see if you can also receive love from the universe, God, Source, Spirit, that which has no name.

Receiving love from our friends, our family and to really embrace and allow yourself to receive that love.

If you can, try to notice as the love goes out, it also comes back in, and out and in.

As if it makes an infinity loop, ever flowing between us and the world.
If you feel comfortable, put a hand on your chest, acknowledging the love that you both give and receive.

Also connecting to the energy that connects us to our higher world of spirit. Coming from the top of our head, as we connect going from the top of our head up to the heavens or the Divine Source, also receiving that radiant brilliant light. Coming into us and washing through our whole body.
We are being filled with love and divine support, receiving guidance and wisdom.

And again, like an infinity loop as we connect above us, it also brings the energy into us, feeling that connection for a moment.

Feeling your breath entering and leaving the body.

Stopping for this moment to connect to an energy that is always there.

We lose the connection with our hurried and busy working lives.

And that's okay.

These moments that we have together, remind us of who we are and help us to connect to that energy that is always waiting for us.

Waiting for that connection.

That Eternal Love that is always there for us, without judgment.

It's there and it welcomes us back each and every time.
As if to say,
“Dear friend, I have missed you so much. Let me open my arms and wrap you with a warm embrace. Welcome home dear friend. Welcome home.
I have missed you so much. I'm so happy to be with you again.”

And this is what stopping can offer us, a simple pause and reconnection.

I don't know about you, but it feels so good to slow down and feeling connection to the beauty and presence of this moment can bring tears to my eyes.

The simplicity and beauty of being here with you.

Thank you for taking time for yourself.
Thank you for opening up your heart and opening up your mind to a higher vibration, a higher thought process.

As you bring yourself back into the room, back into your day, I hope you remember how amazing you are and how precious and sacred this life is.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

May you have an amazing day.

So much love and delight and support to you.

From my heart to yours,

Be well, my friends.