from the blog

I Love You. I am Listening.

I sat down to meditate last week with a heavy heart.  The news of the past few weeks was really bringing me down, to be honest.  My morning had already begun at its typical pace— a speed I’d not choose naturally, but is the result of needing to get two children out the door to two different schools by 8.05 am.  I returned home already in a bit of a spin after listening to some news after dropping both kids off.  

I needed a few moments to regroup.  I scrolled through the guided meditation options on my Insight Timer app and found one called “Loving and Listening to Yourself.”  “I could use that; sign me up,” I thought as I clicked on it and closed my eyes.  

“I love you.  I am listening,” a woman’s calm voice intoned into my ear buds.  I breathed a sigh of relief as I let the effect of the words wash over me.  

“When was the last time you said this to yourself?,” she continued. 

I couldn’t remember.  But I kept listening.  

I kept listening to the end of the meditation and I felt so different when it was finished.  The effect of stopping and focusing on loving myself and listening to what was going on inside of me felt transformative.  Prior to sitting down my head was awash in what felt like a metastasizing to-do list, a list of worries I have about the state of the world, things with which I am trying to help both of my kids.  But as I listened, each of those things fell away one by one and was replaced with the kind of presence I would offer a beloved friend.  A presence that held myself in loving witness.  

And those words kept playing in my head throughout the day.  “I love you.  I am listening.”  Each time I heard those words in my head, a relief and peace wash over me.  They brought me into a different kind of presence and moved me into a different frame of mind.  

After hearing these words and meditating on them, I met my day and the other people in my day in a different way.  I had patience that I couldn’t have claimed to have earlier in the day.  I was able to listen to and hold space for people who had their own minds full of worries and to-do’s.  I was able to offer my true presence to people (including my own children) that I might not have been able to if I was still caught in my own lists of worries and to-do’s, if I hadn’t offered myself my own love and listening.  

Love and listening are transformative, and if we are able to begin by offering them to ourselves, first, we can meet our world with that love and listening.  If we can tell ourselves “I love you, and I am listening,” they may transform our mindset, our relationships, and our days.  

 

You can find the “Loving and Listening to Yourself” meditation here.  

Comments
  • Linda Goldfarb

    How amazing such a simple thing can be – a calm voice with words that ring true. Thank you, Ali, for sharing yourself.
    xo Linda