A meditation can serve many different purposes. I’m not gona explain how to meditate right now. That’s a story for another time. What I am going to explain is a mental exercise on how to organize your emotions and thoughts. This meditation or thought time-line is intended to give you a frame-work to process issues. You do not need to pick one issue to process, though you can if you want too.

For clarities sake, this is a chakra meditation with the purpose of unblocking your chakras. I happened to come across this version while watching Avatar the Last Air Bender, and where that may seem silly, wisdom often comes when you least expect it.

To begin I recommend finding some place outside, safe and quiet where you wont be interrupted. Inside is fine too as you’ll probably have a bit of a cry (crying is good, crying is healthy).  I really want to impress not being interrupted. That can mean having a person in the same space with you not talking or distracting you (turn off your damn phone. Turn off your electronics. Don’t listen to music.) A near by human or animal can be a touch stone and that can be good when dealing with hard emotions. The key is your focus. The key is giving yourself time to allow the thoughts to flow and evolve and be experienced. This is called ‘holding space’ and as often as we hold space for others, support others emotional and energetic needs we often forget to hold space for ourselves.

Once situated find a comfortable position to sit in. Below I’m going to post a list – write this list down by hand on a piece of paper before hand and have it in front of you for reference. Write it down in this format:

                                                                            7 Chakras

let go/ surrender/ connection <— Thought      :      Earthly Attachment (cosmic energy)

clarity  <— Light       :     Illusion – one for all, all is one  (insight)

accept self  <—  Sound       :    Lies  – self-lies    (truth)

love    <—   Love     :    Grief   (love)

acceptance      <—     Fire       :      Shame – disappointment   (will power)

forgive   <—       Water      :      Guilt     (pleasure)

let go      <—    Earth       :        Fear     (survival)

This above is all you should have written down and in front of you. This is your quick reference list. Below is an explanation of what it means (I’m going to use personal explains to try and explain what I mean). Keep what’s below in your mind as you go through the list above. The first few times you do this meditation you might want this whole document near you to reference. Its okay make this an intellectual practice.

“So above so below, so within so without.”

To begin this meditation take a few minutes once seated to look around and gain an appreciation for the space around you. Really use your eyes and senses and try and see what’s beautiful about the space. If you can feel the beauty in sunlight, air temp or smell or sound, take that in too. Really spend time focusing on those beautiful things – take as long as feels right to get in the head space where you feel safe and surrounded by beauty. A key thing to consider is gratitude. What are you grateful for? Say it in your mind, or even out loud. Let gratitude be your focus.

This is the beginning of a ritual, an opening. You are committing to yourself and your connection to the universe for a time. This is focus and intention and is meant to engage those spiritual aspects of yourself. This meditation can take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours, depending on you and your attention span. No pressure. The goal is to draw a respectful space for yourself that exists outside of your normal day to day flow.

Now, look down at the paper you’ve written in your own hand and start at the bottom. You’ll be working your way up. From the ground to the sky. That is our path.

The first line:  let go      <—    Earth       :        Fear     (survival)

Think about what you’re afraid of. Really, go through those fears. Talk out loud about them to yourself and the world around you. They can be petty. They can be serious. Usually, you’ll begin with frustrations before you realize those aren’t actually fears. Fears are the root of the frustrations. “I’m afraid of being alone”, “I’m afraid I’ll hurt people.” Those are true guiding fears. Pick one, just one to focus on for right now. You can always do this meditation again and deal with a different issue then. Again and again and again. Realize that fear is rooted in survival. Realize you’re afraid of those fears for good reasons. See if you can logic out how you might one day be able to maybe let them go. This is Earth. This is grounding. This roots you as a normal mammal in a normal world. It is okay to be afraid. Its okay to have fear. The key to fear is to acknowledge the fear, to not let it rule you. “Yes, I am afraid of abandonment. It is okay to be afraid of that. My fear is rooted in survival. If I am abandoned, will I survive? Yes. Yes, I will. It’s okay to be afraid about that.” Acknowledge those aspects of yourself that are rooted in survival. How do they alter your interactions with those around you. Are you driven by your need to survive? By your fear? *The key is acknowledgment – don’t linger here for too long – don’t get stuck. Move onto the next step:

The second line:  forgive   <—       Water      :      Guilt     (pleasure)

Think about what you feel guilty about in your life. You will probably immediately find that what you were thinking about in fear is relevant here. They are connected. “I feel guilty that I’m so selfish in thinking people will or shouldn’t abandon me.” Guilt is rooted in pleasure, and vise versa. A lot of our guilt stems from the nature of wanting. It’s okay to want. You should want. And its okay to feel guilty about wanting things. Forgive yourself. Offer that gift to you. “I forgive myself for wanting to be loved.” “I feel guilty about wanting attention from others in talking about how my ex’s hurt me. I feel guilty that I’m still bothered by how they treated me in the past.” Often we are only responding to the situations around us, situations we weren’t prepared for and didn’t respond very well too. Then we feel guilty for allowing ourselves into that situation. But we went into that situation initially because it was pleasurable, and now we feel guilty that we sought pleasure and were hurt by that want. It’s okay. Try and forgive yourself for simply feeling. Try. *The key is forgiveness- don’t linger here for too long – don’t get stuck. Move onto the next step:

The Third line:  acceptance      <—     Fire       :      Shame – disappointment   (will power)

Guilt, unsurprisingly, leads to shame. How could it not? How can I not be ashamed that I let that happen to me? The thing is, shame is a reflection of disappointment. Shame is a cruel thing to do to oneself, but not an unnecessary thing. Shame is the mirrors reflection – it shows us our disappointments. “I’m disappointed in myself that I let them treat me that way, and I’m ashamed of that disappointment.” Let that bitch go! Accept the truth: shit happens, and you did nothing wrong in the simple act of being alive. You can choose to continue shaming yourself, being disappointed in yourself, or you can change your perspective and say, “I accept that I was once young and knew only what I knew, and yes, people disappointed me, I disappointed me, but I am not ashamed of me, but rather proud that I tried at all.” Try and accept that all things happen and often for reasons we can’t quite yet see. Try and accept that they have already happened and can’t be undone. Accept that they are now a part of the fabric of life and that part of what makes you beautiful is that you went out and tried and survived. *The key is acceptance- don’t linger here for too long – don’t get stuck. Move onto the next step:

The Fourth line: love    <—   Love     :    Grief   (love)

Allow yourself to feel grief. “Love is grief and grief is love and if I ever cared about something I loved it and now that it is different than it was I feel grief at its both its existence and its loss.” Look at all you just felt in the last three steps. You’ve done so much! You’ve addressed three of the hardest truths that live inside you, rent free. You deserve grief, because you deserve love. See how grief is rooted in love. See how all the emotions you’ve felt are rooted in love. Allow yourself love. All is love. Allow yourself the sadness in love. Allow yourself grief and the joy. Put your hand on your heart and give yourself a hug. You deserve it. Have a good cry. Be present with love and think of all those you love. Love is bigger than anything. Love is a lot. *The key is love- and you can linger here for as long as you need. Move onto the next step when you’re ready – you’ll be tempted to be done now but don’t stop – we’re almost there, and you’ll feel loads better once this is completed:

The Fifth line: accept self  <—  Sound       :    Lies  – self-lies    (truth)

If grief and love are deeply intertwined, then I know I’ve been lying to myself. I’ve been saying things like: “I don’t deserve this, or I can’t do this, or I’m not enough.” I’ve been saying things like, “I’ll never be successful, I’ll never be loved, I’ll never be good enough.” Here’s the simple truth: my true self knows better. My true inner self knows that I am loved, and cared for, and successful, and honest and full of hope and maybe even a good heart. Get out of your own way. Stop looking at yourself through someone else’s lenses. Speak up and tell the world the truth: That you are great! You love yourself and you are good enough and the only person you are required to hold yourself accountable to is yourself. Accept the self, the good parts and the bad parts, the parts you want to improve and the parts of yourself you honor. You are the whole picture. You are the culmination of the human species. You are exactly who and what you are supposed to be. Believe it. And if you find you want to improve upon who you are today, guess what? You get to. Who you are today is not who you were 10 years ago, and who you will be in 10 years will be different than this person today. Honor yourself. *The key is self-acceptance- don’t linger here for too long – don’t get stuck. Move onto the next step:

The Sixth line: clarity  <— Light       :     Illusion – one for all, all is one  (insight)

Try and see the illusions you’ve put before yourself to keep yourself disconnected. “I’m shy, no one will want hear what I say, I’m different.” Try and see how you are a part of all of this, the world, life, your surroundings, your community, everything. Look around at those beautiful parts of the space you saw when you began this meditation and remember that they are as much like themselves as you are like them. We are all beautiful and light and we are all together. Sure, we have many and much more than that, but we don’t always have to focus on the negative parts of ourselves. Choose to see the beauty. Choose to see clarity. All for one, and one for all. We are all human and we are all the same. We are all a part of one giant organism. We are all alone together. *The key is clarity- don’t linger here for too long – don’t get stuck. Move onto the next step:

Seventh line:  let go/ surrender/ connection <— Thought      :      Earthly Attachment (cosmic energy)

And here you are. You’ve done it. Allow yourself thought. Think about it all.  You’re mind will go many places now. Let it go where it may. Try and be thoughtful. Try and be kind to yourself. Try and think of the person you want to become. Try and find traits you admire in others. Try and think about qualities you wish you had. As soon as you start thinking about them you’ll start ingratiating them into your future self subconsciously. The more you think on them the more you’ll start acting them out. Picture the person you aspire to be and you’ll unconsciously start working to become that person. At this point you should find yourself peaceful, and you should find your mind free. When you move you should feel a looseness in your body that wasn’t there before. Your chakras are open. The cosmic energy that surrounds us all the time is now consciously moving through your body. This is what it is to be awake, and to be full.

End your meditation. Close the circle. Say your gratitude’s. Thank yourself and the universe for the opportunity to do this practice in this safe place in this beautiful life. It’s good to cap a session, like a ritual, so that your system can adjust back into the daily flow. When Buddhists meditate they try and live all the time in this state – for us, in this busy life, that’s not practical. That said, you can always open another ritual session, re-enter this space, and enjoy a giant hug from the universe, and yourself.

Some thoughts:

I love you. We love you. You are loved. Choose to love. Only you stand in your own way. Only you get to choose how to see the world. We don’t get to choose who or what we love, but we do get to choose what we do with that love. You can do anything. Try and remember every day to hold space for yourself. Try everyday to learn something new. Try every day to cut yourself a small break. Try every day to remember that you’re responding. Try every day to remember that there is more out there than you think. More choices. More options. More opportunities. You can do anything if you’ll only give yourself the time to. You can try and walk 100 miles in a week. You may fail. You can try and walk 100 miles in two weeks. You may fail. You can try and 100 miles with no time restraints. You will succeed.

Try not to judge yourself by what others are doing.

Try and remember that you’re purpose on this planet is to experience all that life has to offer. If you’re supposed to experience a marriage, a family, a job, money, security, friends, travel, near death… then you will. If you’re not supposed to, then you wont, and that’s okay. Just try and be open to experiences. Try and say yes to things and you will experience all the right things, even if they aren’t always happy things – they’re still the right things, even if they may not seem like it just now.

And one last thing. You’ll never understand how bad that time was until you’re out of it. One day you’ll look back on your past and wonder how ever could have survived that. You can do anything. You can survive anything.  Choose you. Choose life.