Emotional Self-Awareness

Just get comfortable where you won't be disturbed for five minutes or so. Settle down, and now tune in to your breathing. Make no effort to breathe, just honestly look to your breathing - and you'll discover your current emotional condition.

Focusing on your breathing will become your primary lifeline reality orient for bodily awareness. 

You'll find that as you watch your breaths going effortlessly by, your emotional mood will begin to change for the better - with each new breath you'll calm down and let go of your tensions and worries, and regain some good feelings inside your body.

Notice that when you hold your full attention on the actual physical sensations you're feeling in your nose right now, your chronic flow of thoughts become less dominant, more and more quiet... and then can temporarily fade entirely-this is what you want to have happen. This is what mindfulness meditation is all about, just breathing consciously and regaining your senses in the present moment.

Now you can expand your awareness to include the breathing movements in your chest and belly, as they expand and contract with each inhale and exhale. Accept whatever feelings you find inside you, and watch how they relax with each new effortless breath …

And now, while you stay aware of your breathing experience, gently expand your awareness to also include the feelings in your feet ... and expand again to also include the feelings in your legs ... in your pelvis ... in your hands and arms and torso ...

And now expand your awareness again, to include your throat, your tongue and your lips ... stay with your breathing as you also include the muscles in your face ... around your eyes ... and the top of your head.

Now you can just relax entirely, and enjoy the primal feeling of being alive in your whole body, here in this present moment.

And right in the middle of this experience, go ahead and tune in to whatever feelings you find in your heart ... accept those feelings, breathe into them, and say to yourself, "I love and honor and accept myself and all my feelings."