Princess Sassy Pants & Co.™

I’ve been thinking about writing a book about meditation recently because it’s through my meditation practice that I’ve experienced the things I’ve experienced.

Then it occurred to me that I don’t have to wait to publish a book to share the things I’ve learned; I can do that now. So I’m thinking of sharing a series of posts here about my meditation practice and some of the things I’ve learned.  It will cost nothing–except perhaps your misery, sadness, and loneliness. Wink.

During a recent conversation, I was reminded of a type of meditation I did many years ago. I filled many notebooks with an exercise that can help uncover hidden thoughts and beliefs; I found this to be a helpful tool to bring them out of the shadows and into the light.  That being said, let’s uncover some shadow thoughts.

Keep in mind that you do not have to do anything with what’s uncovered. Please don’t try to analyze them, figure them out, or attribute them to this, that, or the other thing. 

You can do this with anything in your life…anything. I suggest you do it in a notebook that only you will see or, even better, on loose paper that you can shred when you’re finished. It’s important to let yourself do this uncensored, so if you know you can easily discard what you write, it can make it easier to do this. 

A good place to start is with anything that you have a question about or that is troubling you…anywhere that you might be stuck. Write the beginning of a sentence such as:
If I made time to do the things I love…

Then write 6-10 endings to form a complete sentence as quickly as you can. Write whatever comes to thought, even if it makes no sense. Don’t think about it, just write. (Please note that I am making this one up for the purpose of illustrating the process.) 

If I made time to do the things I love…
Then I would be selfish.
I would be happier.
I would feel more alive.
My children would suffer.
My husband would get angry.
I would feel alone.

Then take one of the sentence fragments you just wrote and use that to begin again.

If my husband got angry with me…
He might leave me.
I might be alone forever.
I would feel so afraid.
I don’t want to feel alone.
I don’t know what to write.
This is stupid.

Write whatever comes to thought.

Take another sentence fragment and repeat the process.

If my husband left me…
I wouldn’t know what to do.
I might be happier.
I would feel too alone.
I would have failed.
Life would be too hard.
It’s too scary to look at.
I wouldn’t have to hear him snore anymore.

You can continue this process for as long as you’d like, but finish each session with one more idea:

I’m beginning to see…
That I’m afraid to do more of what I love.
That doing what I love is very threatening to me.
That it’s no wonder that I don’t make more time to do what I love.
That I’ve put a lot of pressure on doing what I love.
That doing what I love has little to do with not having enough time.
That I have no idea what I want.

You do not have to do anything with whatever is uncovered. Again, you do not have to do anything with whatever is uncovered. It’s merely allowing these beliefs to come to the surface that’s helpful. That’s all. That is all you are trying to do. They do not reveal anything about you. They are merely false beliefs that haven’t been raised to the light and therefore have been running your life without you knowing it.

When I did these exercises, I would often feel lighter, like something had been lifted from my shoulders. I would sometimes cry, and sometimes I would laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of what surfaced.