A Visualization to Get Perspective on a Problem

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This meditation is a practice in perspective taking, which

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I'm Dr.

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Diana Hill, and I'm going to be guiding you through this practice

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Story connect with the greater whole and take a different

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Go ahead and find a comfortable position with your eyes closed.

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You can lie down for this exercise.

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You can sit up against a wall or you can be in a formal meditation practice.

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Whatever is most comfortable for you

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Begin by bringing awareness to you right now, here in the present moment.

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And we can bring awareness from the outside, moving in.

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So start by noticing sounds in the room around you or sounds outside of the room.

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Move to other senses like temperature and touch.

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Notice the temperature of the air on your skin

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And notice where your body is making contact with your clothes, the floor, or.

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And moving from the outside to the inside, bring awareness to

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In this present moment, we can bring awareness to the movement

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Noticing where it initiates from what parts of your

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And allow your breath to be like this landing pad that brings

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Right here.

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Right now.

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You can also bring awareness to other aspects of your inner experience,

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Noticing any areas that feel relaxed.

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Noticing any areas that feel expansive.

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Just bring awareness to this inner landscape, this

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And you also have inside of your body a mind, a mind that may

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Maybe still caught up on what happened right before this moment.

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Maybe thinking about this very exercise and just notice the

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Does it feel expansive?

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What is it's speed?

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And what are some of its problems?

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So oftentimes we have problems that are looping around in our mind that

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And we do all sorts of things to try and solve these problems of the mind.

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Solve the problems of our experience.

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We avoid them.

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We ruminate on them.

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We numb them.

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But what I'd like for you to do right now is allow one of those problems to be

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What's up for you?

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What's a problem that you've been trying to solve or get rid of or avoid?

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And allow yourself and your mind to start to describe that problem.

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Sometimes it can feel like a well-worn road.

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This problem feels so familiar

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And it may have some feelings associated with it, some imagery, some thoughts.

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And I'd like for you, if you can, imagine that you're sitting

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You're on the X marks the spot of right here right now in this moment with this

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This hard thing.

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Feel the weight of the hard thing in this moment and how present it is for you.

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And I'd like for you to imagine that on this X marks the spot line of your

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This timeline.

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And to the right of you, it travels all the way forward in time to past

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So here you are at X marks the spot.

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And this problem feels big and it feels relevant and it feels important.

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It has a weight.

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It has a shape.

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It resides in your body in a certain way.

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And it shows up for you in your life right now.

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And I'd like for you to imagine that you could get up and walk along the

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Another time when there was something that was difficult for you.

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Maybe you were younger.

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You were a child.

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And there's probably lots of times that you could think of, but maybe

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Like this problem is old, most likely.

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And maybe there was a time where you felt something similar to this.

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It had a similar flavor to it.

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For some people, it may be a flavor of not good enough.

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Or being left out.

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Not belonging.

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Worry.

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But choose a time back in time when you had a problem and it was hard for you.

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And what I'd like for you to do is imagine that version of you at that

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Imagine them, wherever they were at that point in their life, what were they doing?

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How were they dressed?

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See if you can bring up as much detail about them as you can, as if

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Where would they be located?

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And walk back in time as if you were walking back to that version of you.

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And as you walk back to that version of you, you start to see that

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How hard it was to be you.

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And how entangled you were in it.

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And as you look back on that version of you, I want you to imagine that you

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And when they see you, they look in your eyes and they can tell that you know.

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You know what it's like to be them unlike anyone else would ever know.

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So you look at them and they see you and you see them and you see them

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In the thing that is hard.

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And as you look at them, notice just what it feels like in your body

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And you can say, I know, I know.

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And breathe.

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And you sit down right next to them.

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Or maybe reach out and hold their hand.

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Or maybe put your hand on their cheek or their head or wherever feels just right.

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And you give them some words.

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You say some things to them about what it is that, you know now,

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And breathe

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And you take their hand.

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Feel it in yours.

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Feel the connection.

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And you travel with them back along the timeline.

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Back along the timeline.

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Back to the X marks the spot.

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And you have a seat and they sit down right up next to you.

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You feel their presence on your left side

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And with their presence on their left side you come back into your problem.

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Your struggle.

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In the here and now.

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Knowing that this is potentially old for you, it's been around for a while,

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And having your younger self with you at your side.

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Noticing what that feels like, how it may feel a little different having

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And as you sit here, you look off to the right to the timeline of your life.

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And you begin to notice that walking towards you is an

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20 years down the road.

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And you can notice how they walk.

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Notice their hair and their skin that's been seasoned by life.

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Notice what they're wearing.

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And notice what it feels like when they catch you in the eyes.

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They know.

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And only they know what it's like to be you and the struggles

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So as they walk towards you, as they come up, you can feel that presence

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And when they get up close, they look at you and say, I know.

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And breathe.

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And take it in.

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And maybe they put out their hand into your hand or touch

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And they sit down right up next to you and they tell you a few

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And listen.

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And breathe.

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And drink it in.

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So that here you sit, X marks the spot.

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You and your life right now with the things that are hard.

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And right up next to you sits your past, for which you have compassion

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Feel that presence of your past and everything that

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And right up next to you on the other side is your future.

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A future self that has compassion for you now.

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That cares for you.

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That wants the best for you.

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And that understands.

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And here you are in the present moment with more perspective.

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More compassion.

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And you can tell yourself.

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I know.

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Taking in your deepest breath.

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Feeling that wisdom from the inside, fill you up as you inhale.

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Feeling that wisdom and circle you like a cocoon as you exhale.

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Feeling compassion from the left.

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Compassion from the right.

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Compassion from the inside out and from the outside in.

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Breathe in compassion.

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Breathe out compassion.

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And as this meditation and visualization comes to an end, I encourage you to

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use these allies, the ally of your past and the ally of your future, to remind

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Take perspective.

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And trust the wisdom that you already have.

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Expanding your awareness to sensations in your body and your breath.

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Just that simple movement of the breath.

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Expanding your awareness to temperature in the room and sounds.

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And when you're ready, you expand your awareness by gently opening your eyes.

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Eyes wide open with greater perspective, greater self-awareness and compassion and