Free Your Mind from Negative Conditioning
If you want to go more deeply on this, if you want to get rid of other negative conditioning in your life, you can check out the Energy + Success Bundle.
If you want to hang out again soon, I am speaking at the Embodiment Conference this Thursday, October 15 on Creativity in Memoir Writing through Connection to Your True Self Thursday, October 15th, from 10 pm - 11 pm PST
To register: https://theembodimentconference.org/#EllieBozmarova
Hello dear friends, welcome to Mindfulness Mondays!
Good thing nothing is permanent in life, so we don't have to have Monday all the time. :D But—I hope you're having a good one.
Today we’re doing a guided meditation to decolonize your mind from negative conditioning. If you don't know me, my name is Ellie. I'm the founder of BIGSISTER CO, which is a personal development brand with a mindfulness bend, to help you find out what's really most important to you, underneath all of the noise of your life.
I've realized for my myself, in my own practice, if I veer too far into personal development, and goal setting, and sort of success coaching, I kind of find myself in a little bit of a dry, brittle feeling where I'm in that space of not enoughness. People I've talked to, and people I've worked with have said similar things.
And so when I come back to, oh, here I am, in the present moment. I feel much better.
I came across this quote from Deepak Chopra recently: “When I discovered that Deepak Chopra is a fictional character, I started taking him less seriously.”
This life is incredible. It's a gift. You are incredibly powerful. Your life is more incredible and can be more incredible than you can imagine.
But we've been conditioned to play small, or to avoid threatening other people with how bright our light shines, to the point where even we’ve lost touch with how powerful we are.
This call from Deepak was so powerful to me, because it was like, Oh, yeah, you know, I'm Ellie, that's my name. This is my business. I've been meditating since I was 14 years old, in the face of a lot of suffering, a lot of those monumental life changes that you have nothing to do with, but they have every effect possible on you.
And at the same time, I'm just existing here right now. I'm just here in the present moment with you. And so this present moment is really, really important. It's also where all change happens. When you're working one on one with a coach or with an energy worker, or just with a friend, you're only together in that moment. All the work that's possible, all the growth that's possible for you is only possible in that moment.
Eckhart Tolle, in his book, A New Earth, talks about how you can't put a date in the calendar in the future to work on your ego. It all happens right now. And when that date comes, if say you did put it in the calendar, when it comes, it's happening right now.
So that is the point of mindfulness Mondays, it's to keep this fuel in our engines, as we do this important work in the world, if you're building your own business or your own brand, if you're working on a book, or you're dreaming about things and seeing some possibilities, or if you’re experiencing difficulties—maybe you've been laid off in the last six months, maybe you've experienced some other world-shifting experiences. This is a place where we can all come come together in a little community, and practice together.
Because if you're not practicing it, it's just an intellectual idea. It's just like the coaching tools and techniques that I have—if I don't actually use them on myself and with others, they don't matter. They're just ideas. They're just cool ideas that I have. They're tools that are sort of just just gathering dust in the toolbox and eventually, you know, would probably lose some of their efficacy because I need to constantly practice with them.
This is called decolonize your mind for a very important reason. It's because today's indigenous peoples day. This is an acknowledgement of this day in our history. If you live in the United States. I want acknowledge that I'm on Ohlone land. And I'm really grateful to be living in the Bay Area.
And so, today, I'm going to be spending some time doing more research getting to know how I can support the people who live here whose ancestors originally tended to this land. So I encourage you to find out you know, what is whose land Are you on today? Can you acknowledge or express gratitude to that in some way?
Let's get right into the meditation. To listen to the meditation, click here!
Go ahead and take a deep breath in. Next, we're going to be taking 10 breaths like this. And whenever you exhale, you find yourself feeling more relaxed. Exhaling, feeling more and more relaxed. another deep breath in letting these breaths be circular connected at the ends. exhale through your mouth, releasing your day. taking another deep breath in through your nose. Exhaling, releasing tension in your shoulders. Breathing in deeply here, you can take your time, you don't have to perfectly match up to the chimes exhale through your mouth. another deep breath in calling and the grounding energy of your breath. And then releasing all of that air out of your lungs—a natural, incredible process. On each inhale inviting in positive light, beautiful energy and on each exhale, releasing any negative energy, just acknowledging the negative energy that you're experiencing the negative emotions, so you can imagine them leaving your body. Letting go of anything you're holding on to and your body and your mind one more time. Breathing in deeply as you exhale, feeling completely relaxed.
Now if you are driving a car or operating heavy machinery, please turn this video off right now, turn the video off. Otherwise, continuing to feel completely completely relaxed, breathing normally. Feeling that space between every cell in your body that space of relaxation all the way from the top of your head to the tip of your toes, feeling completely relaxed. Wonderful.
In the video we release some negative conditioning. This negative conditioning might be with you every single day. As you look out into the world, you might find yourself comparing yourself to others or judging yourself or others so that you can feel superior or so that you can feel like a victim and feel safe in that role if it's one you've been playing for a long time. Now, these feelings come often because they are a part of your conditioning, they have been built over years over repeated instances where you've reacted in the same way and maybe even unconscious.
It’s not your fault. It's just the way that we're built—we're built to survive. And we find different ways to survive that over time, are not as effective. And especially if you are on a spiritual journey, including entrepreneurship, including creativity, you need to know that these aspects of your conditioning are actually your ego, trying to protect your identity, really trying to protect nothing.
Remember, Deepak Chopra, a famous scientist, doctor, and meditation teacher says he and his identity is actually a fictional character, which means you and your identity is also completely empty. It's an illusion. Your preferences, your likes and dislikes are all covering up the true you underneath all of that noise: the pure awareness, the presence, the consciousness, that is you. As you follow your breath, you might start to notice that presence, that awareness. We're going let go of judgment and comparison so that you can be fully free to express yourself.
Likely these conditions are making you unhappy, they're making you feel not good enough, they're making you feel less than they're making you feel like you are powerless, and the outside world gets to determine how you feel, when that is actually not true. None of these things are making you feel anything. It's something internal that's creating this, it's like a combustion, it's creating this reaction within you, and it feels like something else is doing it to you.
After this part of the meditation, you may be feeling a lot of feelings. You may be feeling the shifts in your body and your mind. If you need to take a break here, you can come back later watch the replay for the rest of the meditation. Otherwise, continue with me. You can close your eyes again and imagine yourself standing in sort of blank space, like a completely empty space, whatever that looks like for you. It could be a meadow, it could be an empty room. Standing in this empty space and notice how you feel as you stand there in this space. And now, remembering your timeline that past behind you that future in front of you can you know instead of just seeing your timeline, can you imagine all of your closest mentors and teachers, your elders, your ancestors, your parents, your great, great, great, great, great grandparents. Imagine all of their timelines branching out behind you. You're connected to them, you're the connection point between all of them. You're just imagining that sensation of all of those branching timelines going back behind you. And there are so many of them because you're so supported.
See these timelines form a wave, a beautiful bright pink wave, just a gorgeous wave like during a sunset. And this massive wave of all that love and support coming to you from across time, across space across whatever your mind believes.
See this beautiful wave rising up behind you and this wave will not crash because you are a part of it. Can you feel the strength The support of this wave behind you? Can you allow this support this love? To fill in those spaces? where there used to be that old judgment and comparison? Can you see that you're so much greater in this judgment or comparison that was actually keeping you small, even when it made you feel better than someone else?
Now, can you feel yourself dissolving into this beautiful pink wave? Just notice how this feels to feel so connected. No, don't worry, you're still there. Now able to come into your life from a place of more wholeness, a place of presence and centeredness. See if you can feel that presence now behind all of those thoughts. All of those conditioned beliefs and attitudes that we have with judgment and comparison being just two of them. Those expectations that the world has put on us that we have accepted as our own. Feeling that connection with that brilliant pink wave. And then just imagine you and all of that energy rolling forward. Feel that adventurous, that fun movement of rolling with the wave. And then in the next moment you feel yourself standing again, in that space, notice how you feel different now.
Now, the final part of this meditation, go ahead and see the future part of your timeline, going to one year from today. Where do you want to be from this space of wholeness from this space of presence? What does the future look like to you? If you have everything you've been wanting? If you've received everything your heart desires, how would you feel? How do you look? Who are you? What do you see around you? What good Have you done in the world?
You might be feeling pretty excited, because it's pretty cool. Just breathing deeply here imagining yourself a year from today. What is this day look like? What have you overcome? How have you stayed connected? What would life look like if you really stopped judging yourself and other people? If you really stopped comparing yourself to other people? What would your lane look like? What would your business look like? What would your creative endeavors look like? What would your life look like?
You can smile as you're in this space in your timeline one year from today. Knowing that all of this is possible because you see it. All of this is already within you. When you're ready, take a nice deep breath in with the confidence knowing that that day is there and that day is coming.
Thank you for joining me on that guided meditation to release that negative conditioning, judgment, and comparison where you connected with your ancestors and where you're able to see how you can move forward!
And when I say ancestors, I mean the people who are in your family tree the people who are in the past. I like to think about how my grandparents, my great grandparents, both were married before they met each other. They both lost their first spouse. And this is like, old timey Bulgaria, this was like village, Bulgaria, this was like, I don't know, late 1800s, early 1900s. So the fact that they both had to suffer through their first spouses dying, and then they remarried is very strange. And they met each other. And they gave birth to my grandma who gave birth to my mom who gave birth to me.
I encourage you again, if you don't know whose land you're on today, take a look, do some research, share some gratitude or appreciation. That's all you have to do. I'm not here to shame you into doing something else. But definitely get educated and be grateful for all the opportunities we have because of the sacrifices of those in behind us. If you loved this, let me know, leave me a comment!
If you want to go more deeply on this, if you want to get rid of other negative conditioning in your life, you can check out the Energy + Success Bundle.
If you want to hang out again soon, I am speaking at the Embodiment Conference this Thursday, October 15 on Creativity in Memoir Writing through Connection to Your True Self Thursday, October 15th, from 10 pm - 11 pm PST
To register: https://theembodimentconference.org/#EllieBozmarova
Have a wonderful rest of your day!
