It’s a gray day here. We’ve had a week of rain, and I’m ready for a good dose of sunshine. It can be a bit more challenging to feel cheerful under complete cloud cover…at least for me. On days like this, I really need to reach inside for my sun. On the bright side, I really need to reach inside.
Gray days can be perfect opportunities to reach inside. Sometimes, we feel gloomy on gray days, because our exterior environment is resonating with something inside of us that feels sad, painful, unsettled, gloomy, depressing or stressful. Sometimes we’re aware of what it is; sometimes we’re not. But if we reach down inside, we have an opportunity to be present to what’s there, mindfully sit with our gray space and begin to heal this part of ourselves by bringing a healthy dose of sunshine into that space.
Try this exercise. Sit comfortably (but not so comfortably that you’ll fall asleep) in a meditative position on a chair or couch. Put your feet flat on the floor. Place the palms of your hands in an upright position on your lap and keep them still. Now close your eyes and go inside yourself to find that space of discomfort. Do your shoulders or feet ache? Maybe you feel flutter in your stomach. Perhaps your heart feels heavy. Maybe your head hurts or your throat feels choked up. Once you’ve located that space inside of you, open your eyes and consciously identify that part of your body.
Remaining in your meditative position, close your eyes again. Take three deep breaths–deep inhale through your nose, big release through your mouth on the exhale. These breaths help to cleanse and center you, making you ready for meditating. Now begin to breathe consciously–in through your nose; out through your mouth. Breathing differently than usual can help keep you focused on what you’re doing, which will make it less likely that you’ll fall asleep or mind wander.
Here comes the healing part. As you inhale (through your nose) imagine breathing beautiful, bright white sunshine into the uncomfortable internal space you’ve identified. For example, if you feel pain and heaviness in your heart, imagine inhaling beautiful, bright white, playful rays of sunshine into the space where your heart is located. Then, imagine exhaling (through your mouth) the gray clouds that are in that space. Continue this exercise for at least five minutes, and as you do, you will be replacing your gray space with a higher vibrational energy of LIGHT.
How do you feel now that you’ve reached inside and displaced some of your gray clouds with beautiful sunlight? Let me know!