Do you find yourself repeating behaviors that sabotage your creative work or your enjoyment of life? Self-sabotage started as a coping mechanism that helped us get through something difficult when we were younger. When the situation we were protecting ourselves from chages, we no longer need that coping mechanism. But it can be difficult to see how to let it go.
Try this meditation:
- sit with your back straight, feel your feet on the floor, close your eyes
- take several deep breaths, sending your breath down through your feet and into the earth
- when you feel held and supported by the earth, call the part of you who seems to "sabotage" your best efforts, imagine him or her standing in front of you
- ask gently what their role has been in your life
- thank them deeply for taking on that role, and let them know you're choosing to respond to stressors in a new way
- give them a new job: perhaps they are now a witness or an observer for you
- ask if there's anything else they'd like to tell you, and then send them home
- notice if you sense any shift in your body, and allow whatever is occuring
- take several deep breaths, feel yourself connected to the earth, slowly open your eyes
Integrating all parts of our being and overcoming self-sabotage is sometimes a slow, meandering process, sometimes it happens in an instant. Each of us unfolds in our own unique way, always moving toward freedom and openness, even when it seems the opposite is true. Be gentle with yourself in this unfolding.
"If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion."
-His Holiness, The Dalai Lama