Guided Meditation: Decision Making

Let's just settle in, get comfortable. You can lie down if you want. A lot of my clients will lie down while we're doing guided meditations together. Sometimes when you're setting up, it takes a lot of effort to keep things supported, but most people think that you do need to sit while you're meditating, but I, I like to lie down. But as long as your feet are flat on the floor, um, find a comfortable place for your hands. Make sure that they— your, your arms and your hands feel rested, and then make them feel a little heavy. And then get settled. If you're lying down or if you're sitting, just get settled. Relax your body. We're going to do just a really short body scan. We're going to turn awareness to different parts of our body. So you can turn your awareness to your right leg. Feel any sensations in the leg. Make adjustments if you feel yourself not comfortable, straining. Turn awareness to your shoulders. Make sure you're not straining them or holding them up. And before I move on, everybody hear me okay with the music? Or I guess— okay, thumbs up. Thanks. Open eyes for that. Awareness to your jaw. Make sure you're not clenching your jaw. Sometimes I like to gape my mouth open just a little bit during meditation to make sure I'm completely relaxed. Awareness to your back and your spine. Make sure you're completely supported. And now, to add a layer of relaxation, I want you to keep your eyelids closed and take your eyeballs, and I want you to look to the center of your forehead where some people say the third eye is, but just the center of your forehead. Just take your eyeballs up. Your eyelids will flitter a little. Take your eyeballs up, look to the center of your forehead, and keep them there for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and release. You might feel a shift. And now let's just be in silence for a moment and then breathe. So we're going to take a breath in through the nose, deeper and longer than you normally would, and we're going to do that for 5 seconds. And then we're going to exhale through the mouth for 5 seconds or longer. So inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale. We're going to do it one more time, except this time we're going to hold in between for 5 seconds. So inhale, hold, exhale. Now you might feel very relaxed. As we go into this week, we're gonna have decisions. We're gonna be faced with decisions. It's very important we control those decisions. During this meditation, I usually go to the field of escape, but we're going to take ourselves hiking. I want you to imagine you're walking through the woods. Whatever hiking gear you normally wear— this is your meditation, you wear what you want. Hike nude if you want, it's fine. Walk along the trail. Notice the trees. You can hear the rocks underneath your feet. See the tree trunks and the tree roots along the path. Look up at the sky. Notice what color it is. Do you see any clouds? Look around. Notice something you haven't noticed. As you look forward, the path is taking an incline, so now we're climbing up the mountain. Just imagine yourself here in the woods where really this is an escape because nothing really matters here. Politics, family drama, work pressure, anxiety, worry. Just for a few moments, just imagine that you're just walking up a trail without any care in the world. And this week, when you start to feel pressure, when you start to feel anxious, fearful, close your eyes and take yourself exactly where you are right now. Feel the ground under your feet. Feel the breeze blowing across your face. Smell the pine. Hear the birds. Maybe a hawk flies overhead. There's always squirrels scurrying around. If you're lucky enough, a deer might run across your path. Whatever you see, really. We're walking up this incline step by step, and above we see it kind of levels off. Must be the top. You keep climbing until you're standing at a leveled-out place at the top of the mountain. Would you stand there and look at the panoramic view? Mountaintops. The sky might be clear, maybe it's cloudy. Sun shining, the valleys. Maybe it's like the Grand Canyon. Whatever pops up in your mind, don't second-guess it. Let it be there. But soon you notice there's a ledge. I want you to walk over to that ledge, and looking down goes deep and Into darkness. This darkness is where we've been, our past self, decisions we've made, old programming, trauma, hurt feelings. Of course, substance abuse. For some reason, there's this urge to jump. Look down and see your feet. On the edge of this cliff. These are the decisions you're going to make this week. You're going to be standing at the edge of the cliff, whether it's as big as using again, whether it's as small as brushing your teeth at the end of the night. There are decisions to be made that puts you forward, that moves the needle toward your best self, your future self, away from the darkness, away from the past. And it's like standing on the edge of a cliff, and there's a split second where you get to decide, do I text that guy? Do I return this email? Do I snap back at my mother? Do I take my finger and start swiping TikTok? There's a split second where you can jump or step back. You are in control of your decision-making. So just take a step back from this ledge. Feel your legs literally take two steps back. You are in control of your decision-making, and when you take two steps back, you realize. You're the one that did that, not a subconscious. No urges. You didn't go into the puppet mode, sleepwalking. You're no longer feeling like somebody else is pulling the levers in your head. And once you do that, you turn around. To walk away from the ledge, and you notice— wait, you're not even at the top. A new path has opened up, a new incline up the mountain. And that's what's going to happen this week. Every time you take a step back from that ledge, a new Journey opens up a new incline, a new upward spiral, a new path full of new opportunities, new people, new strength, new hope, new self-trust. Pride in yourself. So start walking up that incline.

Right now.

You notice you have new energy, vigor. You're marching up this incline. Every decision point you have is given to you for a purpose, and it's to strengthen you for the next ledge. Because guess what? Up this incline you're on now is a new ledge. You're going to stand over, and the fall is higher and deeper, but the incline also goes higher, farther. And as you're walking up this new route, this new path, this new incline, you notice the sun popping up.

Over the mountain.

It's a new day, new opportunities. This is a new version of you, and you realize, I am in control of my decision-making. I am in control Of my decision-making. We get to the next ledge, the next surface, apex, I guess you could say. Standing there looking at the sun, I want you to say in your mind's eye, or you can say it out loud if you want, I am in control of my decision-making. And then we're going to take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. I am in control of my decision-making. I am in control of my decision-making. I am in control of my decision-making.

Inhale. Exhale. I want you to deep—

dig deep into your core and feel this new energy opening up, this new drive, this untapped resource. That comes from the power of making a decision not to jump. The level up. This week is a level up for you, and there's no turning back. I am in control. Of my decision-making. Not my past trauma, not my messed up neural pathways, not my subconscious patterns, not my dick. I am in control of my decision-making. Not the external circumstances I feel at work, not the pressure I feel from my family, my partner. Not my annoying neighbor, the guy who cuts me off in traffic. No one else is in control. No one's there to push me over that ledge. I choose to jump or step back because I am in control of my decision-making. And it doesn't matter how Seemingly insignificant. If I choose to write one sentence this week, today, I control it, and that takes me a step back from old programming, the old abyss, old me. There's power in that. So keep this vision in your mind, that split second you can decide to jump or step back. No one's there. No one's there to save you. You make the decision. With everything in the world feeling like it's out of control, There's one thing you can control, and if that's all you can control this week, so be it. That being said, you can, in your mind's eye, can stand there on the mountain as long as you want. Look out into the scenery, to the woods, to the mountains, Grand Canyon, the ocean. Maybe it's fucking Jurassic Park, whatever you want it to be.

Mm-hmm.

Look out there as long as you want, and then when you're ready, you can open your eyes and come back into the quote-unquote room.