How To Heal: Meditation

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Hello, beautiful humans.

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Thank you for joining me today.

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I'm Megan Conner,

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host of the Midlife Revolution podcast,

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and this is another episode

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in the series of How to Heal.

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I wanted to share some of

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the tools that I learned in

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my healing from trauma in

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the hopes that it can help

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other people heal as well.

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I am not a mental health professional,

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so everything that I offer

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here is just for informational purposes.

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It's not intended as advice.

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Today I want to talk about meditation.

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Meditation is really just a

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fancy word for thinking,

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and a lot of people get

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scared when they think

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about meditation because

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they think they're not good

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at it and their attention wanders.

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But the important thing

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about meditation is to set

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an intention of something

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that you're going to meditate about,

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and then if your mind wanders,

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just lovingly correct

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yourself back to the

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intention of focusing on that one thing.

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It is a practice and it does take time.

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And you'll be a lot more

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successful with meditation

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if you set a specific time to meditate.

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And you can even set

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yourself a timer and say,

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I have the intention to

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meditate for 10 minutes.

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Set yourself the timer, do your meditation,

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and then move on with your day.

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If you want to meditate for longer,

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you can just build up to a

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longer time as you go.

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Some people don't like to

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set a timer for meditation because

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They just want to be able to

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meditate until they're

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finished with that

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particular topic that

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they're thinking about and then move on.

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For me personally,

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meditation works really

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well for me just prior to

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going to sleep and helps me

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sort of clear my mind for the day.

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And meditation also works

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really well for me first

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thing in the morning when

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I'm trying to set an

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intention about how I want the day to go.

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I also meditate a little bit

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before I'm about to have a

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difficult conversation or a

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difficult phone call or a

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meeting that I know is

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going to have some tension in it.

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I try to envision how the

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conversation is going to go.

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I

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set an intention for how I

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want to set myself up for success,

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and the things that I want

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to focus on and what's most

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important for me in those conversations.

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So meditation is really just

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something that you have to

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practice and get good at.

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And it's one of those things

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that we have to set aside

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time for just like

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practicing anything else.

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I think setting aside

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specific times is really good for it.

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And I like to couple my

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meditation with journaling

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because that helps me to

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organize my thoughts and to

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sort of get them out of my head.

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It's especially helpful if

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I've had a really busy day

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or if I've got a busy day coming up.

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I like to meditate and

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journal before I go to bed.

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So that way my thoughts

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don't just keep racing with

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all the things that I have

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to do or trying to unpack

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conversations that I've had

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during the day.

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One of my favorite

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meditations lately that I've been doing,

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I will share with you,

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I like to just ask myself the question,

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who am I?

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And this is also a way for

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me to just come back to center.

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If I've had some experiences

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that are making me feel unbalanced,

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or if I've had a lot of

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difficult emotions to

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unpack during the day,

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or if I'm particularly

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activated or angry about something,

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then meditation on who am I

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can help me get back to

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center and sort of remind

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myself of what my values

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are and what's important to

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me as a human being.

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So what I do is I like to

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lie on my bed with my hands on my chest.

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I've done a lot of chakra meditation,

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if you don't know what that is.

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It is part of the Buddhist

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and Hindu practices where

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there are different centers

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of the body associated with

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different colors.

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And the heart chakra is green,

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and that is the one that

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resonates the most with me.

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It's the one that I feel is

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strongest with me.

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And so I put my hands on my

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chest where my heart chakra is,

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and I think about the color

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green radiating from my

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entire body as I ask myself the question,

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Who am I?

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And for me,

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what comes up first is that I

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am a mother.

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And my most important

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responsibility in this time

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of my life is to show up in

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the best possible way for my children.

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And even though some of them

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are adults and out of the house,

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I still always, of course,

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want them to have happy,

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peaceful and successful lives.

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And so I want to show up for

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them in the best possible

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way by being the best

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version of myself so that

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when they have difficulties

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or problems that I can look

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at it with compassion and

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help them to come up with a

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solution that works the best for them.

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So when I think about who I am,

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I think first of being a mother.

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And I think of when during this meditation,

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I think of the locations

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where all of my children are.

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And I think about the light

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that radiates from them as human beings.

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And they come up like little

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pinpoints all over the

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country or the world,

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depending on if they're traveling.

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And so I like to zoom out

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just a little bit.

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I think about where I am in

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my home and I zoom out from

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my home to my little neighborhood.

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And I envision all of the

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places that I go and run my errands.

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I envision the places where I walk and

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And the places where I

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exercise and the places

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where I show up to meet my friends.

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And I think about the little

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spots of light in those

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locations when I have

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visited them and when I've

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been there with people that I love.

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And then I like to zoom out

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and see my whole city.

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and think about all of the

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people and the places that

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I love within my city and

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then I like to zoom out

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again and I like to think

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about the country and the

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places that I visited and

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traveled and the beautiful

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things that I've seen all

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across the country and then

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I like to zoom out even

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farther so that I'm

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completely away from the

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earth and I see the world

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and I see all the places

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where the ocean touches the

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borders of the land and I

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think about the world that I live in

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And I think about how I'm

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connected to the people who

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live in the world as well.

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And as I zoom out and I

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think about outer space and

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the ever-expanding universe,

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I realize that the earth

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and everything in it is

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made of the same elements

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that the ever-expanding

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universe is made of.

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And I think about the fact that I, too,

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am made up of those elements.

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And I like to think of it as stardust.

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I am made of stardust.

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And when I think about the

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infinity of the universe,

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I realize that infinity and

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that ability for ever expanding

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lives within me because I am

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made of stardust.

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And I remind myself that I

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can always expand, I can always grow,

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and I can always change.

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And as I contemplate the

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fact that the entire

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universe is made of

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stardust and that stardust lives in me,

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I also realize that every

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human being on the planet

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who has ever lived or who ever will live

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is also made of the same stardust.

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And in that way,

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I am connected to every

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human being that has ever

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lived or ever will live.

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I am part of the human family.

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And the human family is part of me.

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And as I come back down to earth,

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back down to my country,

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back down to my city,

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back down to my home,

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I feel that connection.

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I feel the connection with the earth,

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with the universe,

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and with all of the human

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beings on the planet.

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And I remember my purpose

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here is to leave this place

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better than I found it and

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to use my humanity to

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connect with the rest of humanity.

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It helps bring me back to center.

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It helps me remember my

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purpose and to find balance in my life.

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And I hope that you can find

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a meditation that reminds

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me of who you are and what

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your values are.

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And when you find it,

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leave it in the comments so

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that the community can

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share it all together.

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If you find the content helpful,

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please like it.

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Please subscribe to the channel.

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It's the best way to support

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us and make sure that these

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healing modalities get out

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to the people who need it the very most.

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As always,

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be kind to yourself and I hope

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to see you again soon.