Hello hello, this is Sabrina Amina and I'm here to share the feelings pod.
Today's episode is about trust and worry and I really think the most important place to
start when it comes to trust is self-trust. Because until we can build a solid foundation
of self-trust, it's almost as if the trust you have in other things is irrelevant because
the moment the trust that you've put outside yourself is shaken, unless it's trust in the
divine, unless it's trust in something bigger and greater than all of us, that trust is not
such a sturdy foundation. So, and I'd even assert that the trust that we put in God, the universe,
divine, spirit, whatever you want to call it, whatever framework works for you, is a foundation
of self-trust or an extension of self-trust since we are expressions of love created from the divine.
Now, I'm not going to get into the conversation about where we come from as beings of love and
light, but if that's not your particular stance, I invite you to stay if that feels resonant
and if not, that's okay too. It feels actually really vulnerable for me to talk about God
and spirit and spirituality because it's a part of my life's journey that has, I've
felt afraid to share and speak about in different contexts. So, as an Algerian American, a Muslim
American, I grew up in a context constantly as a minority and not always feeling safe
to be fully expressed in where I come from, although it has been a practice for me to
always show up as authentically as possible, as truthfully as possible, and so moving forward,
it's my intention to speak more about my background and my religion and my spirituality. That
being said, the wellspring for trust and self-trust comes from really building a sturdy foundation
within ourselves and how does that happen? Well, if we think about where we can feel trust
in our lives, it's generally in spaces that feel safe. How can we create safety for ourselves?
And if it doesn't feel possible for us to create safety for ourselves in the here and
now, who are the people, what are the practices, what are the spiritual frameworks that you
connect with that help you reconnect with a sense of safety and by extension trust? How
do we build that self-trust? And certainly that practice will look different for everyone,
but here's a simple one that I really, I enjoy sharing with my daughter when she's kind of
spinning out in worry and asking the big questions, the big existential questions that humanity
deals with that I may not always have the answer to. So I ask her to take the worry,
put it in the ball, and I have her make this gesture with her hands, like physically creating
this ball of worry right in front of her, taking it outside of her body and creating
this big ball of whatever worry that she has and placing it in that ball. And then I just
ask her to toss it to God, toss it to spirit, toss it to the greater entity that holds us
all, that unites us all, that brings us all together. Some would call it giving it to
God and when we begin to recognize our connection with something that's greater, it's easier
to find this solid foundation within ourselves. Oh, I have this thing that I'm worried about
and I'm spinning out about that my cute little anxious brain can't stop thinking about. So
you know what? I'm going to put it aside for now. I'm going to trust that even though
I don't have the answers to this right now, I can step away from it. Me sitting here staring
at it so hard, thinking about it so hard, mulling over it over and over and over again,
thinking about it with my cute little anxious human brain, this doesn't seem to be working
for me so I'm going to put it aside and I'm going to bring my thoughts and my attention
to oh, look at this flower right here. It's so gorgeous. Oh my God, it smells beautiful.
It looks like it might need some water. Let me fill this vase. So mindfulness practices
allow us to get out of these anxious thoughts, put things aside and attend to something that's
physically present. So one of the teachings in a mindfulness practice is connecting with
the five senses. You know, really being able to see a worry, trusting that although I don't
have the answer to this right now in time, either the answer will come to me or it will
resolve all on its own. This might be a really big, heavy question that I don't seem to have
the tools or capacity to solve or address right now, but I can trust that if I'm attending
to this moment here, if I can connect with my cute little anxious human and give her some
reassurance and comfort by taking a few deep breaths in, by feeling my body in this moment,
by putting my hand to my heart and feeling this heartbeat, this glorious heart of mine
that just beats continuously over and over. Attending to my sense of sight, attending
to the sounds that I can hear, attending to physical sensations, coming back to the heart
space, breathing into this space. You know, sometimes we just gotta leave the thoughts
alone. Sometimes the thoughts aren't being super supportive and that's when we can turn
to the wisdom of the body and that's a really powerful way to build self-trust and by extension
a trust that we are held and loved and supported unconditionally by something bigger than us
that holds all of us. This has been a really important lesson for me to remember as I've
been watching and witnessing the horrors that are going on in Palestine right now. I feel
I have felt over the last five months this sense of hopelessness and worry and despair
and helplessness and in this space I've essentially forgotten about my power and the folks in
Palestine, the folks suffering in any part of the world that we are connected to, that
we share humanity with. You know, my self-pity and despair doesn't really serve the greater
purpose of our collective liberation. Ultimately, why do we need to build a sturdy foundation
of trust? Why do we need to build a steady foundation of safety? We're building a new
world and every single one of us has a role to play in that. And these despairing moments,
these worried thoughts that are cute little humans on this plane of existence are wired
to experience. These are all messages, these are all lessons, these are all invitations
to reconnect. Now the individual specific practices for every person will look different.
Some feel a sense of connection most easily through physical activity, some will more
easily feel a sense of connection in creating art, some feel most connected in nature. I'd
argue all of us feel more connected in nature. Now there's really no need to argue, it just
it is what it is. So as we're continuing to build this trust, this self-trust but also
the greater trust of all that is, I invite you to return to the body, to return to what's
right here in front of you in this present moment. So let's get into our practice for
today. As always if you're not in a place where you can practice some quiet time with
your eyes closed, you can always pause and return to this at a later time. Find a comfortable
seat, preferably upright and as you settle in, connect to the seat beneath you, really
focusing the foundation that starts at your root, at your sacrum, at your seat. Notice
your energy settling in and coming up to the second chakra which is right below belly button.
This energy centers, I'll guide you through. And above the sacral chakra is the solar plexus,
you can gently place your hand on the space right just below the ribs and above the belly
button. Take a deep breath into here and let it go with a sigh and bring your awareness
to the heart space. You may wish to gently place your hands here. Take a deep breath
into the heart space and let it go. Bring your awareness and attention to the throat
chakra. Breathing into the space, the center of our truth. And moving up to the third eye,
that powerful energy center that sits right between your eyebrows, you can gently place
your index finger and middle finger right at the seat of your intuition. Take a deep
breath here and let it go. And bring your awareness and attention to the crown chakra
right at the crown of your head. This is our connection to the divine, to our highest selves.
Take a deep breath here and release. Just imagine this beautiful beaming light of energy radiating
all the way from the crown chakra down the third eye through the throat, through the
heart, down the solar plexus, sacral chakra, the root. And imagining that light radiating
down through your seat beneath you, down through the ground or floor beneath you, really penetrating
through into the earth's surface, feeling that light move down, down deeper, deeper,
connecting to the earth that grounds us, houses us, holds us, keeps us safe, nourishes us.
And from this space gather all the energy you can in a big deep breath into the belly.
Bring that energy back up through the root, belly button, sacral chakra, pull solar plexus
up through the heart, the throat, the third eye and let it radiate back up through the
crown chakra and exhale. As you move throughout the day, just remember this gorgeous beam
of light lighting up all of your energy centers from root to crown. Knowing that you're held,
knowing that you can trust and as you return to the body over and over again, you have
the body foundation. Take a deep breath in, let it out with a sigh. And as you open your
eyes and come back to the space, offering yourself a bit of love and gratitude for giving
yourself some quiet time to reflect, to breathe and to build this foundation of trust within
you. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
Have a wonderful day.