Huna Article

Huna International

Self Esteem Meditations
by Serge Kahili King

You can read about increasing your self esteem and you can practice a mind-boggling variety of techniques from many sources to increase your self esteem, but nothing is going to work until you begin to feel better about yourself.

Based on our natural human ability to mimic - and eventually grok - whatever we keep our attention on, here are some meditations designed to bypass all the intellectual stuff and work directly with your Ku.

Because these meditations require a lot of sustained attention in order to produce the desired effect, please do not do them while reading a novel, watching television, playing a video game, driving a car, flying an airplane, or operating heavy equipment.

Each meditation involves imagination and reflection, so prepare yourself for that. Choose a comfortable posture - standing, sitting, or lying down - that will help you maintain conscious awareness, keep your eyes open or closed as you prefer, and take two or three slow deep breaths (or use pikopiko if you know it). Although the descriptions are short, take the time to experience each part as fully as you can.

Be a tree
Think of a tree, one you know well and feel good about. Imagine what it might be like to be a tree, with roots growing down into the ground, with a trunk and branches and leaves or needles. Imagine what it feels like to draw nourishment from the soil, to have sap moving upward through your trunk around your core and protected by your bark. Feel the sensations of new branches growing, of leaves or needles forming, and perhaps flowers budding and blooming, of generating seeds that eventually fall away. Be aware of the wind as it moves you, of the sunlight that empowers you, of the slight weight of birds or animals moving upon you. And reflect on the fact that you simply are what you are. There are no rules in Nature that tell you how you should grow or how you should look. There is no hierarchy of trees that tells you how to behave. You are simply a tree, complete, and yet always becoming more than you are.

Be an island
Think of an island that you know, or know of. It might be tropical, desert-like, or arctic; mountainous, hilly, or flat; forested, jungled, or barren; inhabited or not. Imagine what it would be like to be such an island. There may be a lot of things to consider, so take your time and explore yourself. Pay attention to the water that surrounds you and how it feels as the waves touch your shores. At first it might seem like the water separates you from the rest of the world, but if you reflect on it a bit you'll realize that it actually connects you to distant shores of other islands and continents. In the same way, the wind that blows over you, perhaps bringing clouds and rain, also connects you to all the places that the wind has been and that the clouds have drawn their water from. And be sure to shift your awareness to that part of your island self that lies below the water, the part that actually, physically, does connect you to the whole of the earth.

Be a river
Think of a river that you know, or know of. It can be the part of the river that tumbles down a mountainside, the part that emerges from a waterfall, the part that moves like rapids through gorges or canyons, the part that flows slowly and broadly through forests or farmlands, or the part that is close to the sea where it can taste the salt of the ocean. Be aware of the feel of your banks and your bed as you brush past or over them; be aware of the life of other creatures that live on you or in you; and be very aware of the irresistable urge that keeps you moving downward, toward a place that is as close to the center of the earth that is possible for you to reach. Reflect on the fact that this is your primary focus, your main motivation, to reach the center. And reflect also on the fact that even when you are not directly moving toward the center as rapidly as you can, there are some parts of you that continue to seep downward as far as they can go, and other parts that evaporate upward to form clouds that release rain that helps you continue your life as a river.

Be a butterfly
Think of a butterfly, the type of your choice. Imagine what it would be like to find yourself trapped in a prison of your own making, triumphantly breaking free of the cocoon, and sun-drying your wings in the open air. How would it be to lift off and fly for the first time, moving and adjusting four wings as you adapt to the wind and change direction rapidly when you need to or want to? Be aware of how your antennae test the scent of flowers, and how your eyes see colors that range beyond human vision. Notice how wonderous it is to be able to sense the taste of leaves and flowers through your feet when you gently land upon them. Reflect on how quickly your memory of being imprisoned fades away and how easy it becomes to let go of the past without worrying about the future, not caring where you came from, letting the future take care of itself, and spending all your time just flying around, sipping nectar, and making love.

Be the Earth
Think of the Earth as a planet in space, all mostly blue and white with touches of green and brown; abundantly, joyfully alive and beautiful. Imagine what it would be like to be a planet that is consciously aware of itself, aware of being alive, and aware that there is no difference between its life and the life of everything in it, on it, and around it. As the planet, be aware of your molten core and the great mass of matter that forms your body, moving around yourself, around the moon, and around the sun. Be aware, too, of the short-lived creatures that burrow, crawl, swim, walk, run, and fly all over your wrinkled surface and be glad that the wrinkles don't even show from a few miles away. Feel the constant movement of water and wind across that surface, notice your magnetic and ionized aura, and welcome the energy granted you by your parent sun. Take pleasure in your own unconditional granting of air, water, food, and shelter to those parts of yourself that need such things, doing it out of caring, enjoying appreciation, but not requiring it. You are the Provider, that is what you do, and within you there is neither anger, nor fear, nor doubt. You are the living embodiment of love.

Be the sun
Think of the sun, a fiery ball of light, pulling planets along with it as it slowly circles the galaxy. Imagine what it must feel like to be such a gigantic source of endless energy, using your powerful gravity to keep your family of planets together, while at the same time radiating enormous amounts of light to help produce warmth, visibility, and life itself. You and you alone are the primary source of every kind of power in your entire solar system. On Earth, yours is the power that moves the winds to mix the elements needed by plants and animals, that heats the oceans to allow rain to fall that causes rivers to flow, that gives plants and animals the power to grow and multiply. You are also the source of great beauty, of sunrises and sunsets, of the auroras, and of colors of every kind. From within yourself, you empower life elsewhere, and you have enough and to spare for everything and everyone everywhere in your domain.

Be a wave
This may be a stretch, but think of a wave. Most people will probably find it easiest to think of an ocean wave, so we'll start with that. Imagine what it would be like to be a wave moving through the deep ocean, like a swell. Imagine yourself big or small, broad or narrow, moving steadily forward, and do your best to imagine yourself as a pure wave of energy. You are moving through the ocean. You are not made of water, you are not made of anything. Something started you moving, but that doesn't matter right now. What does matter is where you go and what you become. Imagine moving toward a landmass of some kind. As you move closer and the water that you are moving through becomes more shallow, you feel yourself rising higher and higher until the water impacts against a cliff. You are suddenly aware, perhaps with surprise and delight, that although the water has stopped, you have not. Now, however, you are moving forward as a different kind of wave, a vibration in the rock. You move in all directions, but for the moment you pay attention to a part of yourself that moves upward towards the roots of a tree, and then you become a vibration wave in the tree that stirs you into becoming part of a wave in the wind that carries the scent of blossoms to a young couple sitting on a hill with hands entwined and you, as the wave, touch their skin and you turn into a wave of pure pleasure that turns into smiles on both of their faces.

Copyright Huna International 2011