Lest you feel alone or isolated, know that you are not alone in this caregiver role as fellow human beings, animals, and plants around the world, some in your own family or neighborhood or town and many in other families, neighborhoods and towns around the planet are also in this caregiving role in this moment. Close your eyes and begin to allow this conscious awareness of all of the other humans, animals, and plants around the planet who are caregivers. Some are people caring for family members, friends, neighbors, and some are workers caring for patients and clients. Some are animals caring for other animals in need. Some are plants, such as the trees of the forest who we now know communicate through underground root systems that allow them to send some of what is needed to neighboring trees to help them to survive and thrive in times of stress.
Imagine yourself connected with all of these other humans, animals, and trees who are in this caregiving role in this moment . . . a vast tapestry of support compassionately blanketing the planet. Each of you is playing a vital role in the well-being of life here on earth and you are not alone in this role. Visualize a strand of light that reaches from you to other living things (people, animals, trees) who are also in this caregiving role, and the strands of light reaching back to you from other living things connected in this vast network of caregiving here on earth. You indeed are not alone in this important caregiver role and the illusion of isolation at times or the story in one’s mind at times can make one think or feel so.
Visualize yourself sitting in an open grassy field rich with the sounds of birds and insects, breezes, water trickling, and the smells of grasses, pine trees, and fresh air, overlooking a beautiful sun-kissed lake. Feel the gentle warmth of the sun bathing you and really feel the contact between your body and the support of the earth beneath you. You can hear the sounds of the water lapping against the shoreline as the comfortable breeze ripples across the lake. The deeper water remains still beneath the surface, like that sense of inner peace of knowing in our core that as we face our moment to moment challenges with self-compassion and curiosity of our resilience, allowing whatever arises to be a wise teacher, that we can get through the present moment tending to our heart and remembering that we are not alone in this journey. Be here now in your imagination visualizing this peaceful place, feeling the support of the earth beneath you and pausing to take in what each of your senses would be noticing: what do you see . . . hear . . . smell . . . feel . . . sense . . . taste . . . touch . . . sitting in this open grassy field overlooking the sun-kissed lake.
Caregiving is part of our role and identity to varying degrees over time. After enjoying the peace in the solitude of this grassy field overlooking the lake, when you are ready, begin also allowing in this helpful story of connection to other living beings in this role. Gradually begin to imagine a gathering of these other beings joining you one by one in this vast open grassy field overlooking the beautiful lake. Allow an image to form of other people, animals, and trees beginning to join with you in a circle, and you make eye contact with each one, one at a time, as it joins the circle, greeting each other with the awareness of the shared role that each of you is in as a caregiver, as well as shared awareness that other aspects of your identities sometimes feel like they are not able to be expressed as much at this time. Begin to take in the beings joining you in this circle . . . a gathering of awareness of the interconnectedness made more conscious, so as not to fall into the illusion that one is alone in this role. Each of you makes eye contact or connects in the inner being of your shared role and has an inner smile of knowing and acknowledging this awareness with mutual compassion . . . that kind of I see you . . . I get you . . . that resonates between beings who recognize that they share some part of life’s experience in a given moment in which words are not needed because the knowledge and felt sense are deeper and more profound than words.
Allow yourself to rest in this place of awareness in the open grassy field by the lake experiencing what all of your senses would be noticing and simply remembering the story that you are indeed part of and connected with all beings on this planet. Return here as needed, meeting your fears with curiosity, your challenges with compassion, bringing a mental tone of kindness and tender-heartedness for what is needed. You are perfectly imperfect and you are enough, and you are not alone in this journey.
Tags: Caregiving, Meditation