Hi, and welcome back to Day Six of

this seven day meditation challenge

on coming home to yourself.

I hope you enjoyed yesterday's

session with Cory, where he

explored how to awaken joy.

I hope that really helps you to feel

uplifted and strengthened after what

may have been a very difficult year.

In today's session, we're going to explore

how to challenge the status quo so you can

be more authentically yourself and follow

what really authentically makes you happy.

So there's a fairy tale

about this actually.

The fairy tale goes that there were

two con men who pretended to be weavers

and they convinced the emperor of

this land that they had a magical

suit that could only be seen by

those who are intelligent and brave.

It could not be seen by fools.

So after a week, the emperor sends two

of his men to check on the weavers work

to see how this suit is coming along.

And when each man realizes that he can't

see anything, he doesn't want to appear to

be a fool, so each man lied to the emperor

saying how wonderful the suit is looking.

Then the suit is brought to the

emperor on the day of his grand parade.

The emperor too sees nothing, but

didn't want to seem like a fool, so

he agrees that the suit is wonderful.

And so he puts it on and then

does a royal parade through town.

And everyone in the kingdom sees the

emperor naked, but they don't want to

appear to be fools, so they speak to one

another about how magnificent he looks.

But finally, a child yells out the

emperor isn't wearing any clothes.

And then everyone in the kingdom realizes

what's actually true and starts giggling.

And the emperor, poor emperor then found

himself standing in the middle of the

parade wearing nothing but his pride.

So we can all probably

relate to this story, right?

Because we all share a common challenge.

The way that our minds have evolved

means we're always going to feel a strong

pull to fit in and be part of the pack.

We're always going to feel drawn to

conform rather than risk rejection,

but that internal pressure to conform

means that we can sometimes deny our

own feelings instead of listening to

them, it means that we might hold off

on challenging the status quo even if

something doesn't feel right to us.

And sometimes we might make decisions

and take actions with little reason

other than the fact that everybody

else is doing it and that can lead

to all kinds of unwise and harmful

scenarios for ourselves and others.

So part of the invitation of

mindful living is to cultivate

more self-trust and authenticity.

In other words, mindfulness helps us

to get more in touch with ourselves

and it teaches us to trust our own or

authority and our own direct experience

rather than always relying solely

on the opinions, the expectations

and the experiences of others.

It also helps us to act from our

own integrity and authenticity,

even when it's challenging to do so.

So today, I invite you to ponder in

what ways might you need to challenge

the status quo in your life this year?

Do you need to speak up or stand

up to change things where something

actually doesn't feel right for you?

And instead of trying to fit in or be

liked, how can you show up more this

year as your true self, you know, both

today and in the whole year ahead?

So I invite you to make a pact with

yourself today, not to be defined

by other people's expectations

of you or your desire to fit in.

But instead to see if you can be brave,

be authentic, speak out on the things

that matter, and most importantly

share the real you with the world.

So thank you for your practice

and your presence here with us.

And now inviting you to settle

in for today's meditation.