Meditation for self-doubt: 10-minute letting go session, on a lunch break

About this practice

When self-doubt shows up on a lunch break, this 10-minute letting go session gives you somewhere to put it down. A guided session of about 10 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: self-doubt

Self-doubt is a prediction, not a measurement. It reads uncertainty as evidence of inability, which is why it survives despite contrary evidence.

It tends to show up as:

• Questioning your ability before starting
• Assuming you are the least capable in the room
• Hesitating to state an opinion

Confidence is not required to act. This practice lowers the temperature enough that acting stops needing confidence first.

Doing this at lunch

• Do it before eating rather than after, so you are not working against digestion
• Leaving the desk matters more than the session length
• Take the headphones off afterwards so the break registers

A break that happens at the same desk is only half a break.

How letting go works

Letting go is about loosening grip rather than dropping things. It works on the effort attached to a problem — the holding, rehearsing and bracing — which is separable from the problem itself.

• Pick one thing you are gripping and loosen a single finger
• Release the effort with the exhale, not the issue
• Set down temporarily; you can pick it up again after

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Part of you is still in the last conversation you had. That's fine. It can sit here too.
2. 0:16If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
3. 0:29Settle into the fact that for the next few minutes, nothing is required of you.
4. 0:43Notice your own pulse somewhere. Wrist, throat, wherever you can find it.
5. 0:56Feel your breath move down your back, all the way to your lower ribs.
6. 1:10Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
7. 1:23Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
8. 1:35Notice your elbows. Odd things to have, but there they are.
9. 1:47Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
10. 1:59Notice your jaw again. Let your back teeth part slightly.
11. 2:11If the question mark over your ability starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
12. 2:28You do not have to like the fear that you are not enough to breathe through it. Liking was never the requirement.
13. 2:46Notice if you've been frowning at your own thoughts.
14. 2:57We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
15. 3:07A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
16. 3:18Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
17. 3:31Nothing here needs to be efficient.
18. 3:41Nothing to follow for a moment except your own breathing.
19. 3:53Notice any part of you that wants this to be over.
20. 4:05There's no need to try harder than this.
21. 4:16No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
22. 4:27Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
23. 4:39Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
24. 4:52Take the next breath slowly.
25. 5:01Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
26. 5:13Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
27. 5:28Just the breath, still.
28. 5:37Feel the skin around your eyes. Let the muscles behind them go loose.
29. 5:50Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
30. 6:06No need to open your eyes yet.
31. 6:16Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
32. 6:27Let the in-breath be short and the out-breath unhurried.
33. 6:38Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
34. 6:49Notice where the small voice saying you cannot lives in your body. Chest, throat, stomach. Rest your attention there without trying to change it.
35. 7:08If the question mark over your ability shows up, let it be there without arguing with it. You are not trying to remove it, just to sit beside it.
36. 7:29Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
37. 7:42Picture the fear that you are not enough as a weather front passing over. You are not the weather. You are the sky it moves through.
38. 8:01If you're thinking about the next thing on your list, that list will still be there.
39. 8:16If nothing much is happening, that's not a problem. Nothing much is often the point.
40. 8:30I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
41. 8:42You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
42. 8:55Stay with it.
43. 9:03Let the last of the stillness stay with you for a few more seconds.
44. 9:17Let the quiet end on its own rather than cutting it off.
45. 9:30A few seconds more.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.