August 22, 2025 • 20 mins
Holding on to expectations is one of the fastest way to ensure our suffering and one of the fastest ways to ensure our peace of mind is to let go of those expectations. It is easier said than done but it is possible through practice of meditation. This meditation hopes to help with the letting go by following our breath. One breath at a time.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome to mindful meditations with calm the bleep down. I'm
your guide Michael Beckermeier. And today we're going to let
go of our expectations. Let's get started. As always, we
have a mindfulness quote to help us head into our
meditation with some intent. And today our quote comes once
(00:35):
again from Tak not Han, and it reads, take my hand,
we will walk. We will only walk, we will enjoy
our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere. I like that
quote because it makes me think of a couple things.
(00:58):
The first thing is our So much of our stress
in life, so much of our angst and anxiety and worry,
comes from our expectations, the things we think should happen,
or the things we want to happen, and then when
(01:19):
things don't go that way, it throws us off, it
upsets us. We get mad, we get angry, we get frustrated, sad, depressed,
We go into our funk because we didn't get our way.
And so much of dealing with that stuff is just
(01:40):
letting go of it. It's hard because the hardest part
is trying to have goals and wants and desires and
things you're working toward without letting those things take us
off our game when they don't quite happen the way
we expect them to. And you hear it all the time,
(02:02):
and anytime somebody says to you you have a setback
or something, and someone says, well, it all worked itself
out in the end, maybe this is the one thing
that turns you into the person that you never knew
you could be, And you just think, well, that's a
load of bs, because that's not what I want right now.
What I want is this thing that I didn't get,
(02:22):
or this thing to happen that didn't happen. It's hard.
I know it's hard because I live it just like
the rest of you. But this quote making me think
of letting go of expectations also made me think of
(02:44):
letting go in general, which is where I am today
sitting here talking into this microphone. I've just been feeling
like I'm holding on to some things that are making
me worried. You know, I'm a pretty laid back guy,
but a lot of times, as is common with overthinkers,
(03:07):
I think that you know, there's always something churning in
the background, no matter how calm or relaxed or effortless
we may seem to the rest of you, we still
have a ping pong ball bouncing around in our brain constantly.
So thinking about letting go of expectations also made me
think about letting just letting go of what's bothering me,
(03:32):
letting go of really not so much expectations, but letting
go of the opposite of that what we're worried about,
Letting go of the thing that we're worried about, so
we can be present in this moment instead of worried
about that thing. It's just the opposite of letting go
(03:55):
of expectations, maybe not even the opposite. So what we're
going to do today with our meditation is we're just
going to imagine ourselves letting go of whatever it is
on our exhale every time we breathe in, and then
(04:17):
when we breathe that we're just going to visualize ourself
letting go, just over and over and over again, trying
to make ourselves feel lighter in the moment, more relaxed,
more present, and trying to just picture ourselves letting go
(04:42):
of the thing. For my birthday, a friend of mine
gave me a little It's like a bumper sticker, but
it's a magnet, you know, And instead of putting it
on my car, I put it up on my refrigerator
so that I see it every time I open my refrigerator.
(05:04):
And this little magnet has a little Buddha meditating because
they know I'm a meditator, and it says, let that
shit go. And the last few days I've really needed
that reminder, and so thank you to my friend CJ
who really understands me. So to begin our meditation, let's
(05:30):
go ahead and get ourselves comfortable. You can either sit
down or lie down, whatever helps you get to the
place where you can let that shit go. We're going
to start by taking a few long, slow, deep breaths
in and out. Let's begin, and doubt. Try to let
(05:55):
yourself relax with each exail. Maybe picture yourself becoming heavier
and heavier with each exhale, more relaxed. Picture your arms, legs, head,
just feel them sink into the seat or a cushion
that you're lying on or sitting on. With each exhale.
(06:17):
Just do a quick body scan from head to toe
when the exhale. Picture almost like a wave of relaxation,
scanning you from head to toe. And as you're exhaling.
Picture your breath coming all the way down your body
and exiting through your feet. Just scanning all the way down, relaxing,
(06:43):
just letting it go. Exhale. Take a few moments and
continue scanning your body, letting go of any tension you're
(07:04):
holding in any part.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Of your body head, shoulders, back, neck and jaw, all
the way down, your arms, your torso, your.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Hips, your legs, all the way down to your feet.
Picture that breath coming back in through your toes and
all the way up your body. Hold it for a
second and exhale, and picture this breath leaving you all
the way from the top of your head all the
way down through your toes again and out. Now I
(07:49):
want you to actually picture the thing that you think
you might need to let go of, or that you
would like to let go of, and maybe even visualize
yourself holding on to it, and take a breath in
and on your exhale, Actually visualize yourself letting go of
(08:11):
that thing. Just open your hands and let it go.
Maybe it's not a specific thing, Maybe it's just tension, worry,
general worry. Maybe you're tired, maybe you're frustrated or angry
(08:36):
at something, or about something. These are unproductive thoughts. So
they are common thoughts, but they are unproductive thoughts, and
in the end, I think they really don't help us
feel any better. So keep practicing letting go on your exhale,
(08:56):
Just visualize yourself letting go of that thing, whatever it is,
over and over and over again. And if at any
point you find yourself realizing that your mind has wandered
off to something else, maybe off to that thing that
you need to let go of. Anyway, don't get frustrated
(09:18):
with yourself or angry, annoyed or anything. Just call yourself
back to the breath. Say hello to that little thought,
observe it, witness it for what it was, and return
to your breath.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Let it go, Let it go. Medicaid in us.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Mun us one must us.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Okay, it is time to come back to your body.
Let's take one long, slow, deep breath in together and
let go one last time, let it go. Take a
moment and let that stillness and quiet settle in for
(18:10):
just a little bit longer. These things that we hold
on to only cause suffering. They might be hard to
let go of because we identify with them so much,
(18:31):
and it seems strange to let go of the one
thing that's really defining our thoughts or our actions. Or
if we let go of that thing, who am I?
The thing is that we're still us. You're still you.
(18:52):
You're just a more balanced, level, peaceful, centered, present version
of yourself. It doesn't mean that thing is going away,
and it doesn't mean that thing doesn't still concern you.
It just means the unproductive thoughts we have about the
things we are worried about are no longer controlling us.
(19:20):
Let's take one more long, slow, deep breath in and
out let it go. And when you're ready, you can
open your eyes and go about your day. And I'm
musa stay. That's it for this time on Calm to
(20:01):
bleep down. If you like this meditation, please feel free
to send us an email, post a comment, hit us
up on Instagram or TikTok, where we're posting a lot
these days. We'd love to hear from you once again.
I'm Michael BECAMEAIA reminding you to please calm the bleep down.
We'll see you again soon. Thank you for meditating with us.
Be well, have fun and no mistake
Welcome to mindful meditations with calm the bleep down. I'm
your guide Michael Beckermeier. And today we're going to let
go of our expectations. Let's get started. As always, we
have a mindfulness quote to help us head into our
meditation with some intent. And today our quote comes once
(00:35):
again from Tak not Han, and it reads, take my hand,
we will walk. We will only walk, we will enjoy
our walk without thinking of arriving anywhere. I like that
quote because it makes me think of a couple things.
(00:58):
The first thing is our So much of our stress
in life, so much of our angst and anxiety and worry,
comes from our expectations, the things we think should happen,
or the things we want to happen, and then when
(01:19):
things don't go that way, it throws us off, it
upsets us. We get mad, we get angry, we get frustrated, sad, depressed,
We go into our funk because we didn't get our way.
And so much of dealing with that stuff is just
(01:40):
letting go of it. It's hard because the hardest part
is trying to have goals and wants and desires and
things you're working toward without letting those things take us
off our game when they don't quite happen the way
we expect them to. And you hear it all the time,
(02:02):
and anytime somebody says to you you have a setback
or something, and someone says, well, it all worked itself
out in the end, maybe this is the one thing
that turns you into the person that you never knew
you could be, And you just think, well, that's a
load of bs, because that's not what I want right now.
What I want is this thing that I didn't get,
(02:22):
or this thing to happen that didn't happen. It's hard.
I know it's hard because I live it just like
the rest of you. But this quote making me think
of letting go of expectations also made me think of
(02:44):
letting go in general, which is where I am today
sitting here talking into this microphone. I've just been feeling
like I'm holding on to some things that are making
me worried. You know, I'm a pretty laid back guy,
but a lot of times, as is common with overthinkers,
(03:07):
I think that you know, there's always something churning in
the background, no matter how calm or relaxed or effortless
we may seem to the rest of you, we still
have a ping pong ball bouncing around in our brain constantly.
So thinking about letting go of expectations also made me
think about letting just letting go of what's bothering me,
(03:32):
letting go of really not so much expectations, but letting
go of the opposite of that what we're worried about,
Letting go of the thing that we're worried about, so
we can be present in this moment instead of worried
about that thing. It's just the opposite of letting go
(03:55):
of expectations, maybe not even the opposite. So what we're
going to do today with our meditation is we're just
going to imagine ourselves letting go of whatever it is
on our exhale every time we breathe in, and then
(04:17):
when we breathe that we're just going to visualize ourself
letting go, just over and over and over again, trying
to make ourselves feel lighter in the moment, more relaxed,
more present, and trying to just picture ourselves letting go
(04:42):
of the thing. For my birthday, a friend of mine
gave me a little It's like a bumper sticker, but
it's a magnet, you know, And instead of putting it
on my car, I put it up on my refrigerator
so that I see it every time I open my refrigerator.
(05:04):
And this little magnet has a little Buddha meditating because
they know I'm a meditator, and it says, let that
shit go. And the last few days I've really needed
that reminder, and so thank you to my friend CJ
who really understands me. So to begin our meditation, let's
(05:30):
go ahead and get ourselves comfortable. You can either sit
down or lie down, whatever helps you get to the
place where you can let that shit go. We're going
to start by taking a few long, slow, deep breaths
in and out. Let's begin, and doubt. Try to let
(05:55):
yourself relax with each exail. Maybe picture yourself becoming heavier
and heavier with each exhale, more relaxed. Picture your arms, legs, head,
just feel them sink into the seat or a cushion
that you're lying on or sitting on. With each exhale.
(06:17):
Just do a quick body scan from head to toe
when the exhale. Picture almost like a wave of relaxation,
scanning you from head to toe. And as you're exhaling.
Picture your breath coming all the way down your body
and exiting through your feet. Just scanning all the way down, relaxing,
(06:43):
just letting it go. Exhale. Take a few moments and
continue scanning your body, letting go of any tension you're
(07:04):
holding in any part.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Of your body head, shoulders, back, neck and jaw, all
the way down, your arms, your torso, your.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Hips, your legs, all the way down to your feet.
Picture that breath coming back in through your toes and
all the way up your body. Hold it for a
second and exhale, and picture this breath leaving you all
the way from the top of your head all the
way down through your toes again and out. Now I
(07:49):
want you to actually picture the thing that you think
you might need to let go of, or that you
would like to let go of, and maybe even visualize
yourself holding on to it, and take a breath in
and on your exhale, Actually visualize yourself letting go of
(08:11):
that thing. Just open your hands and let it go.
Maybe it's not a specific thing, Maybe it's just tension, worry,
general worry. Maybe you're tired, maybe you're frustrated or angry
(08:36):
at something, or about something. These are unproductive thoughts. So
they are common thoughts, but they are unproductive thoughts, and
in the end, I think they really don't help us
feel any better. So keep practicing letting go on your exhale,
(08:56):
Just visualize yourself letting go of that thing, whatever it is,
over and over and over again. And if at any
point you find yourself realizing that your mind has wandered
off to something else, maybe off to that thing that
you need to let go of. Anyway, don't get frustrated
(09:18):
with yourself or angry, annoyed or anything. Just call yourself
back to the breath. Say hello to that little thought,
observe it, witness it for what it was, and return
to your breath.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
Let it go, Let it go. Medicaid in us.
Speaker 4 (13:03):
Mun us one must us.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Okay, it is time to come back to your body.
Let's take one long, slow, deep breath in together and
let go one last time, let it go. Take a
moment and let that stillness and quiet settle in for
(18:10):
just a little bit longer. These things that we hold
on to only cause suffering. They might be hard to
let go of because we identify with them so much,
(18:31):
and it seems strange to let go of the one
thing that's really defining our thoughts or our actions. Or
if we let go of that thing, who am I?
The thing is that we're still us. You're still you.
(18:52):
You're just a more balanced, level, peaceful, centered, present version
of yourself. It doesn't mean that thing is going away,
and it doesn't mean that thing doesn't still concern you.
It just means the unproductive thoughts we have about the
things we are worried about are no longer controlling us.
(19:20):
Let's take one more long, slow, deep breath in and
out let it go. And when you're ready, you can
open your eyes and go about your day. And I'm
musa stay. That's it for this time on Calm to
(20:01):
bleep down. If you like this meditation, please feel free
to send us an email, post a comment, hit us
up on Instagram or TikTok, where we're posting a lot
these days. We'd love to hear from you once again.
I'm Michael BECAMEAIA reminding you to please calm the bleep down.
We'll see you again soon. Thank you for meditating with us.
Be well, have fun and no mistake
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