We're going to do a meditation I like to call New Beginnings.
If you're anything like me,
Your life is full of ups and downs,
Good days and bad days.
One of the mottos I find really helpful to deal with the bad days is,
Tomorrow's another day.
I really like that sentiment of,
It doesn't matter what happened today,
As I've got a fresh start tomorrow.
And this meditation echoes that sentiment and helps train your mind to take that attitude and feel okay about the bad days.
Okay let's get started.
So what we're going to do during this meditation is count our breaths from one to ten.
Each breath you take in and out you count one number.
So on the first breath in and out count one,
On your next breath in and out count two,
And so on all the way up to ten.
And when you reach ten you start again at one.
That's all there is to it,
So let's spend a few moments giving that a go.
Sit nice and comfortably but in an upright position so you can stay focused.
Rest your hands wherever they want to rest and either close your eyes or keep a soft gaze so you're not taking in too much for your visual field.
And when you're ready start to focus on counting those breaths.
Just silently in your head all the way up to ten then back to one again.
I'll do it too.
So you might notice your mind wanders and you forget the counting.
That's the exciting part,
That's what this practice is all about.
Because as soon as you notice your mind's wandered you get a new beginning,
A chance to start again.
So when you notice you've wandered off gently bring your attention back to the counting,
Starting fresh at one again.
Each time your mind wanders as soon as you notice just bring it back to the counting.
It doesn't matter where you left off,
You get a new beginning at one.
So you might find your concentration slips and you end up counting beyond ten.
This happens,
There's no need to feel frustrated or scold yourself because you get to start fresh at one again.
So you might notice your mind wanders as soon as you notice just bring it back to one.
It doesn't matter how many times your mind wanders off because each time you notice you get that opportunity to start fresh again.
Just like many things in life it often doesn't matter what happened in the past,
You can always start fresh and have a new beginning.
So if you're anything like me you might find you're very good at continuing the counting in the background but you notice you're having a conversation with yourself as well.
That's okay because as soon as you catch yourself you can bring your attention back to the counting.
So you Starting a new beginning each time you notice you've wandered away from the counting.
You're doing a great job,
Let's keep going for a little longer.
So well done.
Hopefully this meditation has given you lots of opportunities to welcome in new beginnings.
Let go of the counting now and just take a moment to feel a sense of accomplishment for that,
For all those opportunities to start fresh.
So we spend so much of our time being hard on ourselves for not doing enough or for doing things the wrong way but this is a nice reminder that there's always opportunities to start fresh and practices like this train your mind to realize that.
Okay gently open your eyes now maybe allow yourself to smile or sigh enjoying any sense of accomplishment or calm or opportunity this meditation has made you feel.
Enjoy that feeling and take it into the rest of your day.
