Just try to allow yourself to be comfortable in your seat.
And just begin by settling in to this moment.
Trying to let go of the tension of the day.
Loosening our grip on the past and the present and the future.
Try to slow your breathing down a little bit and at the same time,
Turn your awareness towards the body.
Notice how this combination of slow breath and physical awareness invites the body and the mind to begin to relax and ease into the present moment.
And then take two or three deeper,
Slow breaths and then allow the breath to return to its natural rhythm.
Or just allowing the breath to do its thing and allowing the mind to watch it.
Just this clear knowing that here I sit,
This body in the meditation posture,
The breath natural.
And if a story,
Fantasy,
Or other gravitational activity pull tries to interrupt your awareness of the breath in the present moment,
We simply notice and we let go without attitude or judgment.
You can even consider smiling when you return to awareness of the breath.
Just knowing the breath as it enters the body and knowing the breath as it exits.
Knowing as the breath fills the lungs and knowing as it empties.
Just knowing there is a breath.
Now we'll let go of the attention on the breath and just try to sit with an open mind for a few moments.
And now bring something to mind that you're hoping for,
That you're wishing for.
As a feel to have this desire.
Can you sense this in the body or is it just thoughts and emotions?
Are you putting effort into this idea or situation or thing that you hope for?
Or is this simply a wish?
How would you feel if it didn't happen?
Unhappy?
Disappointed?
Or would you just accept this fact?
Just notice what arises.
Is there tension?
Tightness?
Thoughts?
Emotions?
Now let's consider something else.
Imagine a team effort.
Something that you and others are working towards.
Wishing to win,
To succeed.
But also knowing that you may not.
You train anyway.
You show up even though the possibility of loss is there.
And if the result is not as you wished,
What happens?
It feels different.
We tried.
We did our best.
Sure,
There's still disappointment.
But if we're guided by the Buddha's noble path,
We understand the truth of uncertainty.
The truth that we don't always get.
The things that we want.
The outcomes that we wish for.
We understand that acceptance is the key to peace.
As the Buddha laid out in the second noble truth,
Craving for things to be my way,
That is the source of suffering.
Acceptance of now it's like this,
Of being equanimous,
Regardless of which way things go,
That equals freedom.
