So good morning and welcome to our first virtual meditation on the lawn of 2021.
I'm so glad you all could join me here for this.
From near and far,
Folks in our UVA and Charlottesville community,
But also folks all around the world.
Special shout out to some of my Dalai Lama fellows tuning in from all corners of the globe.
So today,
What I'm going to be offering is an intention setting practice.
I'm just going to briefly explain what that is.
So a lot of times in the start of the new year,
We might make resolutions or set goals for things we want to achieve or accomplish.
But what happens is that sometimes we might not meet those expectations or achieve what we set forth.
And so we might fail to live up to that resolution.
And that might come with some judgments or beating yourself up.
An intention is a bit different.
It's a bit more gentle and it's not so much of a pass fail sort of thing or a specific discrete thing you want to achieve.
It's more about sort of setting yourself in a certain direction or making a commitment to cultivate or embody some sort of disposition,
Like how you want to show up in the world.
So that's what we're going to do today.
And the sort of the beginning of things can be a great time to set an intention.
So for this particular practice,
We'll just set an intention for the beginning of this day and think about how do we want to show up for this day ahead.
But you can also do it for maybe the upcoming semester.
You can do it for all of 2021,
Whatever sort of works for you.
OK.
So I'll invite you to just sort of come into your comfortable but alert meditation posture.
And then first,
Let's just take a few deep breaths.
And then after you take those deep breaths,
You can just allow the normal pace of your breathing to return.
And then take maybe just a moment to see if you can begin to drop down into the body a bit,
You know,
Moving from that mental space where we spend so much time just coming into the body and allowing the attention to just start to notice that I have a body.
It's here.
It's safe.
And with this intention setting practice,
I'm going to pose some questions and see if you can allow those questions to just sort of emerge maybe from the heart,
Maybe from the belly,
From other parts of your body.
See if you can just sort of tune in and listen to see what wants to come up for you as I pose these questions.
You don't really have to go searching or figure out or analyze the answers.
So the first question is,
How do you want to show up in the world today?
What qualities or dispositions do you want to embody today?
What is a wish you have for yourself,
Your community,
The entire world?
So based on what came up for you,
See if you can just sort of distill all of that into maybe just a word,
One word or one phrase,
Something simple that can be your intention for today.
Maybe it's I want to be more compassionate.
I want to be present.
I want to listen.
Whatever comes up for you,
Allow that to be your intention for today.
And then we'll take a moment to really set that intention,
To really connect with it.
So just use that word or that phrase or even that just vision of yourself.
Sort of make it real.
Really create some sense of connection to it.
Take a moment to actually set that intention,
To commit to it for today.
And then all you need to do throughout the rest of the day is just check back in to see how am I doing with my intention?
And if you're staying sort of in line with it,
Great,
Keep going.
If you find yourself a little bit out of alignment,
That's okay too.
It's important you just recognize that.
And then you simply realign yourself.
Get back on track without any judgment,
Without anything beyond just resetting that intention.
So take one final moment to again,
Just connect with that intention to make it real.
And then as you're ready,
You can slowly come out of the meditation.
Maybe just stretching a little bit,
Opening your eyes if they were closed,
But still staying connected to that intention.
So thank you so much for practicing with me.
I hope you can all come back in two weeks,
So we will not be holding a meditation on the lawn on Monday the 18th in observation of MLK Day,
But we will be back on the 25th.
So we hope to see you all there.
Thanks again.
