My name is Karen.
This is a guided meditation in which we will be offering kindness to our thinking mind,
Helping to bring it a sense of peace and gratitude.
Take a moment to find a quiet space,
One where you won't be disturbed by any distractions around you.
Begin by finding a comfortable posture for yourself,
Either laying or sitting,
Whatever is right for you.
And then if you're comfortable with it,
Gently close your eyes.
Or you can keep your eyes half closed with a downward gaze,
Softening your focus.
If seated,
Find a posture that is relaxed and upright,
One that expresses dignity and presence and the intention to be fully present in each moment.
Take two or three nice,
Deep,
Grounding breaths at your own pace,
Drawing your breath right down to the very bottom of your belly,
Allowing your belly to swell.
And as you exhale,
Let it soften completely.
Imagine each breath that you take is an anchor that helps you to land right here.
That grounds you to the here and now.
Continue to let your breath flow quite naturally.
Notice where the breath goes as it enters your body and where it goes as it leaves your body.
Draw your focus now to your head.
Begin to notice your thoughts.
Notice how your head actually feels.
Is there a part of your head that calls for your attention?
Is there a sense of heaviness or lightness?
Does your head feel tight or is there a sense of just too much stuff?
Just notice whatever you can about the physical sensations within your head.
In this moment,
Can you bring kind awareness to your thinking mind?
Bring kind awareness to tense muscles,
Perhaps your forehead or brow line or your jaw.
If you can,
See what it's like to soften this tension.
The mind does so much for us.
It processes,
Analyzes and stores so much information.
But sometimes it absorbs too much.
It gets caught in a cycle of analyzing,
Dissecting,
Scrutinizing and it can leave you feeling stressed and tired.
So for the next few moments,
Give your thinking mind permission to simply be.
If thoughts arise,
There's no need to judge them.
Instead,
See if you can offer these thoughts your loving kindness and then come back to simply being.
It's the nature of the thinking mind to think and you don't need to fight this.
Offer your thoughts,
Love and then come back again and again and again to open awareness of the physical sensations of the head.
Notice if they change over time.
Be mindful of any tension that comes back into the muscles of your forehead or jaw and soften them again gently.
Understanding that our thinking mind does so much for us.
Offer it gratitude.
Think it for all the work it does to support you.
Take a few moments of silence to give your thinking mind permission to just be.
Let all the tension melt away.
As you move forward into the next few moments of your day,
Open to whatever experiences arise.
Not with a sense of needing to deny the nature of the mind.
Instead embrace it.
Allow the mind the space to simply be with love and compassion.
