Hello and welcome to this guided meditation.
I'm Kim Marie.
Thanks so much for joining me.
This meditation is on a quote from a book I read about a year ago.
And the quote in the book was,
Be happy now.
And I loved that idea or that concept of being happy now.
And as a matter of fact,
In dry erase pen,
On the mirror in my bathroom,
I have written be happy now.
I think that so many of us believe that we are guaranteed many more days to come.
And the truth of it is that tomorrow belongs to no one.
But yet we have this idea that we have unlimited time and unlimited opportunities.
And oftentimes we go into things and we go through our life thinking that we can make plans for the future and that our future will look a certain way.
And so often that's not the case.
So I love how be happy now reminds us that the only thing we really have is the present moment.
So that's what this guided meditation is on today.
Take a few moments here to just come to a comfortable meditation posture,
Whether that's seated or lying down,
You decide what's most comfortable for your body.
And if it's comfortable for you to close your eyes,
Go ahead.
If not,
Just the eyes are softly open with a soft still gaze.
And maybe as you settle in here,
Sigh out and exhale.
Just as a way to settle in.
A sighing exhale acts as a signal to your body to let go.
So begin to take a few moments to just notice the flow of your breath.
When we become aware of our breath,
It allows the body and mind to become a little more calm.
And as you continue to notice the breath,
If other thoughts come and go,
Just let them float by like clouds.
The mind was designed to think.
So if you become distracted,
No worries.
So if we think about being happy now,
And that now this present moment is the only thing that we really have,
It allows us to release a lot of unnecessary stress and anxiety.
So oftentimes we are rethinking and reliving the past,
Which makes us anxious.
Or we're stressing about the future that we usually have very little control over.
If we try to just stay present in the moment,
That's where real peace resides.
I'm sure you've heard of the word mindfulness.
Mindfulness is being present in the moment exactly as it is with no judgment.
Oftentimes the present moment is thought of as the moment between the inhale and the exhale.
That slight pause that happens.
So see if you can begin to notice that slight pause between the inhale and the exhale.
And see if you can find that moment where the mind is nowhere else but present.
And as we practice mindfulness,
And as we practice meditation,
We also begin to notice that the space between our thoughts also we are really present.
And those spaces between our thoughts become bigger and more often.
That's how we know our meditation practice is evolving.
I also want you to consider here the concept of be happy now.
So oftentimes in life,
In relationships,
In work,
In home life situations,
We think so much,
We spend so much energy thinking about how things will look in the future.
How things will be.
How we want them to be.
And if we just stay fully present with how things are,
Without putting that pressure of the future and what it will look like,
We can really experience so much more joy.
It's really freeing to not hold that vision of what things might look like in the future where we don't even know if the future belongs to us or what that's going to look like.
So it's really freeing.
Allow your thoughts to think about your life right now.
And the things in your life right now as they are that are good.
That you can be happy about for just as they are.
Not how they'll be tomorrow or potentially next week or next year.
And allow yourself to feel those feelings of happiness for the now and gratitude for the now.
We are so blessed.
We are so lucky to be here in this moment.
Acknowledge things for what they are right now.
Appreciate things for what and how they are right now in the present moment.
And remembering that if you're ever feeling stressed and you notice that you're falling back into the really normal pattern of thinking about the past or stressing about the future,
Take a moment to come into your breath and to be present.
Notice the space between the inhale and the exhale.
And find gratitude for things just as they are in the moment.
Just take a great big inhale through the nose.
Open your mouth,
Sigh it out.
And then really slowly open your eyes if they're closed.
Perhaps writing on your bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker or on a sticky note,
Be happy now.
Remind yourself that the only thing we have is the present moment.
Take joy in all that you have right now.
Thank you for joining me.
Namaste.
