Right effort or right diligence refers to the effort put into living life right.
The word right means wholesome or ideal and not perfect.
I really believe to be able to achieve a good foundation within yourself you need to know your truest self.
A way of doing this is practicing mindfulness and just being.
So today we will sit and breathe and look within to connect with your inmost being,
Your very self.
I invite you to close your eyes and connect with your breath.
Take a nice long inhale and say to yourself calm and a nice long exhale and say to yourself release.
Let any tension go.
Do that a few more times.
Calm,
Release.
And now on the inhale say to yourself peace and on the exhale say let go and really feel the body become heavy with the exhale.
Feel the crown of the head soften and the face around the eyes and the jaw,
The shoulders,
The chest.
Feel the bottom becoming heavier in the seat and the legs feeling really heavy and the feet.
Notice the energy in pools around your feet and your fingers and observe how that feels to you.
Do a quick body scan and notice if there are still any areas of tightness or tension and if so stay in that area and breathe into it.
Repeat your words peace on the inhale and let go on the exhale.
But on the exhale notice that any areas of tension or tightness softening and stay there until you do notice.
If you don't have any tensions anywhere maybe noticing any thoughts appearing to do with your morning or your life and do the same practice here.
Breathe peace into your mind and let go on the exhale and watch the thoughts drift away as if they were like balloons in the sky.
Every time you notice any thought do this practice again.
This is mindfulness.
And now your body is calm and relaxed.
Take your attention to a place behind your forehead and imagine that there is a seat there.
Picture your seat right now.
What kind of seat is it?
What material is it made from?
What colour is it?
And now imagine yourself sitting in this seat.
This is your seat of peace.
Your seat of consciousness.
If you can't actually visualise this seat don't worry just see if you can get a sense of being still in your mind but still being able to see.
And now from your seat look down and see that you can see all the way down into your body.
You can see everything that goes on in your body.
From here you can sense any tensions,
Any aches or pains.
From your seat look around in your mind and see it like a cinema theatre.
And every thought you think now try and see this thought as a picture or words on the screen in front of you.
The only thing you are doing is observing them.
Try not to get caught in any narratives or stories.
You are just seeing them as thoughts on the screen of your mind.
Take a few moments to do this.
And now contemplate this.
You have a body but this is prone to change.
It ages,
Becomes tired,
Gets ill.
Your body is an instrument to awareness.
It senses things.
You have an intellect,
A place where imagination,
Creativity and thoughts take place.
This is an instrument to awareness.
It makes sense of things.
You have emotions and feelings.
An ability to feel pain,
Pleasure,
Love.
This too is an instrument to awareness.
You feel things.
You have desire,
Urges and ambitions.
Again this is an instrument to awareness.
It aspires to make things better.
Just as on a ship there are many instruments to see where they are,
Where they are going,
Where other ships are,
Where shallow waters are,
Various lights and sound systems.
These are all instruments to bring awareness to the numerous activities needed to sail a ship.
But just as these instruments themselves are not controller of the ship,
This is a captain,
So too these instruments for you are just that.
Instruments of awareness.
You control all these instruments.
Body,
Intellect,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Desires.
Now say a few sentences to yourself about yourself.
For example,
I am Mandy.
I am a mum.
I am a wife.
I am a mindfulness coach.
Just say a few things that you would say to describe yourself to someone.
And whilst you are saying these things,
Stay seated in your seat of awareness and see these sentences again on the cinema screen.
Note that these are roles you play in your life.
We have many of them.
And ask yourself,
If I am thinking these thoughts,
Who is observing my mind thinking?
Who was observing the thoughts earlier,
Disappearing like balloons in the sky?
Who is the thinker?
Who is the observer?
Maybe you can sit for a few more minutes and notice the difference between the one who thinks and me,
The observer.
In doing this,
We realise we are the ones.
We realise we,
Me,
Who I truly am,
The real self,
Is not my thoughts.
I don't have to get caught up in them.
I don't have to identify with them.
I can just sit and watch them and notice they are just thoughts,
Just clouds passing by in the sky.
They come and then they go.
Instead of saying,
I am worried,
I can see the thought and say,
There is worry or there is anger or there is fear.
Now you have observed your true self.
Practise just sitting and being and breathing.
Simply observing the thoughts,
Maybe labelling them,
There goes planning,
Here is worry,
Without identifying with them.
And if you do find yourself getting tangled in the thoughts and sucked into the narrative or the story,
Just gently acknowledge that and then bring yourself back to simply sitting and simply noticing them.
Sat in your seat of awareness.
This is mindfulness.
This is awareness.
This is awareness.
This is awareness.
This is awareness.
So here is where the right effort comes into your life.
To practise mindfulness with the right amount of effort and time can produce huge benefits.
Not getting entangled with our thinking can be huge for most people because most of our problems come from that.
An event is neutral.
Our story about that event is not.
Trying to incorporate mindfulness in everyday life can bring a calmness,
An increase in happiness,
An improvement in health and relationships and work.
So it is worth putting that effort into it.
Maybe here you could make an intention to put effort into practising mindfulness.
And so now bring your attention to your feet on the ground,
Your bottom on the seat and any contact you have with the seat or the ground.
Become aware of any noises outside of your room and inside the room.
Become aware of the space to the left and to the right of you,
The space behind you and below you and the space above you and in front of you.
And have a picture of yourself in your space where you are right now.
Have an awareness of your surroundings.
And only when you are ready,
Slowly and carefully open your eyes.
Thank you.
