Welcome to your meditation practice.
My name is Meg McRacken.
Today's session is designed to help you claim agency over your attention and to enhance your mental wellness.
You see,
We live in a world that is so noisy and wild,
One where there's a staggering amount of constant input,
One where it's easy for our attention to be bought and sold,
Hijacked and sidetracked away from what matters,
Distracted,
Divided,
Dispersed,
Even shattered.
This fragmented state can so quickly lead us into the overwhelming terrain of stress,
Where anxious days lead into restless nights,
Where we can become lost in the turbulence of our unsettled thoughts,
And where threads of doubt and depression can begin to spin their sticky webs.
And we also live in a world that is astoundingly beautiful,
One where sound and silence rest and wait beneath the noise,
One where we know how to love,
And in an instant of softening,
We can remember what matters.
So may we take this time today to claim agency over our attention and allow a calm,
Clear presence to arise.
May we step out of the noise and into our inner wisdom and our true power.
May that divine,
Innate intelligence that guides the birds north in the summer and south in the winter,
That turns the tides,
The earth,
The stars,
And the seasons,
May that divine,
Innate inner intelligence guide us to lead the vital and meaningful lives of love that each and every one of us was meant.
So please take this moment to find your seat.
Let it be a seat that feels comfortable and easy for you.
Be that upon a cushion on the floor or up on the edge of the couch or the edge of a chair with the soles of the feet on the floor.
But sit in such a way where you feel like you can be alert and relaxed,
Upright and at ease.
And as you begin to settle in to this seat that is right for you,
Allow yourself to really land.
And perhaps you allow your eyes to close or maybe simply soften your gaze and cast that gaze downwards.
But begin to bring your awareness inside.
And allow all of the pieces and the parts of your life to land and to settle,
Just like the pieces in a shaken up snow globe.
When the snow globe stops moving,
The water becomes clear.
Let this moment be kind of like that.
And as you begin to soften and settle into the heart of this moment,
Claim agency over your attention by simply placing your attention within the coming and going of your breath.
See what it's like to fully experience the sensation of breathing before you even have a thought about it.
Simply noticing the coming and going of each breath as it flows through the field of your awareness.
You may notice that your attention is drawn back to the river of thoughts many times throughout the course of this meditation.
And that's okay,
That's pretty normal.
But know that every time you invite your attention back to where it is that you'd like to place it,
You get a little stronger with the agency that you have over your attention.
So for now,
Simply again and again,
Placing your attention within each breath that flows through your field of awareness.
And now from here,
Simply shifting your attention slightly.
So that instead of placing your attention in the breath,
Now place your attention within the world of sound.
Simply allowing yourself to experience all of the sounds that are flowing through the field of your awareness right now.
You don't have to name any of the sounds.
You don't have to like or dislike any of the sounds.
Simply place your awareness in the world of sound and allow yourself to become present to each of the sounds that flow through the field of your awareness.
And once again claiming agency over your attention.
Place your attention back into each wave of breath.
So releasing the world of sound and replace your attention back into the flow of your breath,
Noticing each breath that flows through the field of your awareness.
Is it like to experience each breath before you even have a thought about it?
Now,
Once again claiming agency over your attention.
Place your attention in the river of your thoughts.
Just for a moment allow yourself to notice all of the thoughts that are flowing through the field of your awareness right now.
Without getting lost in any particular thought,
Just simply notice each thought as it flows through the field of your awareness.
Now allowing your attention to step out of the flow of thoughts and back into the flow of your breath.
Keep it simple.
Simply place your awareness within the flow of your breath and notice each breath that flows through the field of your awareness.
And once again simply allowing your attention to shift now to the experience of sensations.
Simply opening yourself up to feel each of the sensations that flow through the field of your awareness right now.
You don't even have to name the sensations,
You don't have to like or dislike the sensations.
Simply open yourself up to notice each of the sensations that flows through the field of your awareness.
And once again allow your attention to rest back in the arms of the breath.
Place your attention in the breath,
Noticing each breath,
Experiencing each breath that flows through the field of your awareness right now.
Now one last time please shift your attention to experience the field of awareness itself.
Allow yourself to experience the field of awareness itself.
Now one last time please shift your attention to experience the field of awareness.
Now one last time please shift your attention to experience the field of awareness.
And you can rest here.
And the field of awareness itself for as long as you like.
But know that this field of awareness is the source of our deepest intuition,
Our deepest wisdom,
Our deepest capacity for compassion,
Strength and grace.
And this field of awareness is always and already just here.
