Hi,
My name is Stephen Hick,
And today I'd like to offer a meditation on realizing the truth of impermanence,
Or the notion that everything passes.
It's really an invitation to explore and experience the truth that everything changes,
Everything passes moment by moment,
And that impermanence is not a problem to be solved,
But wisdom to touch into and to rest into.
So just beginning by finding a comfortable seat,
On a chair,
On a cushion on the floor,
Or lying down,
And letting the spine lengthen naturally,
That upright,
Dignified lengthening of the spine,
Resting your hands either on your thighs or on your lap,
Whatever's most comfortable for you,
Allowing the eyes to close or to soften,
Just coming into this moment,
Each breath arriving more fully into this moment,
Allowing the body to just soften and release,
Letting the jaw soften,
Shoulders relax,
And feeling the hands soften,
Just coming out of what might've been going on in your life and just coming back home,
Back to yourself,
And coming inward,
Beginning with the body,
Just feeling the body as a whole,
The entire body,
Resting and releasing,
And noticing that you are breathing,
That the breath is always there,
Always flowing,
Flowing in on the in-breath and out on the out-breath.
You don't need to change it or do anything with it,
Simply noticing the rhythm of the breath,
One breath followed by another breath,
Just sensing into the breath,
Whether it be at the nostrils,
The belly,
Or the chest,
Feeling the breath enter and leave all on its own quite naturally,
And perhaps noticing that each breath is slightly different than the last breath,
And bringing awareness to the belly and feeling the rise and fall of the belly with each in-breath and out-breath,
Noticing how the body naturally receives the breath and then lets it go,
Like life itself,
Continuous,
Flowing,
Taking in a breath,
Releasing a breath,
And beginning again,
Allowing attention to sweep through the body,
To scan the body,
To notice if there's still areas of holding,
Of resistance,
Or perhaps you notice areas of softness and openness,
Scanning the body for yourself,
Your body in this moment,
However it might be.
Noticing the jaw and the area around the jaw,
The shoulders,
What's present in the shoulders in this moment,
The solar plexus,
The knees and the hands,
Becoming aware of how sensation in the body changes moment to moment,
Sometimes tight,
Sometimes soft,
This flow of body sensations shows us that everything passes,
Everything is impermanent,
Even the body doesn't stay the same moment to moment,
It's continuing to sense into the body in this manner,
Continuous flow and passing of sensation,
It's not only the body that shifts moment to moment,
Thoughts and emotions come and go,
Moment to moment,
Rising,
Perhaps lingering and fading away.
Thoughts and emotions flow through the mind like clouds flow through the sky,
Bringing your awareness to whatever thoughts might be arising,
Not a problem,
Simply noticing them,
Making that the focus of your attention for the next few minutes,
Noticing how they move and change and with all these,
We can see that thoughts flow through us like clouds flowing through the sky,
Some thoughts are sticky,
They have some juice to them that grabs our attention,
Takes us down a thought train and that's fine,
That's the nature of mind and when you notice that this happens,
That when this happens that you've been carried away by a thought train,
Once you notice,
This is a key moment of mindfulness,
In that moment of noticing,
Simply gently and firmly bring your attention back to that place of awareness in the present moment where you're just noticing thoughts like bubbles arising and fading and now turning attention towards the heart,
Perhaps bringing your attention rate to the heart space,
Noticing what emotions might be present,
Is there any grief or joy,
Gratitude,
Frustration,
Impatience,
Happiness,
Noticing whatever emotions might be present and how they too come and go,
They might linger a little longer if there's some juice to them or if you're grasping or pushing away,
Which of course makes them linger longer,
It's noticing emotions as they come and go and even if they stay,
How they shift and morph and change moment to moment and if there aren't any emotions present or easily identifiable in this moment,
That's okay,
Simply go back to noticing thoughts as they come and go,
Just watching thoughts and emotions rise and fall,
Shift and change and just as clouds shift and pass,
So do thoughts and emotions,
No state stays whether it's happiness or sadness,
Remembering the time when you were a baby and perhaps you can recall a photograph of this stage in your life,
Crying,
Just being a baby,
Quite different than how you are in this moment,
One stage of life dissolving into the next,
A baby,
Then an infant,
Child,
Teenager,
Young adult,
Middle-aged and so on,
Just as seasons change,
Rain falls,
The sun shines,
The wind blows,
So too do we move through the stages of life,
Ever-changing,
Everything passes,
The moments of our lives pass,
Simply the way things are,
In opening your attention to whatever is arising in your experience,
Be sounds,
Thoughts,
Body sensations,
Emotions,
Notice how it's all shifting and moving and flowing and thought arises,
Perhaps it's planning or remembering,
Judging,
Hoping,
Worrying and of course,
If we don't cling to them,
They pass quite quickly,
Make clouds through the sky,
The mind drifting by and thoughts are just secretions of the mind,
Arriving moment by moment without your consent,
Simply flowing through awareness,
Just resting in this spacious,
Expansive field of awareness,
Allowing everything just to flow through,
Untouched,
Without grasping or pushing away,
Just witnessing this open,
Spacious and loving stance towards everything changing.
Now,
Returning to the breath,
Your anchor or home base to the present moment,
Inhaling and exhaling and one breath giving way to the next breath,
Each breath different from the last,
Different from the next and perhaps noticing how even since the beginning of this meditation,
Everything has changed,
Look back to the body,
The sensations have changed,
Perhaps there was a tightness somewhere and now it's soft or vice versa,
Softness morphed into tightness,
Different thoughts arise or perhaps there's no thoughts,
Different emotions,
Even just sitting here in stillness and silence,
You've been in constant motion and flow,
Shifting and changing,
Let this truth deepen your presence,
Your capacity to stay present in each moment and feeling gratitude for this,
For the breath,
For change,
For this miracle of life,
Recognizing that nothing lasts forever,
Everything passes and because of that,
Every moment matters,
Every moment is unique in the continuous flow of life,
Of your life and recognizing this can bring great equanimity and contentment.
