Good morning,
Good afternoon,
Good evening.
So start off with a few words from Charlotte and then so welcome if you just joined us and start off with a few words from Charlotte Joko Beck and I'll say a few words myself then we'll sit in meditation.
Very simple format.
It's so sad that we don't understand that each moment of our lives,
Drinking coffee,
Walking down the street,
Reading the newspaper,
You could say texting nowadays,
Is it.
It is our life.
Why don't we grasp this truth?
Well we don't get it because our little minds think that this second that we're living has hundreds and thousands of seconds that preceded it and hundreds and thousands of seconds still to come.
So we're turned away from truly living our life.
There's more but I'm going to leave it there.
How true is that?
What captures our attention rather than being here in the five senses but one with what's happening just like Banky the dog just here.
You don't need me to tell you actually,
We all know don't we.
We're lost in thought,
We're lost in a conceptual world.
We're planning,
Scheming,
Regretting,
Hoping,
Fearing.
Our lives can be a fluctuation between hope and fear,
Two sides of the same coin.
But it's all thought created.
It's all maintained by thinking.
And it really is as simple as that.
We just need to practice.
And that's what we do in these mornings and the retreats,
Everything.
And be willing to be the observer of your life.
Observer of what's actually happening.
Or to experience what's actually happening through the five senses.
But see in Buddhism we talk about thinking as the sixth sense.
And that's what captures our attention 70-80 percent of the time.
And see some of it's useful,
There's functional practical thinking and creative.
But most of it's just imagining.
What ifs?
And we take our thoughts of people in the world to be people in the world.
It isn't,
They're not.
So we turn back to a simple reality of hearing,
Feeling,
The breath.
So let's do that shall we?
You can close your eyes or leave them open,
Rest your gaze on a blank space,
Blank wall.
It's up to you.
I tend to do both.
Drop down into the body.
Remember the essentials,
Not trying to get anywhere.
Relax into this presence,
Into the body.
So right now we're just here.
Hearing and feeling and seeing maybe.
Then the thought is going to arrive and hijack your attention.
Just watch.
Notice how.
When you're lost in thought,
Thought that the body contracts.
Release the thought.
Relax back into the body.
Feel the breath.
Take your eyes off the prize.
Some future attainment.
What's happening now?
Just feel what's here.
It's all you need to do.
Where are you now?
Just checking that you're not gone tense.
Striving to get somewhere.
Trying to control your experience.
Relax.
Where's your attention right now?
If you're listening to mind,
You'd be tense,
Confused,
Anxious.
Okay.
Bring this session to a close.
Have a little stretch.
That's it.
So it's coffee time then walkies,
I think.
See you guys.
See you tomorrow.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Bye.
Bye-bye.
