And so I'm going to guide us through a meditation.
And as we go through this meditation,
Your mind is going to wander.
You are going to have thoughts.
Your body is going to be uncomfortable.
All of these things will happen.
And I want to tell you in this very moment that you absolutely do not have to judge any of those things as being bad or wrong.
Instead,
I would actually offer that they're a gift.
They are showing you that you can be even more present.
That you can actually return to this moment,
Which is actually where life is happening.
Instead of being in this made up world in your head of the past,
Of judgment,
Of the future,
You can come back into the lived experience in your body,
In your heart,
Right now.
So let's get started together.
Noticing your feet and letting them be flat on the floor.
Or you can tuck them up underneath you if you'd like.
Noticing your posture.
Noticing if perhaps you're leaning forward,
You're stooping.
We sit with our shoulders hunched over our computers,
Over our phones most of the day.
So see if you can roll your shoulders back up toward your ears and away and down.
Noticing your jaw.
Noticing if it's tight or clenched,
Letting it loosen.
Perhaps even giving a sigh or a yawn.
For this practice you can close your eyes if you'd like,
But you don't have to.
You can look at me,
But you don't have to.
What's important is that you feel a sense of ease and comfort.
Throughout this practice we're going to have an anchor.
And the anchor that I'm offering in this moment is the anchor of sound.
The sound of these chimes,
The sound of my voice.
And so we'll begin by seeing what happens if instead of judging sound as good or bad,
Pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Neutral,
What if instead you just simply see that there's sound?
And you just let yourself rest for a moment in the curiosity.
What's coming next?
And then what?
The sounds will come and go.
They'll get louder and drift away.
See what happens if you let yourself continue to come back to the sounds.
Because just like the sounds will drift away,
So will your attention.
You might have already had 15 thoughts by now.
It's not a problem.
It's actually an opportunity to be a little bit more curious.
And understand the working of your mind.
If sound as an anchor feels challenging for you,
I invite you to shift into the breath.
You can find your breath in a few places.
On your upper lip as you feel the breath flowing in and out of your nostrils.
In your chest or in your belly.
Also noticing,
If you want,
The breath,
Turning toward it as the anchor of your awareness.
Inevitably you're going to drift off into thoughts.
But you can come back with curiosity.
What is it like to feel my breath right now?
How am I breathing?
Where do I notice the breath most distinctly?
What is it like to feel my breath?
Noticing sound or breath.
Noticing thought.
And knowing that you have this anchor to return to whenever you drift away.
And even if you only stay present for just one in-breath,
Not even for a whole breath,
Just the in-breath,
That's enough.
We're going to turn toward our thoughts,
Our worried thoughts,
Our planning thoughts,
Our catastrophizing thoughts,
Our regretting thoughts.
All of our thoughts,
We're going to turn toward them with a sense of kindness and really a sense of appreciation.
Our brains are designed to think.
How grateful are we that they do think so we can function?
And we don't have to make anything that they think a problem.
Instead,
What we can do is offer a sense of rest to our thinking minds by coming in to our feeling heart.
If we're caught up in worry or judgment,
It can be helpful sometimes to place a hand on the heart.
I like to even push in a little and feel that pressure.
Feel the sensation of the heaviness of the contact,
My hand on my heart.
You might want to sigh,
Make a sound,
Release.
We spend so much of our lives trapped in the prisons of our minds and we can find so much freedom in the spaciousness of our hearts.
So when one of those thoughts arises catastrophizing or worrying,
Whenever you notice it,
See if you can turn toward it and say,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you for trying to protect me.
Thank you for doing your job.
I appreciate you.
And now I'm going to connect to what's real.
And what's real is here under all of the surface level changing emotions.
Seeper down is the ever present heartbeat of love.
And so connecting in as much as you feel able to,
To a sense of loving kindness for yourself and for your thinking mind.
Some people find it challenging to send loving kindness to themselves.
And if that is you in this moment,
Then perhaps let yourself envision you receiving loving kindness from someone.
So see what it's like to either give yourself loving kindness,
The sense of warmth,
Nurturing,
Generosity of spirit.
Or perhaps see what it's like to imagine somebody who really loves you,
Whether it's in real life or it could be a benevolent being that you believe in giving you loving kindness.
And saying what's real,
What's real is not your thoughts.
What's real is your body.
What's real is your heart.
So knowing that you're going to get pulled back into your thoughts over and over.
But you have an opportunity to intentionally turn toward them,
To thank them,
And to return to love.
So we'll sit quietly with just the sound of the chimes.
Staying with the anchor of sound or breath.
Noticing the thoughts when they come.
Turning toward offering yourself kindness,
Then going back to your anchor.
Letting it all come and go,
Ebb and flow.
So noticing whatever is real in your experience now.
And seeing what happens if you just really allow yourself to be more curious.
Do you know what thought you're going to think next?
Do you know what sensation you're going to feel in your body next?
Probably not.
So this is a great opportunity to be curious,
To work on understanding your mind and your body.
To feel more connected with your body and mind without actually doing a whole lot.
Just being open,
Just being curious,
Just really listening to what's real without judgment,
With this intention to understand.
Lots of Secretary-Generalcill statue here.
I noticed that I can hear an ambulance in the background and maybe you can too.
So sending some of that loving kindness you've been generating to the people in need in this moment wherever you are around the world.
You can share the merit of our practice with all beings,
Recognizing that as we start to understand ourselves more and judge ourselves less,
We can extend that same kindness,
That same loving kindness to others and what a gift it is to get to bring more love into the world,
To embody more of who we truly are,
To remind each other of our true nature,
That we all share.
