Hi,
And welcome to this short meditation,
Or perhaps contemplation is a better phrase.
In the next few minutes I'm going to take you through what I like to call the four steps to awareness.
And as we pay attention to our breath,
Our thoughts,
Our emotions and our energy levels,
Without trying to change them or influence them in any way,
We start to paint a picture the more we do this,
The more it becomes automatic throughout our day,
And we start to see that perhaps there's no need to change anything,
And that all of these things are actually constantly in a state of flux anyway.
And then we're less likely to get caught up in the moment so much.
At least,
That's the idea.
So to begin,
Just find yourself in a comfortable place where you're seated or perhaps standing up,
But you're unlikely to be disturbed for a few minutes.
And close your eyes.
And let's immediately go to the first area of awareness,
And that is to rest your attention on the quality of your breath,
Without trying to change a thing.
Is it short and sharp?
Is it laboured?
Is it smooth and relaxed?
What does that tell you about the state of your nervous system right now?
Does it make sense based on an activity or something that you've just done?
Or something you're about to do?
And just by paying attention to the breath,
Have you noticed it change in any way in the last few moments?
Moving on to the second area of awareness,
And that is the quality of your thoughts.
Do you seem focused?
Perhaps distracted?
Was it hard to even keep up to speed with this meditation so far?
No judgement,
No goal?
What kind of thoughts are you having?
What stories are in play?
If we pay attention to these stories,
It very often leads us naturally to the third stage of awareness,
Which is the quality of your emotions.
How are you feeling right now?
What's there now that you pay attention?
Again,
We're not trying to influence or change anything,
Just noticing a sense of joy,
Anger,
Frustration,
Maybe sadness.
Perhaps noticing how that affects the body.
Making a mental note to self,
Do I need to move after this short meditation?
Perhaps do I actually need to sit down?
How do I find balance?
Now moving on to the final stage or step,
And that is the level of energy you have in your body.
How do you feel?
Are you tired?
Is your body heavy?
Would you like to just go home and sleep?
Are you ready to go out for a run?
Already,
Maybe naturally,
You're piecing together what you've done,
What you've eaten,
Your sleep,
In order to explain how and why you feel this way.
And then just go back in your own time now,
Over the next few seconds,
And just check in once more on the quality of your breath,
Your thoughts,
Your emotions,
And your energy.
And perhaps there's something to be done,
Perhaps not,
But I invite you now to slowly come out of this meditation by taking a couple of deep,
Full breaths.
And in your own time you can gently open your eyes and carry on with your day.
I hope it's a beautiful one.
