Hi everyone,
This is Stephanie Boxerbaum.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today.
For today's practice,
We're going to be doing an enoughness for presence practice.
Now,
When I talk about enoughness,
Which is one of my favorite words,
What does that even mean?
And I'm going to share a story.
So when I was getting into my meditation practice,
I had a teacher say to me that it's okay to always want to be figuring out things and planning and goal setting.
But if you're always doing that,
There's sort of this inherent dissatisfaction with the present moment.
And in the beginning,
I didn't really agree with that because I thought,
Well,
No,
That's not true.
I'm happy in the present moment.
But what I realized is all the planning,
All the thinking was really a way out of the present moment.
And so with our meditation practice,
And when we look through this lens of mindfulness,
We're really addressing ourselves in the most kind way.
And in the most enough way,
We have to have places and spaces in our lives where we're just enough,
Period,
As is.
Whether you've accomplished every goal that you want to accomplish,
Whether you've knocked off everything on your to-do list,
No matter what is going on in your current day-to-day experience,
We want to build a foundation of enoughness,
Knowing that right now,
Today,
As is,
You are enough.
And I get a lot of pushback on that.
People say,
Oh,
You're being complacent.
You're being lazy.
And my answer to that is,
Well,
How does that feel when you tell yourself that?
Does it feel good when you tell yourself you're being lazy,
If you tell yourself that you're enough?
What is enough,
Right?
Are we going to let our external circumstances guide how we feel internally about ourselves?
And so you're free to do whatever you want,
Right?
We can all be hard on ourselves.
We can all want to accomplish goals and really push as much as we can.
I just think that through this mindfulness practice,
That layering in this idea that we are enough as is,
Is a very helpful tool for productivity.
It allows for more ease.
It allows for more clarity,
More focus.
We're not clouded by this idea of,
Well,
If only I were here or there.
Tara Brock talks a lot about the if-only mindset.
And really,
If we're living from the present moment,
When we can remove this idea,
If only I was here or there,
Sometimes in the present moment,
You can be the most productive and you can make the biggest shifts because you're not spending so much time thinking about the places that you're not there yet.
So with that in mind,
We're going to be doing this really enoughness for presence practice,
Where it's like,
If it's hard for you to think about being enough because your mind goes to this place of,
Well,
If I accomplish this or that,
Then I would be enough.
Or maybe you feel like you'll never be enough.
This is a cultivation practice.
And I encourage everyone,
Everyone,
That there are places and spaces to plant these seeds,
Even when it feels unfamiliar,
Even when it feels maybe even more comfortable to be hard on yourself,
To make it that your own sense of identity is really tied in with something that you have to accomplish.
I completely understand that headspace.
What I'm trying to build and what we are trying to do as a collective community when we meditate is to practice in this stillness and to practice this idea that right now all is enough as is.
So with that in mind,
Finding a supported seat,
Picking something that feels really comfortable,
Really supportive for you today.
Taking a deep breath in and a gentle breath out.
And we're just going to use the word enough as our anchor.
And what that means is that when the mind wanders,
We start thinking,
We start planning.
We're just going to let this word kind of trail softly in our minds and silently just repeating enough,
Enough,
Enough.
You don't have to put any meaning or any definition on it or just simply practicing what it feels like to integrate this idea that we are enough as is right now.
And maybe it'll bring up feelings of anger or feelings of sadness.
That's okay.
We want to let it all be there.
We want to let it all be present.
So with that in mind,
You'll hear some music in the background.
We're just going to practice a bit.
So gentle breath in and gentle,
Easy exhale out.
And just practicing with this phrase enough.
On this next inhale in and a deep exhale out.
Breathing in light.
Exhaling ease.
Allowing yourself to rest in this space exactly as you are in this moment.
Beginning to sense into your surroundings,
Maybe rubbing your hands and fingers and toes,
Wiggling your feet a little bit.
And knowing this is a practice you can come to at any time,
Even in a busy workday.
You can just silently say to yourself enough.
When things feel heightened or things feel reactive,
It's okay.
It doesn't take away from you or your enoughness.
So really with this kind inward lens on ourselves,
Sharing that reminder that you are always enough as is.
And when you are ready,
Gently opening your eyes.
Thank you so much again for meditating with me and I hope to be meditating again with you soon.
