You can close your eyes when you feel comfortable to do that,
Or just lower your gaze and soften your focus.
And sink into the body,
Settle into the body,
Feel your feet on the floor,
Butt in the chair,
Shoulders dropping away from the ears,
Allowing your awareness to scan through the body just to notice,
Observe,
Any place that wants attention.
And you can start this practice by just gently,
Kindly smiling at that body part that wants attention.
Just let it know we see it,
We hear it,
We feel it.
Now,
Shifting awareness to the breath,
Just allow our attention to anchor to something reliable,
Repeatable,
So we can come back to it when it wanders.
Just going to notice the rhythm of our breath,
The speed,
The depth,
I'm not changing it,
Just noticing it.
Bringing into mind any intentions that you have for today,
Maybe for this practice.
You might notice intentions you have for your day,
For your week,
For your month,
For your year,
For your life,
And they're all just fine.
You're just bringing some awareness to the direction you're committed to going,
Direction you intend to go.
Is what brought you here today consistent with the intention you have for yourself,
For your life?
Just noticing that,
Acknowledging that.
Now,
We'll start with a small,
Sort of half smile,
A little Buddha smile,
A little Mona Lisa smile.
Feel that soften your eyes.
Notice how that softens your eyes.
That smile feels on your face,
Your cheeks,
Your eyes.
Really noticing the muscles involved and the sensations of gently,
Quietly smiling.
Notice if there's a pull to hang your smile on some thought.
If you begin to think of things that you're smiling about,
It's okay,
Just noticing.
Is there a story you tell about the smile,
Or is it just a smile and the physical sensations of smiling?
Now,
Looking around in your life,
With your mind's eye,
There are some things that are easy to smile about.
Maybe your kids,
Or your spouse,
Or your coffee.
Just,
It's easy for you to sit and smile when you think about that.
You can think of things in life now,
Flowers,
Sunshine,
Cool grass,
Warm rain,
Just life,
Easy to smile about.
Noticing the sensations in the body of smiling.
Anytime the mind wanders,
You just come back to the breath.
And then to the thing you're smiling about next.
And noticing your life again.
And where could you use a smile?
There's some place that's hard right now.
Challenging,
Difficult,
Where you could use a friend.
Go,
Go to yourself there,
And just sit and smile for a moment.
Gently.
And then as you zoom out,
Are there any friends that could use you to smile with them,
And sit with them?
And then as you zoom out,
Are there any friends that could use you to smile with them,
And sit with them?
And then as you zoom out,
Are there any friends that could use you to smile with them,
And sit with them?
And you can bring them to mind and sit.
Just breathe and smile with them.
Now checking in with how you feel.
Notice any sensations.
And create it from sitting and smiling.
Just thanking yourself one more time for taking the time to sit and smiling about how you feel right now.
And when you're ready,
Start to wiggle your body,
Open the eyes,
And come on back.
