Welcome mindful writers.
I was listening to a talk recently about negativity bias in the human brain and how we can combat it.
It's a it's a lot to try to cover in a few seconds here but the takeaway I wanted to share with you was this idea of how we can push into positive experience to start to balance out the negativity bias that exists in our brains evolutionarily.
And we do that by reveling in the good.
And so for today's meditation,
We are going to embrace something that feels good.
We will start by bringing this thing to mind,
It can be a simple thing,
Sun on your face,
A pet in your lap.
I don't know,
An item in your home that you treasure,
Just something that brings you joy.
And then we'll sit with that and we'll foster it.
So let's go ahead and get started.
Coming into a seated position where we can be upright and alert but still relaxed.
Closing your eyes if it's comfortable for you.
Taking a moment to notice yourself in this space wherever you are.
Bottom on the cushion,
Hands in the lap.
Adjusting the posture a little bit if you need to to find a place of balance with the head on top of the spine.
Dropping the shoulders down and away from the ears,
Relaxing the belly.
And starting with a nice deep inhale.
Letting it go in your own time.
Taking a few more deep breaths in your own pace.
Noticing all the subtle sensations of breathing.
Letting them bring you into the present moment,
Starting to let go of concerns about the future,
Thoughts about the past.
Allowing ourselves to just be here right now with the breath.
And once you've taken those few deeper breaths,
Letting go of any control around the breathing.
Letting it find its natural rhythm.
Doing our best to maintain the awareness that we cultivated with the deeper breath.
So as the breath becomes more subtle,
Can you still notice the rise and fall of the chest,
The movement of air through the nose or over the lips?
And then we can use that awareness to check in with the rest of the body.
How are you today?
And how do you know?
Focusing more on the how do you know part.
Inviting curiosity.
Not making any effort to judge or fix or even change anything that we notice happening right now.
Trying to bring as much acceptance as we can into the body.
If we have aches and pains,
Okay,
We have aches and pains.
If we're feeling good,
Well,
That's lovely.
Enjoy it.
It will pass.
All things are impermanent.
So where are you right now?
What is it like to be in your body?
And then as always,
I like to bring in a few moments of gratitude for the body for getting us here for getting us into a position where we can take a few deep breaths.
Quiet our minds a little bit.
And for everything our body does all day every day for us without our ever having to be aware of it or think about it.
And then we'll let go of the gratitude practice as well.
Let our attention come to an anchor.
You can turn back towards the breath if that's comfortable,
Or turn your attention to a different physical sensation in the body embracing curiosity there or turn your attention outside the body to the sounds in the room.
Noticing as each sound rises and passes away,
Letting that attentiveness to sound to be your anchor.
And we'll stay with this anchor for a few minutes just to hone our focus.
And then we'll talk a little bit about positivity bias.
So for right now,
Rest with that anchor.
Notice when your mind wanders.
Let that thought go and come back to the anchor again.
All right,
Now,
I'd like to invite you to bring to mind something that makes you happy.
And it doesn't have to be something complicated.
It can be somewhere in your home that is a special place to you.
It could be a beautiful tree outside your window,
Be the voice of a loved one.
Anything that makes you feel good.
And we're just gonna notice what that feels like to feel good.
The problem with negativity bias is that we tend to dwell on things that aren't good.
And then when something good happens,
We're like,
Yep,
Great on to the next thing.
And science shows that if we take a moment,
They say 10 to 20 seconds to just let that good thing soak in,
It can start to balance our lives as a whole.
We don't get as caught up in the negative,
And we feel that there is more good in our lives.
So we're going to practice that.
Bring to mind that thing that makes you happy and revel in it.
What does it feel like to be with that thing or that animal or that person or whatever it is?
What are the sensations in your body?
When you feel that joy?
Are there different components to it?
Can you feed it and make it more intense?
So if what you feel initially is just a nice sense of joy,
Can you foster that until it becomes a more intense feeling of real joy of deep joy?
And for the next few minutes,
We'll let that be our anchor.
We'll focus on these positive sensations.
And then notice when your mind wanders.
Sometimes our brains aren't even comfortable with joy,
And your mind will race right off to something else,
Maybe even something negative to try to balance you out.
Notice that and then come back to that sense of joy.
Get curious about how your mind reacts to joy.
And now I'd like to invite you to imagine,
Maybe even visualize,
When you will next come into contact with this thing that makes you happy,
Brings you joy.
And envision yourself,
When that happens,
Pausing for 10 to 20 seconds,
That's two to three breaths,
It's not very long.
And letting the positive sensations be,
Noticing them,
Seeing if you can feed them,
Let them grow.
And as we do that,
As we make a practice of that,
We bring we're actively bringing joy and happiness into our life.
And I don't know anyone for whom that would be a bad thing.
Alright,
So for the remainder of the meditation on you can stay with that visioning if you want to,
If it's comfortable for you.
Or we can let that exercise go and just come back to the anchor that you started with your choice.
Happy writing my friends,
And may you always pause to enjoy the good things in your life.
