Begin right here.
Exactly where you are,
Exactly how you are.
There's nowhere else that's better to begin than right here.
Allow your awareness to find your breath wherever you can feel it most predominantly in your body.
And without making any effort to change or control the breath,
Just notice it.
Exactly how it is right now,
Right here.
You may notice that your breathing is shallow or quick.
Or maybe it's slow and relaxed.
The point isn't to breathe in any particular way or to have things be any particular way,
But simply to notice how it is for you right here,
Right now.
Feel the places where your body is making contact with the surface or the floor around you.
Maybe you feel your feet on the floor or perhaps the weight of your body in a chair.
And again,
No effort to change it or control it.
But just to observe how it is for you right now.
Bringing that same gentle awareness to the thoughts that are happening in your mind right now.
Are they loud,
Fast,
Incessant?
Or maybe slow and soft?
Or something in between?
Just noticing the thoughts that you're thinking right now,
Right here.
And then attuning to any emotions that are present for you.
As you settle in here,
What do you notice about how you feel?
Is there happiness or excitement,
Anxiety or sadness?
And without trying to change it or control it,
Can you just take note?
Whatever is happening with your emotions right here,
Right now.
So often we spend a lot of energy pushing away our experience,
Thinking that we should be feeling something different than we're feeling.
Or perhaps chasing after what we imagine would be a more pleasurable experience.
All that energy and effort chasing,
Pushing.
When really the peace and the joy that we're after can only be found when we give ourselves permission to be right here,
Right now.
So we start where we are.
Locating ourselves on the map of this human experience with whatever thoughts we're thinking,
Whatever feelings we're feeling,
Whatever sensations might be happening in our physical body in this moment.
This is the perfect place to start.
Right here,
Right now.
What if you just gave yourself permission to experience what you experience as you experience it without thinking in any way that you should be experiencing anything else?
What if?
What if the truth of this moment was always welcome in the spaciousness of your own heart?
What if every moment you could begin again exactly where you are and how you are,
Knowing and trusting that it's perfect?
What if?
Maintaining a sense of awareness on your breath,
Inviting a slightly deeper,
Fuller breath into the body now.
And if your eyes were closed,
Invite you to open your eyes again to receive the objects,
The light,
The people,
Things in the room around you.
