So,
This is somewhere between a meditation and an invocation to bring you to fierce faith in the future and a wonderful sense that all is going to work out well so you can receive all the benefits that brings you.
Have fierce faith in the future.
Even if it seems slightly delusional to do so.
Cultivate your complete conviction that it's going to work out well.
Even if,
In truth,
We don't know how it will go.
Willing to be delighted and to be destroyed by quite how well it went.
Even if you don't yet know how life is going to do that for you.
Soften and settle as you listen.
Open your palms upwards.
Relax downwards in the place that you are sitting.
Tilt open your shoulder blades so that your heart has space to breathe,
To feel,
To let these words in.
Maybe even lift your chin a tiny bit so that your head is upwards towards optimism.
Then rest.
Be easy as you hear these words.
Let this blessing come to you.
Sometimes the wisest thing we can do is change our own expectations of life,
Is expect it to work out well.
Sometimes.
We need to set our expectations of the future to the switch marked.
Lovely.
It's gonna work out great.
And that expecting that is the sweetest and sanest and wisest thing that we could do.
I want to give you the fine print here.
I can't promise that switching your future expectations to lovely is going to make everything you want manifest.
Or that reality will turn out the way that you want it to.
What I can deeply promise you.
Is that it will lower your stress levels today.
It will bring some happiness to your heart in this moment,
In this practice session.
What I can promise you is that our life is made up of day after day after day.
And choosing our attitude and our orientation in each and every day can have a massive impact on the long term.
So,
As you sit here,
I invite you to firstly believe in beauty.
That some great good is about to happen.
That something sweet is coming around the corner for you.
That choosing to see life this way is an active choice you are making.
And perhaps the wisest way that you can navigate this very day.
It's true.
Sometimes it's daft to be delusional about the future.
We do need to take good action.
Be in touch with reality and take care of what needs taking care of.
That is real.
And yet sometimes having fierce faith in the future is adorable.
Sometimes it's an act of active resistance.
Sometimes it's an act of supreme self-care.
Sometimes,
Guessing that things are going to go really well is just the right way for us to proceed forwards.
Hope is a thing that lifts our heart.
So in this moment.
We're stepping away from stress,
From doom-scrolling,
From over-eating,
Over-doing,
Over-functioning and over-worrying.
We're resting down.
And deepening our breath.
And letting the worry drop away just for this moment,
Just for this practice period.
And filling our heart open a little more.
And maybe a smile come to our face.
Maybe a sense of sweetness enter our body.
Invite that into you.
Invite that in as you sit here and now.
Not talking about us being in denial that the world is hard and tricky right now.
It is.
And yet my lovely flowers are blooming.
And mamas are singing to their children.
And brave humans are doing incredible journeys with whatever they're being given.
And dear folks all over the earth are showing up for each other,
Showing up for what matters,
Attending gardens.
Are walking slowly with elders,
Are being there for each other,
And hummingbirds are flying.
And clouds are skitting across the sky.
And even amidst all that is hard,
There is loveliness.
What I am saying is that having our heart open can change most everything about our life.
And how we think about things has enormous impact.
So as you sit here,
I want to invite you to be a little delusional about how well it's going to work out.
Just so that you can lift your own spirits.
For when we are spirited and soulful and let up and full of life force,
Our gaze lifts.
Our heart is brighter and lighter.
And we are more able to be there for those next to us.
We're resourced,
We can see the people around us,
See what they need,
Really be there for them,
Listen for them.
We have enough resilience and resourcefulness to hear them when they tell us how it's going.
We can be there for their answer.
We can actually be together in a good way.
And when we could actually really be together.
Something softens.
We co-regulate,
We come into community,
We care for each other.
The world gets a little lovelier because our burdens are shared.
Because we can bear to be with what is hard.
So I want to throw down a challenge for you today.
Dare to be delusional.
Have fierce faith.
Believe that magical things are happening.
Make a stand for that life.
Show up for others I want to say it again.
The way we see things changes them.
So look for the good.
And be the get.
And take a stand for the good.
Trust in the long game.
Trust in what is unfolding.
Trust in loveliness.
Have fierce faith in something.
When we have faith in the way that it works out,
We're less reactive.
We're less downtrodden.
We can take brave actions that change the status quo.
We can bear to be with it,
To be with ourselves,
To be with others.
And in this way,
We change our own lives.
We change the life of others,
And perhaps we also change the future.
So as we finish up,
Now stretch out,
Have a big yawn,
Reach out.
Find something in your body that feels good.
Move a little,
Wiggle a little.
Perhaps feel a little delight in your heart.
A sense of some happiness that comes even when we practice just for a short while.
Know that the way you see the world can change reality,
That you have the power to change things within you.
And then go forth.
Be wildly optimistic.
The light in the good that is coming.
Wonder at the way it is working out.
Even amidst how it is.
Dare to be delighted.
Dare to have faith in the future.
Dare to lift up your own heart to delight in your days.
For this too will pass.
So,
Choose to see it well and choose to see it wisely.
And know that that might just be the thing that makes all the difference.
I thank you for your practice.
For your dedication to changing your own heart and changing the world.
I wish you a day of astoundingly wild graciousness.
If something wonderful happens,
Drop a note in the comments.
I'd love to hear about it.
And do come back and practice with me again.
Thank you so much for being part of this community.
