This is Benjamin and I'm going to guide you today on a short practice to deepen your sense of peace,
Mindfulness and joy.
Sometimes by simply taking a moment to appreciate the things in our life that already bring us a sense of joy and peace,
We increase our capacity to find and notice these things in our awareness.
In this practice,
We're going to be settling into the present moment,
Wherever we are right now and just noticing what already is there that makes us happy.
We don't need to be anywhere special.
Let's begin by taking a few deep breaths together.
In through the nose,
Sigh it out.
Two more breaths like that,
In through the nose,
Sigh it out nice and long.
And one more,
In deeply through the nose.
And release it with a big sigh.
Just breathing naturally now in and out through the nose,
Appreciating the sensation of the breath moving through our nostrils.
Feeling a sense of grounding by bringing our awareness to the sensation at the base of our feet,
Maybe touching the ground.
Or maybe bringing awareness to our bottoms settled into a seat or a couch or a chair and just noticing the weight of our body,
The sensation of gravity holding us down.
Just being present with that.
Sitting comfortably,
Staying calm.
Look around the room,
Look around the space that you're in right now.
And find something that you like.
You may not love everything you see or experience in that space.
But there are most likely something,
A sight,
A feeling,
A sound,
A smell that you do like.
It could be as simple as a color or a shape.
When you notice something you do like,
Say to yourself,
For example,
I like the light from that lamp,
Or I like that color blue,
Or maybe I like the sound of those pigeons outside my window.
Say this silently to yourself in your head whenever you notice something that you simply enjoy.
And say it out loud if you want.
And just remember,
There's no right or wrong with this practice.
We're just being true to ourselves in this moment and looking for things,
Even very simple things that bring us a little bit of joy.
When the mind does wander or falls into a sense of judgment,
Just come back.
Come back to the present moment.
Use the anchor of the sensation on the bottom of your feet to come back into the physical moment.
And then open back up to the experiences around you.
You can do this practice whenever you like,
Throughout the day,
Wherever you are,
Sometimes even in the most unlikely places.
If we ground ourselves and challenge ourselves to find a simple thing that we can appreciate,
We can increase our capacity for joy.
One more time,
Look around the space you're in,
Find one more thing that you can appreciate that brings you just a bit of joy,
Or maybe a lot of joy.
And resting in that sense of appreciation,
Let's take three more breaths together to exit this meditation and go about our day holding space for this sense of joy.
In through the nose,
Long exhale through the nose,
In through the nose,
Exhale through the nose.
And one more,
In through the nose,
And release it with a long exhale.
May you carry this mindful awareness throughout the rest of your day.
