Hello and welcome to today's meditation.
My name is Bradley Marcus.
I'm a Theravadan Buddhist philosopher and today's meditation is going to be solely focused on being okay.
We often find ourselves in various conditions and concerns,
Things to worry about,
Things to do,
And it may even feel that we are not okay.
So today's meditation I'm going to walk you through how to start feeling okay right here and right now.
Remember the world that we live in is not conducive to a natural experience as a human,
But things like the internet,
Social media,
Being removed from nature,
Staring at screens,
These are all things that are not conducive to being human and a lot of them are unnatural.
So with that being said,
We need to be a bit kinder to ourselves and do things that are a bit natural.
And one of those things is following the breath.
So when you are ready,
I'd like you to get into an upright position,
Preferably seated,
Somewhere where you will not fall asleep or get too tired.
Find a place that is quiet and will not disturb you.
And when you are ready,
We'll begin this meditation.
Close your eyes and begin by taking a long,
Deep inhale through the nose,
Filling your lungs completely with air.
Continuing to fill those lungs and pulling that air deep down into the diaphragm and fill your lungs all the way up.
And once you think that you cannot fill them up anymore,
See if you can get just a few more sips of breath in and release all out of the mouth when you are ready.
Return to a normal state of breathing through the nose and simply begin this meditation by watching your breath.
Watch how the breath enters the nose,
Passes through the back of the mouth,
Into the trachea and into the lungs,
And even down into the belly.
Making sure we pull the air in deep into our belly and extending our belly with each in-breath and pushing our belly back into the body with each out-breath.
Pulling in nice,
Consistent breaths and simply following the breath,
Watching it enter through the nose and touch the back of the mouth,
Into the trachea,
Into the lungs,
And even into the belly and back out again.
Do that for a few moments now.
Making sure we have no opinion or no thoughts or no judgments with how we are feeling,
With any thoughts that may arise,
And simply just becoming observer of this experience.
I like to be like a scientist with my meditations,
Watching all sounds,
Sensations,
Feelings,
Emotions,
And thoughts like I'm conducting an experiment.
And like a scientist,
We can write down in our minds our observations.
This sensation is pleasant,
This thought is unpleasant,
This thought is neutral.
As you continue to follow your breath through the nose,
In the back of the mouth,
The trachea,
The lungs,
And the belly,
I'd like you to be like a scientist for a few more moments,
Labeling any sensations or thoughts as pleasant,
Unpleasant,
Or neutral.
Continue now following the breath,
Removing any judgments we may have from these sensations,
And simply observing them as they are.
When we experience unpleasant conditions,
When we experience consistent unpleasant conditions,
We may feel what some might call not okay.
It may feel like the world is pinning us down,
Like we are drowning in wet cement.
The more we move,
The more we struggle.
And in a way,
This metaphor is quite poetic,
Because what we often try to do is think our way out of a situation.
We struggle,
We fight,
We push,
We pull,
We claw,
We dig,
We lift up every corner of the mind,
Every rock and overturn this possibility of maybe things will be different if I think of it this way.
Maybe things will be different if I adjust this part of the situation.
But the truth is,
Most of the time,
Our problems will simply pass on their own.
And the best way to deal with not being okay,
Is to simply be okay with not being okay.
As we get older and have more life experiences,
We learn that there are a lot of unpleasant sensations in this life.
The Buddha called this dukkha,
Uneasiness,
Unpleasantness,
Uncomfortability,
Or even suffering.
However,
Our suffering really comes from our reactions to these unpleasant experiences.
So in fact,
It is more important to simply develop the skill of observing the unpleasant sensations,
As opposed to trying to think our way out of them.
If we simply allow the unpleasant sensations to come and go as they naturally do,
We will limit their lifespan.
How much time,
How much energy do we use fighting and clawing at the wet cement?
When we stop for a moment and simply become mindful of the problem,
Mindful of the sensation,
And we simply practice non-attachment to it,
We remove ourselves from becoming entangled with it,
From identifying with it.
We stop becoming the problem,
And in doing so,
The illusion of drowning in wet cement dissolves.
It is okay to not be okay.
It is okay to deal and experience unpleasant sensations.
And in this way,
We can regroup,
Re-evaluate,
And adjust in our lives.
We can refocus with a clear and calm mind once the nervous system has settled down and decide,
Are the things we are doing beneficial to our well-being?
Are they beneficial to others' well-being?
And perhaps it may be time for a change.
But first,
It's important to come to a place of solitude,
Come to a place of being okay with not being okay.
Continuing with our focus on the breath,
Feeling the air,
Enter the nose,
Touch the back of the mouth,
Hit the lungs and the trachea,
All the way down into the belly.
And once we are at a place of solitude within not being okay,
We can begin to start to build more positive reinforcements.
And so what I'd like you to do now,
With a calm,
Collected,
And non-judgmental mindset,
Is to think about generosity.
I'd like you to think about giving something to somebody,
Giving something to somebody you love,
Somebody you care about.
And I'd like you to hold that image in your mind,
And I'd like you to feel the sensation of giving something to someone.
This could be time,
Energy,
It could be making a meal for someone you love.
And I'd like you to imagine that feeling,
That feeling that you get when you give something to somebody without asking anything in return,
That positive feeling that feels so good.
And I'd like you to imagine it in the center of your chest,
And with each breath,
It begins to expand.
We continue to stay mindful of where the breath enters the body and exits,
And we continue to feel this giving,
Loving energy expand even further now,
And expand even further now.
Filling up our entire chest,
Our entire abdomen,
This feeling loving-kindness,
This energy of generosity is now expanding into our legs and our arms.
It's reaching into our neck now,
Our head,
Our feet,
And our hands,
Our entire body is now radiating with generosity,
With loving-kindness,
With that beautiful feeling we have when we give something to someone.
There may be a large smile across your face in this moment,
I know there's one here for me.
And in this moment,
We can recognize that this is what life is really about.
It is about giving,
It is about loving,
And even in our hardest moments,
When we feel not okay,
We can sit within this feeling of generosity,
Of loving-kindness.
We can still make decisions that are beneficial to us,
Set boundaries as needed,
But this giving and loving energy is unboundless.
It is never-ending,
It is ultimate.
And so next time we're not feeling okay,
We can put this meditation on.
We can recognize our reaction to our sensations is what leads to our suffering,
And then we can follow with compassion and love for others,
Generosity for others,
And compassion,
Love,
And generosity for ourselves.
Thank you for joining me.
My name is Bradley Marcus.
If you enjoyed this meditation,
Please let me know.
May you be well,
And may you be free of suffering.
Thank you for joining me today.
