Hello dear friend.
Welcome.
I'm so delighted that you're here for this brief but yet impactful practice that I like to call the Smiling Meditation.
It's really inspired by a beautiful thought from a beloved and renowned monk,
Thich Nhat Hanh,
Who once said,
Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile.
However,
Sometimes it's your smile that is the source of your joy.
So with that being said,
Sweet one,
I invite you to assume a meditation posture and as you begin settling into stillness,
Noticing how the next few in-breaths invite a mild upliftedness through the body and particularly on the corners of the mouth.
So as you breathe in,
You can feel them start to rise and lift up to the outer edges of your eyes.
And then as you breathe out,
Maintaining that upliftedness,
You can begin noticing how everything else around softens and relaxes.
All the muscles in the face,
Even behind the eyes,
Down the throat,
The chest,
The neck,
The shoulders,
The belly,
All the way through the arms and the fingertips,
Down the legs,
The tips of the toes.
And for this practice,
It's really quite simple in technique,
Which is this invitation to sit with this gentle smile while observing how this impacts or influences your own physiology and psychology.
You might notice an easing of the mind.
Even if there's a lot of mental activity,
If you sit with a smile,
It's no longer so personal.
It doesn't feel as threatening or as much of as an intrusion,
As more of this phenomenon that occurs from being human.
We can hold,
Learn to hold so much more lightly.
And the same applies to whatever is physically present in the body.
If it's met with a smile,
There's some softening around that,
Loosening around any bodily discomfort,
Tension,
Or pain.
It's as if the smile just welcomes and says,
This can be here.
It's more than welcome to exist in my orbit in this moment.
So I invite you,
Dear friend,
As you sit in this spaciousness of awareness,
Becoming the observer of your experience,
Feeling the breath come and go,
To not lose that gentle smile from your lips.
This part of the body becomes your anchor for the next minute or two here,
That reference point to the present moment and to this invitation to welcome and receive whatever is flowing through.
And you may even discover that this smile actually supports a greater sense of being in harmony with whatever is.
The mind can be unruly.
The body can be uncomfortable.
The heart can feel contracted.
And yet,
And yet,
You can hold it all lightly with grace,
With this light touch of humor.
As we come to a closing of this practice,
I'd like to offer you this opportunity with the next in-breath to maybe allow that smile to grow even larger.
And then feeling how it's all gathered up as your whole body supports a smile and a smiling,
Including your mind and heart,
And maintaining that vigor,
That enthusiasm as you exhale so we don't lose it.
And then taking a few moments just to notice how the mind,
Body,
And heart feel in this moment.
Has there been any shifts,
Even subtle,
In your mood,
In your mental disposition,
In your perspective or perception,
Whatever's happening in your world?
Can it all just be held with this very tender,
Loving smile that becomes the source of your joy and the source of everyone's joy?
So may we take this practice with us for the rest of the day and allow this smile to uplift the hearts of others and all beings,
Sending out those good vibrations,
My friend.
Thank you for your practice,
Your presence,
And your beautiful smile that you cast upon the world.
Keep going,
Sweet one.
