So,
Just finding a comfortable stationary position,
And straight away from the get-go,
Releasing our breath into its natural rhythm.
That means that we allow our body to choose the rhythm,
The pace,
The volume of breathing on its own,
Briefly revisiting our most meaningful aspiration,
Aspirations,
Desires,
Wishes,
With regards to contemplative practice.
And then to start the practice of rejoicing itself,
Thinking of any generous,
Or loving,
Or compassionate act that we have performed in the last few days.
It can be as elaborate or as small as needed.
We can think of giving someone an encouraging smile,
Or donating a billion pounds.
It doesn't matter.
Both of these would stem from generosity,
From loving-kindness,
From care,
From the wish to serve,
From the wish to alleviate suffering.
So we find that act,
And if it is truly meaningful and kind and generous,
Then we don't need to be too doubtful about that.
We can simply feel how wonderful,
How amazing,
Strengthening this feeling of it being wonderful for a few cycles of breathing.
Once again,
Using our exhalation to fan the flames of delight if we wish.
And then moving on to a generous,
Kind,
Or compassionate action that someone else has done.
For example,
The Center's volunteers have prepared this room for us today,
Putting out all the cushions,
Preparing the space,
Awaiting our arrival,
Creating the conditions for us to be doing these contemplative practices.
How kind,
How wonderful,
How delightful.
Fanning the flames of delight with each new exhalation,
Resting in the attitude of how wonderful.
And then we go into a sequence of free associations in which our mind can freely go between different wholesome,
Meaningful,
Virtuous actions done by other people,
Done by us,
Done by people in ancient past,
Done by someone who's our contemporary.
Simply,
All the acts of incredible kindness and compassion,
Generosity,
Wisdom,
And so forth that we can think of.
And whenever one action of that nature catches our attention,
And it might be something that we did a month ago,
Ten years ago,
That we're doing right now by practicing,
We hold on to that action for a little while,
We generate the attitude of how wonderful,
And after a few cycles of breathing,
We move on to the next one.
There might be a logical connection between these two actions that we focus on,
But not necessarily.
We're simply scanning the present and the past for any sparks of virtue,
And we generate the delight.
How wonderful.
Not forgetting to include the fact that we are training our mind in positive mental states right now.
That is truly wonderful as well.
And then,
With all of this delight accumulated in our mind,
With all of this positive potential strengthened by this orderly type of thinking,
We,
To conclude the meeting itself,
Take some moments to dedicate the energy of our practice to our highest goals and aspirations.
And to the happiness,
Well-being,
And freedom of all who live.
May all beings experience the true,
Ultimate delight of uncovering their own true potential.
And with that,
We come back to the body,
We reactivate the body by rocking back and forth,
And so on,
And we slowly conclude our practice.
