Thich Nhat Hanh,
Who is one of my very favorite authors and teachers,
He says that we must nourish the seeds of joy in ourselves every single day.
He says that we have within us all of the seeds,
Seeds of anger,
Seeds of fear,
Seeds of peace,
Seeds of love,
And seeds of joy.
And the seeds that we nourish,
That we water,
That we cultivate,
Are the seeds that grow.
And so today I would like to assist you in your journey of cultivating joy and nourishing the seeds of joy within yourself.
So I invite you to come into a comfortable position in your body.
So that can be laying down,
You can be sitting in a chair,
Or sitting on the floor,
Whatever feels good to you in this moment.
Just make sure that your legs feel comfortable,
That your seat feels secure,
That your spine is nice and straight,
Your shoulders are relaxed,
Your hands are in a comfortable position.
I like to have my hands facing palms up for this particular meditation.
And then your eyes,
You can have them closed or you can rest your gaze on a spot just beyond your nose.
So to start off,
I just want to invite you to begin to notice your breathing.
So just start to notice how the air is moving through your body today.
And just fall into the rhythm,
The sacred rhythm of your breath in this moment.
And you can feel how the air might tickle your nostrils as it comes in.
Perhaps you can feel the air cooling the back of your throat as you inhale.
Maybe you can feel your chest rising and falling as your sacred rhythm,
Your breath moves.
And I just invite you to notice where you feel your breath most in your body,
In your belly,
The sides of your rib cage,
In your chest.
Just noticing.
And I'd like you to draw your attention to any sounds around you without judgment.
Just noticing the distant sounds,
The nearby sounds,
Sounds of your own breathing.
And just surrender to this present moment.
Give yourself permission to be here right now.
And I invite you to repeat after me either aloud or in your head.
I grant myself permission to just be.
I grant myself permission to be present,
To be present with my breath,
To be present with my body.
I do not have to be yesterday.
I do not have to be tomorrow.
I can just be right here.
And I can just be right now.
And in this present moment,
I invite you to recall a moment of great joy in your life.
A moment when you felt joy throughout your whole body and all around you.
Maybe there's multiple moments that come to mind.
And I'd like you to think about where you were in this moment of great joy.
Who were you with in this moment of great joy?
And as you reflect on this moment,
I'd like you to recall what your senses picked up.
What were the sounds?
What were the smells?
What were the colors?
The textures?
What were the colors?
And as you recall this moment of great joy,
I want you to allow that joy to fill your body.
Feel it emanating from your heart center.
Feel it all around you,
Embracing you,
Freeing you.
You can allow a smile to grow up into your cheeks and warm your face.
And just breathe deeply into this feeling of great joy.
Breathe into it and surrender to it.
Know that you are safe here.
And you can just be in joy.
And as you continue to breathe into this feeling,
This full body feeling,
I invite you to release the memory but still feel the warmth,
The brightness,
The smile,
The joy.
Know that that joy is present with you now,
Even without the memory.
The joy is within you,
Always.
And I'd like us to close with some affirmations.
And you can repeat these with me either in your head or loud.
There is no shame in my joy.
I am worthy of joy.
Joy is innate within me.
I choose joy.
I choose to nourish the seeds of joy within me.
I choose to cultivate joy in my life each day.
Continuing to breathe,
Allowing joy to be one with you.
You can slowly open your eyes and move into the rest of your day.
And I encourage you,
If you journal,
Now is a wonderful time to journal.
As you reflected on joy,
Perhaps you want to write down where you were and what you were doing and how it felt and what were the smells and the tastes.
Write down 10 things that bring you joy.
And know that those are the seeds that you can cultivate and nourish each day.
