Hello and welcome.
My name is Keri Bethan.
Our practice today will be a reflection on happiness.
Taking a moment now,
Wherever you are,
To find comfort and stillness.
Take in a few deep breaths,
Making any last-minute adjustments to your posture.
Allow your body to settle,
The mind to settle,
And then the breath to settle.
Bring awareness to your presence.
Take a moment to check in with your physical body,
To check in with the space where you are.
Feel yourself connected to wherever you're seated.
Feel the weight of your legs,
Your feet.
Feel yourself here in this moment,
Grounded,
Present.
If at any point in practice you find yourself lost in the thinking mind,
Take a moment to pause,
To observe and notice that this is a thought.
And do so without judgment,
As this noticing is the richest part of our learning.
This pause to observe the thinking mind is the space you need to create choice.
You can choose to go with the thought,
Swept away on a sea of thinking.
Or you can choose to see it for what it is.
Gently label thinking,
Thinking,
And allow the thought to drift by like a cloud in the sky.
Then make the conscious choice to come to the breath,
Breath to body.
Breath bringing you back into the present moment.
Happiness is our resting place.
When nothing clouds our sky,
It is our default state.
We can find it in presence,
In being.
So rest your awareness now on the sensations of breathing,
Allowing each inhale and exhale to anchor you to now.
Receiving each breath as if you're breathing in something precious,
The gift of life.
Each new breath is a reason for happiness if we choose to see it that way.
Beginning to notice the space between the breath,
The moment of pause.
And as you begin to rest in that pause,
Can you begin to awaken the sense that in this very moment of stillness,
All needs are met.
There is nothing to do right now but be.
And as you savor that space,
You'll find a sense of freedom.
Freedom from the thinking mind,
From fears and worries.
And the freedom to simply be.
And you'll begin to get a sense of the natural state of being.
Peace.
Contentment.
Happiness.
Bring a soft half-smile to your face.
And allow the energy that the smile brings to fill up your body as you breathe.
Calming the body.
And calming the mind.
Guiding you to a deeper place of peaceful presence.
And when you feel comforted,
I invite you now to bring the awareness deeper.
Coming down into the body and resting at the heart.
Take a moment to feel the heart beating.
To feel the sensations.
To witness the connection from breath to beat.
To witness your being.
And as you rest here now,
We'll begin to awaken and cultivate the seed of happiness within.
Beginning now to reflect on the moments in your life when you feel happy.
Creating a happiness list.
I feel happy when taking your time to notice what arises from the heart and choosing to turn your attention there.
Allow your true self to answer deep within you,
In your heart.
And there are no wrong answers.
No one will ever see the list.
This is unique and personal to you.
I feel happy when and noticing what happens within you when you reflect.
The very act of making this list,
Of turning your awareness towards the things that bring you happiness,
Will give rise to the feelings of happiness within you.
Perhaps you feel the heart expanding.
A feeling of warmth.
A smile growing on your face.
As these feelings awaken,
See that this happiness is within you.
We do not need the external.
True happiness is already here.
In your presence.
In your stillness.
When we let go of the noise,
The expectations,
We discover that it is already here and possible in every moment.
In the ordinary moments.
The simple,
Precious moments that happen in every day.
The key to happiness,
To true well-being,
Depends not on the outside,
But on our awareness.
On our willingness to see.
As you breathe,
Know that happiness is already here.
It is in every moment.
Choose to see it.
Beginning now to shift the breath from natural to conscious.
As you deepen inhales,
And extend exhales,
And allow these feelings to spread through you like a golden light,
Savoring the presence of happiness,
Remembering this feeling is in you,
Resting in your heart.
It is you.
It is the place you can move from now,
Bringing happiness into your day with each step.
It is the place you can return to when you lose your way.
Each breath.
Each pause can bring you happiness.
It is always here.
Always possible.
Whenever you're ready,
Begin now to guide yourself out of practice.
From my heart to yours.
Thank you.
Namaste.
