In this meditation and action session,
I invite you to let my words accompany whatever you may be doing as you move through your life.
The intention here is to help infuse whatever you may be doing with a sense of loving attention and patient care so that you can feel alive and present in this moment.
Remember,
Pay attention to this moment for this moment is your life.
So whatever it is you may be doing,
Just relax.
Soften your shoulders,
Release your lower back,
Let your throat unclench,
Let your jaw relax,
Let your belly release,
Just let everything go.
Is it possible that you're working harder than you need to here?
Is there room to release your muscles and your mind just a little bit?
Release any clutching you may feel in your fingers or your hands.
Your moment will likely grow a little easier and life will flow a little more freely if you loosen the tension in your body and loosen your fierce grip on life.
Make room for a little effortlessness and ease and maybe even enjoyment to settle into whatever it is that you're doing.
Take a few deep and easy breaths and let these breaths help you release any unnecessary tension from your body and your mind.
Let a nice long exhalation spill out of you.
It may even feel like a sigh of relief.
Let the inhalations feel easy and light and life-giving.
Exhale again letting go of any stress you may be holding in your shoulders or your throat or your belly and enjoy another easy inhalation and one more sigh of relief.
Let that bring you right back down to the here and now.
Now that we've relaxed and found the breath,
The invitation is to climb back into the present moment to know what it feels like to be you alive moving through life at this moment.
A moment that can never be repeated.
So what does it feel like to be alive right here and right now as you move through your day?
What sounds do you hear?
Sounds far off and sounds nearby.
What visions pass before your eyes in the form of light,
Color,
Shape and pattern?
Really drink in with your eyes the sights around you so that you're very clear about where you are and what do you sense in the way of smell and taste?
And what is the body sense as it expresses itself in the world?
The parts of you that are touching something,
What do they feel like?
What are your feet resting upon?
What are your hands touching?
What does your body feel like as you breathe in and breathe out?
What does your body feel like as you move through space?
What does the air feel like as it skins your nose,
Your forearms,
Your ankles maybe?
What sort of sensations ripple through your body as you shift and move across the earth?
And just continue doing whatever it is you're doing,
Reminding yourself to stay as relaxed and as at ease as possible.
Let your breath feel free and easy.
As much as possible let a feeling of freedom and lightness and openness and ease accompany you,
Injecting your experience with a beautiful feeling of vitality,
Maybe even a shimmering lightness and beauty.
Enjoy being right here,
Right now,
Experiencing whatever it is this moment has to offer you.
Life comes more easily when we relax,
When we soften our resistance,
When we let our guard down a little bit,
When we let go of a need to micromanage each moment.
So can you metaphorically ease your foot off the accelerator a bit,
Downshifting into an easier and more leisurely experience?
Can you shift your body and your mind into a quieter,
Easier,
More effortless place?
Can you just let everything be and climb into the experience right before you,
Right here and right now?
Just relax,
Breathe and enjoy the raw sensations of your present moment experience.
Attend deeply to the here and now.
Enjoy what you find.
Let your mind downshift and soften too as you do this,
Adopting a slightly easier and more open attitude.
Perhaps as you settle into the moment with ease and openness,
You may discover that this moment has beautiful gifts to offer you in the way of simple beauties and happiness and love that you might otherwise have missed.
Perhaps it's something as simple as a sound you love or a sensation rippling through the body with a simple feeling of drinking in the moment.
Whatever it may be,
If you encounter something that feels uplifting,
Soak it up.
Really let that feeling of simple pleasure or contentment make a home in your body and your mind.
Savor the experience if it brings you happiness.
And if you're finding some difficulties in the moment here,
No worries.
Just breathe,
Relax and let go of as much resistance as you possibly can,
Doing your best to manage with grace and to make peace with things just exactly as they are.
Perhaps as you continue moving through your day,
You can even widen your perspective a little bit so that your vision expands beyond your small self in this moment,
Taking a more panoramic view,
Taking a few steps back,
Taking a look at the big picture.
Place your small self into a deeper relationship with the bigger self of the world.
Plug into some greater source of life,
Spirit,
Vitality.
Sometimes when we settle deeply into the present moment,
We almost feel like we disappear into the soft folds of the experience.
That strong sense of self we cling to dissolves just a little bit.
There's a sense of merging with the experience of the here and now,
Expanding one sense of self beyond the skin so we become just movement,
Life in action,
Just a beautiful vessel expressing the vitality of the world.
And in these moments,
Love blooms quite easily and effortlessly.
We somehow become love incarnate and our lives become love in action.
What does it feel like again to be alive,
Filled with life and love right here and right now?
This remarkable creature of you sailing on this remarkable gift of life.
Don't try too hard,
Just let things be.
Just let the moment be.
Just let everything be.
And whatever it is you're doing,
Continue for as long as you like with your mind fully adhered to the experience,
Committing to keeping your eyes and ears and fingers on the lookout for moments of extraordinary beauty,
Infusing your experience with deep love and attention and letting it reconnect you with a broader energy and light and love of the world.
As the poet Derek Walcott offered,
Feast on your life.
You
