For the next 10 minutes,
Just closing the book on the story of you.
You can pick this story back up after this meditation if you wish,
But just for this time,
Just closing the book on the story of you and placing it on the shelf.
And in that book is everything.
The entire story so far,
The current situation and circumstance,
And all projected and imagined futures also.
Simply stop telling yourself this story.
The book is closed,
Safely and securely stored on the shelf.
There will be no more telling of this story for this time.
Just notice the now without any narratives.
Does this present moment need a story?
There is no imagination or analysis needed to simply be aware of this moment.
Just be open to the now.
There are no characters here.
There's no protagonist.
Everything just is.
Simple,
Pure,
Clear.
No beginning,
No middle,
No end.
Just this.
Just being.
Pure being.
Meaning being without anything added.
No names,
No labels,
No numbers,
No interpretations.
All of those words belong to the story,
But the story is closed.
There are no names.
There are no labels or numbers.
These things are all imagined.
And just be without this imagination for a while.
Just being.
This pure being without any story or narrative,
Without any characters or names,
Requires no effort.
You can let go.
Just leave the world alone.
Let the body just be,
Without any history stored within it.
Release that now.
Just feel the body as it is now.
Get the story out of the body.
Notice how much freer that feels.
Like taking off a tight pair of shoes,
Or unbuckling a tight belt.
Just get the story off of the body.
Release.
And keep the story out of the mind.
Just give the mind a break.
The mind deserves a rest from its relentless imagination and analysis.
Planning,
Scanning for threats,
Assessing events from the past.
The mind is exhausted.
Just leave it within the story,
Which is safely,
Securely on the shelf.
There is no past.
There are no current situations or circumstances.
There is only now.
And what is the reality of now?
Just being within the now.
The now requires no story of a situation or a circumstance.
It just is immediate and raw.
No characters.
No future,
No next moment.
Just blank,
Empty space.
Nothing to be done.
The colourful,
Energetic material of reality,
Unmanifested,
Unprocessed,
Unconstrained by the human mind's need for narrative.
Just let the raw material of reality just be.
Do not put it into too tight of a story.
Release and be loose.
And in a moment,
We will be leaving the formal aspect of this meditation.
But just noticing how quick the mind wants to pull that story back off the shelf and get lost and involved once again.
And just recognise how much power you actually have to just do not be so quick to pick that story back up.
You do have this power.
This is the power of your attention,
The power of your awareness.
You may find that actually,
Well,
Although you would like to bring the story back into your experience,
You don't necessarily need to bring it all back in.
There are some events and situations that are in those older,
Dustier pages.
And maybe it's time to just pull those pages out.
They're just not necessary now.
It just weighs the book down.
Or maybe it's time to just leave that entire story and start a new one.
Just pick up a fresh new notebook and we'll start today.
Thank you for doing this meditation with me today.
Take care,
Be well,
And stay present.
