Welcome to this guided meditation for bringing in brightness.
This meditation is for days that you're feeling good or neutral,
And you'd like to elevate your mood to joy.
These practices will take you out of your mental space and into your heart space,
Where there is boundless potential for happiness and joy.
Let's begin sitting in an upright posture,
Your feet firmly on the ground,
And if you're comfortable,
Close your eyes and just begin to breathe naturally.
Breathing in and slowly breathing out.
Continue this cycle,
Breathing in and breathing out.
And in this way,
We use the breath as an anchor to help us ground to the earth.
And as you continue to breathe,
Just begin to witness your experience,
What's happening right here in the space that you're breathing.
Noticing any body sensations,
Any tightness or looseness,
Any discomfort or comfort in the body.
Just noticing,
Not judging,
Just witnessing,
Allowing these sensations to be there as you continue to breathe in and breathe out.
Allowing your awareness to really take in what's in this space,
Noticing any sounds that are near,
Noticing any sounds that may be far away.
Again,
Not judging or thinking about them,
But just witnessing,
Noticing these sounds as you breathe in and breathe out,
Discovering what's here in your experience in this moment.
And as you take in your next breath,
See if you can allow your shoulders to soften,
Allow all the muscles in your face and your forehead to soften.
Allow your body to really rest into each breath,
Bringing you to a quieter and quieter place.
And now let's open up into a loving kindness practice.
Bring a gentle focus now to your heart space,
Breathing deeply into that heart space as if you could warm up your heart space with every breath.
And now bring into your heart space an image of yourself as you experience yourself right now,
What you're feeling in your body,
Any emotions that you're having,
The mood you're in.
And notice what happens when you begin to wish yourself well.
And just silently in your mind,
You may want to repeat the following phrases.
May I be happy.
May I be well.
May I be healthy and whole.
May I be loved and supported.
Just as I love and support myself.
And just observing what happens in your heart space as you wish yourself well.
Accepting whatever is there.
If it's easy for you to do or even if it's more challenging.
Just being an observer of what is happening in your heart space.
And now let the image of yourself fade away and call to mind an image of someone you love deeply,
Someone who just makes your heart sing.
This could be a pet or a child,
A best friend,
Someone you have an easy,
Uncomplicated relationship with.
And with the image of this person in mind,
Noticing what happens in your heart as you wish them well.
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be healthy and whole,
Loved and supported.
Just as you love and support yourself.
And just feeling and sensing into your heart space.
Seeing what happens as you wish this loved one well.
And now allow that image to dissolve in your mind and bring to mind someone you have struggled with.
Maybe it's someone that you don't always see eye to eye with.
Or there's been a disagreement or hurt feelings in the past.
And just observing what happens in your heart space when you wish this person well.
When you say to them,
May you be happy.
Just as I wish myself happiness and wellness.
May you be healthy and whole.
And just noticing that this person like yourself also longs for happiness and longs to be free from suffering.
And if you find that it's not possible or uncomfortable to wish this person well,
That's okay too.
Just accepting whatever is happening in your heart space at this moment.
And now let's direct that loving kindness to the whole world.
Those who are close to us and those who are far away.
People we know and people we don't know.
People who are at war and people who are at peace.
Both externally and internally.
May we all be happy.
May we all be well.
May we all find love and support in our lives.
Just as we love and support ourselves.
And now let's begin a short gratitude practice.
Bring to mind a moment in the past week where you felt good.
It can be while you were walking down the street,
Sitting in your car,
Having a cup of tea.
Just a moment where you felt at ease.
Maybe a sense of peace washed over you.
But you just felt good.
Bring that to mind in all its dimensions.
Imagining the place.
Maybe any fragrances or sensations that you remember.
Bring it to mind and vivid recall.
Savoring this moment where you felt good.
Pausing to really take in the experience and allow a sense of gratitude for this moment of goodness.
You can allow any other thing that you remember as well.
Any moments where you felt really good.
Moments of achievement.
Moments of connection.
Just moments where you felt really good.
An internal sense of ease and peace.
Bring each of these to mind and savor the moment.
What was there?
What were you looking at?
Maybe what were you touching?
What were you feeling?
Bring it to life and savor it in this moment.
As you breathe it in.
Breathing it into every corner of your body and feeling the gratitude.
Taking a deep breath in now.
And if you like,
You can set an intention to bring in brightness throughout your day to day.
Bringing to mind thoughts of gratitude or thoughts of loving kindness,
Well wishing.
Whenever you would like to move from your mental space and back into your heart space.
Taking one more deep breath now.
Open your eyes and come back to the room.
Wiggling your fingers and toes and bringing an aliveness to your body.
Really noticing how you feel and bringing this feeling into the rest of your day.
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