Here's a quote I'd like you to keep in mind for today.
This has been attributed to Plato.
Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.
So this idea that every single person,
No matter what they look like,
How they might seem to you on the surface,
They are fighting a hard battle and they're struggling to figure out how to live a good life.
And you can remember to be kind to them for that reason.
And you can take a moment to settle your awareness and adjust your body to a stable position here.
Become aware of the sounds around you.
Letting go of the interpretation of what those sounds mean,
But just the raw sensation of sound.
Sound of my voice.
Sounds coming from inside of you.
The other sounds around you.
What's the raw sensation of sound like before your thoughts about the sound?
And now see if you can turn your attention to the sensation of smell.
What do you smell right now?
And if there's no particular smell that stands out to you that you can identify,
How do you notice that?
Just the raw sensation of smell.
And now you can move to vision.
And try this with your eyes closed.
So if they were open,
You can gently close them.
If they're closed,
Of course you can leave them closed.
It can be interesting to do this with your eyes closed because there's still the sensation of sight even behind closed eyelids.
Could be some sensation of light.
Some sort of flickering or waving.
Little dots,
Circles,
A sense of spaciousness.
Just the raw sensation of sight with your eyes closed.
You might even move your eyes around and from side to side behind closed eyelids and then just rest them.
Now this one's a little different,
But see if you can become aware of the general sensation of relationship.
Of your connection to others physically around you,
Wherever you may be and however far away from others you may be right now.
That's the sense of connection and relationship to others in your physical space.
And now expand your awareness to those in your larger,
Wider physical environment.
This might be your town or even your state that you're living in.
Now feel your sense of connection to those that you really care about.
You can call up those people in your mind,
Images of them.
Imagine one or two people that you really care about and have an image of them in your mind.
Imagine the sounds of their voices.
And just feel into the sensation of your connection to them.
No need for a story or thoughts about this.
Just feel this sensation of connection for a moment.
What does it feel like as a sense?
Alright how was that?
So I'd like you to continue to try to embody that almost physical felt sense of connection.
And I'll leave you with that message to end this session.
And I encourage you to open up to this space today with whoever you interact with,
Whether it's someone that you know really well,
Someone that maybe you work with every day,
Or someone that you don't know at all,
A stranger,
Someone you see at the grocery checkout line.
See if you can open up to this space and be really just interested in what it is that they're communicating.
And have a great day.
