Searching Out The Pleasant Things

Searching out the small and subtle pleasant aspects of our experience and life. Doing this helps us to balance out the negativity bias of our brain to naturally look out for all the negative things. This is completely natural and part of being human.

Transcript

So choosing a comfortable posture that's comfortable for your body.

Lowering your gaze or closing your eyes if you'd like to,

To reduce those distractions.

Settling yourself into this moment,

Into the surface that's supporting you.

Letting that surface hold you,

Letting gravity hold you,

And seeing if you can release any tension and relax and soften your body,

Even if it's just one percent more than it currently is.

And maybe even having a little check-in and just sensing your body,

Where is the tightness and holding and stiffness?

And can you soften that,

Can you let go of it a little bit as the surface and gravity hold you?

And perhaps letting your shoulders drop down and back,

Letting your chest open up,

Letting your lungs fully expand,

Relaxing the face,

The jaw,

The chest,

The belly.

So coming to your chosen anchor,

That might be the breath,

It might be the feet on the floor,

It might be the body on the chair or the bed.

Choosing your preferred anchor and resting your awareness there.

So perhaps noticing the movement of the breath,

Perhaps noticing the movement sensations in the body,

Allowing the whole body to be rocked by the breath in this moment,

Gently as you breathe in and you breathe out.

And just following your natural breath,

You don't have to breathe a particular way.

So noticing the body expand on the in-breath and release on the out-breath.

And having a sense of opening to this moment and your experience mentally,

Physically,

Emotionally,

Opening to this experience in this moment.

And as you sense into your body,

Noticing what's here physically,

Mentally and emotionally.

Are there any things that you're noticing that you're not noticing?

Physically and emotionally.

Are there any things that you'd rather push away,

That you'd rather avoid?

Maybe aspects of your experience that you're hardening against,

Maybe there's resistance,

There's tension.

If so,

Just noticing this with kindness and curiosity.

Can you allow and accept this to be part of your experience right now?

Even if it's very gradually.

Can you include these elements in your experience right now?

And holding that within a broader spacious awareness of your whole body.

Holding everything that's here in your awareness,

In your bodily sensations right now.

Letting everything be here that's here.

Letting everything be rocked and cradled by the breath.

As you gently breathe,

Sensing this life-giving breath as you breathe in and you breathe out.

Holding everything in your awareness that's here to be felt.

And every time your mind wanders,

Notice where it's gone and gently bring it back to your anchor,

Your breath,

The feet,

Your body,

Whatever your chosen anchor is.

Knowing that is the moment of mindfulness,

That is the moment of success.

And now on the basis of being awake to all of your experience,

With this gentle inclusive receptive awareness,

Begin to pay attention to anything that's pleasant and enjoyable.

Keeping your focus grounded on the body,

On the senses.

What can you notice that's pleasant and enjoyable about this moment?

And it might be subtle little things.

It might be the warmth of your body.

It might be the comfort of the chair or the surface that you're resting on.

And it's a welcome break in your day.

It might be that the hands are soft and resting on your lap or by your side.

It might be that the belly is soft and that's pleasant.

It might be the sensations in the face and the jaw.

They might be soft and that might be pleasant.

It might be the feel of your clothing,

The sense of the air against your skin.

Just noticing any little subtle pleasant experiences right now.

Any pleasant sensations that you might come across,

However little.

And bring a kind gentle curiosity to your awareness as you learn to pay attention to subtle little quiet experiences,

As well as those strong and dominant ones.

It might be things like a relief to just rest your eyes and close your eyes or lower your gaze.

And what about sounds?

Are there any sounds that you can think of that might be a little bit or lower your gaze?

And what about sounds?

Are there any sounds near or far that you've noticed in your experience?

Maybe there's a pleasant enjoyable sound in the room,

Outside the room.

Maybe it's quiet and that's pleasant.

Let the sounds come towards you and your awareness and include them in your experience without judging them and criticising them.

Just letting sounds be part of the experience right now.

And if you notice pleasant sounds,

Just taking care that your awareness doesn't fly off with them and get lost in whatever the sound might be.

So just allowing the sounds to be in your experience.

Just allowing them to arrive and let it be here and just observing it come and go.

And maybe there's nothing pleasant in this moment when you first take the glance at your experience.

But as you drop deeper into your awareness and become more attuned to more delicate experiences,

You may discover that you have more pleasant elements in your experience than you first realised.

Maybe there's a pleasant sense of relief as you learn to live with whatever your experience is,

With kindness and acceptance,

Rather than being trapped in a state of longing for your experience to be fulfilled.

To be different than it is.

Just letting your experience to be what it is in each moment.

It can be a relief to soften into this and not struggle and fight against it.

Not being locked into the battle of life.

And then coming to rest your awareness in a broad spacious awareness.

Allowing anything that's pleasant to be here.

Enjoying it,

Savouring it,

Appreciating it,

Resting in it.

Staying open to its fluid changing nature.

And if you have found it difficult to find anything pleasant,

There's no need to worry.

There's no need to judge yourself.

Just seeing if you can cultivate a kind,

Compassionate awareness towards whatever your experience is.

It's important to remember we're learning how to seek out these subtle,

Pleasant experiences.

And this is a mindful practice.

Rather than just noticing those loud and dominant parts of our experience.

And the pleasant experiences that you become attuned to may even seem rather ordinary.

It could be things like the absence of hunger.

It could be a tingling in the belly or the feet.

It could be a tingling in the belly or the feet.

It's important to recognise these tiny pleasant experiences.

To let them in,

To let in the good.

What's happening now?

Are you still looking and seeking those pleasant experiences however little?

Or has your mind wandered?

In which case,

That is the moment of mindfulness,

The moment of success.

So bring it back to noticing those pleasant experiences,

However little.

Cherishing these pleasant moments.

And noticing whenever the mind's wandered and waking up and bringing it back.

And now broadening out to all sensations in the body.

Any sounds,

Any smells.

Any sensations that might be here right now.

Holding them all in a broader awareness.

And seeing if you can tell what's happening in your body right now.

And seeing if you can take this appreciating attitude and awareness,

Noticing the pleasant things of life into the rest of your day,

Moment by moment.

When you're ready,

Open your eyes or raise your gaze.

And when you're ready,

Move your body however it wants to move and stretch.