Savoring The Good: A Path To Resilience

This meditation explores the concept of savoring and encourages the listener to be present in the good that's already here. It emphasizes the importance of savoring the present moment, expressing gratitude, acknowledging accomplishments, marveling at the awe of life, and savoring wisdom and knowledge

Transcript

One of my favorite songs is a U2 song called Stand Still,

And there's this line in it where they say,

She's running to stand still,

And I feel like that's how many of us experience life.

We're running to get to that point when we can actually finally enjoy our life,

And we miss out on the joy that's right here.

There's a Zen story about a woman running from tigers that Pema Chodron writes about in her book,

The Wisdom of No Escape.

In this story,

A woman is running as fast as she can away from tigers,

And she finds herself at the edge of a cliff.

There's tigers behind her,

And below her is this rope.

So she starts to lower herself down the rope.

She gets closer and closer to the ground,

And then she looks down and notices,

Oh no,

There's tigers below as well.

Tigers above,

Tigers below,

And she's holding tightly to this rope.

And we can all think about that,

What we're running from,

The thoughts,

Feelings,

Experiences that we don't want to feel.

And then what happens when we do run from those is that we have a whole nother set of problems that await us,

Because all of our experiential avoidance only causes more problems for us to face,

Right?

So tigers above,

Tigers below,

She's holding tight to the rope.

And then she also notices that there is a mouse eating away at the rope.

And in that moment,

She looks over and also notices a patch of strawberries.

She reaches over and she eats a strawberry.

And as the story goes,

It is the best strawberry she has ever tasted in her life.

The mouse in this story is really important.

The mouse is the wake-up call,

The wake-up call that we cannot escape pain from behind or pain that's coming our way,

And that our power is realizing that there are strawberries available to us here and now to savor.

So keeping that in mind,

Let's practice a meditation on savoring together.

And I'll be drawing from the psychological science of savoring,

Some of the practices that have been shown to be effective in building your well-being and your resilience and your happiness.

Go ahead and find yourself in a comfortable position.

You can do this lying down,

Or you can do this seated.

You can even do this while driving if you keep your eyes open.

In meditation,

I like to have a posture that is both alert and relaxed.

So you can bring alertness to your face,

Alertness to your spine,

Some alertness to your breath,

Expansive,

Long breaths.

And then also bring a little relaxation to your shoulders,

A little relaxation to your eyes,

A little relaxation to your breath.

Then allowing yourself to land into your body in this moment,

Feeling where your body makes contact with the ground,

Really feeling that support underneath you,

The solidity of this ground,

Of this earth,

Giving permission to your body to find a comfortable spot.

You can practice with your palms up or your palms down.

And then allowing your jaw to release,

Ungripping your belly,

And resting.

And the first thing that we're going to be doing is bringing the quality of savoring to our breath.

So just as the woman who's running from tigers recognizes the impermanence of this moment,

There's an impermanence to your breath.

Every breath is different,

And we never know which will be our last.

Enjoy the inhale,

Enjoy the exhale,

And luxuriate in this opportunity to breathe,

Breathe in a way that's particularly nourishing and soothing for you.

And if your mind gets caught up in tigers,

Tigers above or tigers below,

You can just remind yourself,

This is it.

This is your moment to breathe.

Isn't this what you were wanting,

All that running?

This is your chance to stand still.

Let yourself enjoy this breath,

And savoring with the breath the life that you have right here and right now,

Breathing in and breathing out.

And we can also practice savoring the good,

The strawberries,

The good that's in your life right now.

What are the opportunities that you have,

The people that you have,

The body that you have in the present moment that you want to savor?

Choose one thing that you feel particularly grateful for,

Particularly glad about that's in your life,

One strawberry to eat,

And let your mind linger on that one thing that's happening in your life right now.

The thing that you are so grateful for,

And as you think about this thing,

Notice the feeling in your body,

What it feels like to have gratitude,

Thankfulness,

Appreciation,

And savor that feeling in your body as well.

Let yourself be filled by it,

Feel it,

And breathe with it,

Allowing yourself to feel that gratitude,

And also knowing that it won't always be there,

It won't always be this way,

But right now it is,

Right now it is.

Let yourself feel it,

Breathing in and out.

And you can also savor by basking,

By acknowledging the things that you've accomplished,

You've completed some things,

You stand in a different spot than you did yesterday or a year ago.

Savor the accomplishments,

The completions of the hard work that you've done in your work,

In your family,

In your friendships,

In your spiritual life,

In your recovery.

What is one thing that you can really bask in,

Feel proud of,

Feel good about,

A way in which you've lived that lines up with how you want to be?

Take a moment to breathe that in and savor it,

Nurture it,

Enjoy it,

And feel it in your body,

The feeling of accomplishment.

And you can also savor by marveling,

By being in awe of this life,

Aware that you are alive,

Aware that you are in a body that's alive,

And the awe of the world around you.

Savoring the awe of this body,

You can feel the aliveness in your body,

The pulsing in your feet,

The aliveness in your face,

In your back,

In your belly,

And the aliveness of the world that's around you,

The sounds of other humans,

The sounds of nature.

Savoring the awe of life,

You are alive,

You are in this world.

And then finally,

You can savor knowing,

Wisdom.

Savor the wisdom that you've gained this past year,

Over your lifetime,

The collective wisdom,

How the world has shaped you and how you've shaped the world,

The wisdom of your ancestors that are in your body.

Savoring that feeling of knowing,

Of knowledge and wisdom within yourself,

Your wise heart,

Your wise mind.

And notice where that wisdom resides in your body,

Where you feel wisest inside yourself,

Savoring your wisdom and our collective wisdom,

And the feeling of growing wise.

And so we can savor it all.

We can savor and luxuriate in this breath.

We can feel thankful,

Grateful for this opportunity,

The good things in life.

We can bask in the feeling of accomplishment that we've made it here.

We can marvel in the aliveness of it all and enjoy the wisdom that savoring allows.

And you can stop running and stand still and take this moment to eat the strawberry of your life as it is.

And as we close,

Set an intention for the savoring practice so that you can bring it into your day-to-day.

What do you want to savor today?

Knowing that your body will change,

This planet will change,

Your most important relationships will change.

What do you want to savor?

And then slowly,

You can bring your awareness back to just your body in this space.

Sitting here,

You can wiggle your toes,

You can wiggle your nose,

You can smile,

Bringing your body back into the room.

And I like to close meditation with three bows.

The first bow is to my teachers.

Thank you to the many teachers that guide us,

Give us their wisdom that we build on.

The second bow is to you,

To each other.

Thank you to everyone that's listening to this,

The collective savoring that we're engaging in in this meditation.

And then the last bow is to yourself,

Turning your eyes inside and offering yourself a bow of gratitude for practicing.

Many blessings.

Reviews

Excellent. You have a way of putting your words together that spoke right to me and helped me hear. I’m very grateful. Thank you!

Wow—what an incredible guided meditation gratitude!

I’m going to start a list in my Notes app of “strawberries” in my life, things to savor throughout each day.

At a time where I certainly have tigers behind and tigers below, this meditation means so much. Thank you!

Awesome Thankyou will do this meditation more often

What a joy to start the day with this. Thank you, Dr. Hill!

Thank you, what a wonderful positive meditation it helped me focus on the present moment and the many gifts I
do have ❤️.

Beautiful, peaceful, uplifting and inspiring meditation. I will listen to it often.🌅 Thank you. Many blessings🙏