Let's begin with a bell.
You could do this meditation in any position,
Standing,
Seated,
Lying down,
Whatever feels right this moment.
The important thing is to come into your body,
To get comfortable,
To enjoy your own company,
Even if you're a little bored,
Even when you will be distracted.
Show love,
Respect,
Pride,
And gratitude for all that you are,
And all that you have,
And all that you do.
One of the ways we do this is just by meditating,
Just by being with self right now.
Not where you were yesterday,
Not where you'll be tomorrow,
But where you are sitting,
Literally or metaphorically.
Relax a little into your space,
Get yourself five or even 10% more comfortable,
Soft.
Breathing into quietness,
Deeper stillness,
Not silent or unmoving,
Just settling.
Where are you tight?
Can you breathe into some of those spaces and let them open up?
Can you breathe in a little deeper and breathe out a little slower?
You don't have to clear your mind,
You don't even have to meditate,
Just use this time to be kind to yourself,
To give yourself the gift of a few minutes with yourself.
Breathing,
Just bring it in and out,
Gently.
Noticing the sounds around you,
Natural and man-made,
Whoosh of all the sounds together like the voice of a divine symphony.
Take a moment to acknowledge something for which you are grateful,
Could be extremely simple like a bird song or a cup of tea.
Breathing,
Take a moment to acknowledge some place where you can be proud of yourself.
Hard work,
Developing a skill,
Making effort to listen,
Anything small and delicate that you do,
Accept it all with your breath.
You could even exhale on the ancient biblical word,
Sela.
Sela.
We are filled with fear and cortisol running through us like hot chilies.
The world is often dominated by fear and the anger that comes with it,
Resentments.
We're going to meditate to soften into those fears and the things that cause us intimidation.
Seeing if we can find blessings in the things we are afraid of.
Breathing.
If you become overwhelmed by emotion,
Cortisol,
You don't have to do this meditation.
You can just listen along with half an ear and give yourself the time to sit.
There are people whom we fear,
Even our neighbors.
They look different,
Speak differently,
Believe differently,
Have different habits than we understand.
God has made us mightily diverse,
And in that variety,
It can be quite intimidating.
Acknowledge that there are people so different to you that you might feel fear or anxiety.
Let that be true.
Change and difference seem strange,
Hard to understand,
Intimidating.
That's okay.
And there are humans too,
Just like us,
Just like you,
With fear and love,
Aggression and gentleness.
All of the complexity.
Give them the space to be complex and different.
We're not capable of being fully known.
Even our closest loved ones.
Somewhere in her,
Him,
Or them,
There is gift and blessing.
Even if it's just the possibility of new food,
Different clothing,
New ways of being a parent or a student,
New patterns of living,
They might have something to teach.
Even if you don't see the blessing now,
You could tentatively acknowledge that there probably is a blessing in this stranger of whom you are afraid.
Breathe into that possibility,
Let it in tentatively.
Even fearfully,
It's okay.
If you've gotten riled up,
Just settle into your body and stillness and quiet and deep breathing.
Feeling your weight,
Gravity,
Relaxing a little.
Let's talk about political belief.
Different ideas,
Different sets of values,
Different weighting of values.
People believe lots of different things.
Some things that are very confusing from the outside.
Very dissimilar to what we believe.
Perhaps we're brought up to believe.
Opinions can frighten us.
Opinions can challenge us.
It's their purpose in a certain way.
Acknowledge that shock and fear.
When we hear something expressed that is so anathema to our own beliefs,
It's okay.
Maybe you can transform the feeling by directing a thought like fascinating.
That's fascinating towards such opinions.
I wonder why and how they came to believe that.
Breathe into it.
Somewhere in there is blessing.
The blessing of a new idea that you hadn't contemplated yet.
The possibility of your thought evolving.
Growing to respect people and difference in opinion.
Let there be a possibility of blessing.
Breathe in and out slowly just to settle again.
Let's consider other religions and faiths.
All,
Any,
Or none.
What do people espouse?
What are their convictions?
In what do they have faith?
All around the world and in your backyard,
So many different religious systems and none at all.
Each perhaps aspiring to truth,
But sometimes mutually incomprehensible,
And therefore engendering fear.
You feel it.
It's totally normal.
Let that be real.
Breathe into that discomfort.
Open up to it if possible.
It's possible that somewhere in that religious system there is truth.
A truth,
Many truths.
Certainly faith.
Trust that there is something greater,
More important than our small lives.
How might it shape someone else's or a community's experience?
Their sacred text,
Their belief structure,
Their aspirational faith.
What could it mean to live that life?
What blessing might it bring to a life?
Take stock of all the fear and all the blessing,
Anxiety and excitement,
Any other senses or feelings that have come up for you.
As we conclude this meditation,
Just breathe into feelings good or difficult.
Let them dissipate so you can go on.
You might want to yawn,
Stretch.
Let it out.
