Start with a bell.
Just breathing deeply the day or the evening that is,
The moment you are in.
Taking it all in.
Settling into what you are and where you are and how you are.
Being grateful for this day.
And applaud yourself quietly for giving yourself time to meditate.
Not everyone does it.
Take away the burden of this meditation being good or right.
There's nothing to it except letting go.
Opening yourself to quiet and stillness and even boredom.
Being and not doing.
That's all you have right now.
No other requirement.
Transiting from the cognitive to the sensory.
Letting your mind drift,
Your brain fire at random.
And noticing your body,
Your feelings.
Physical,
Emotional,
Even spiritual.
Coming into all of that.
We're going to meditate on our ability to do good,
To bring healing,
And to reduce the quantity of wickedness and destruction in life.
Orient ourselves towards the better angels of our nature.
Our capacity to create and build and rebuild.
First,
Take some time to scan your body.
What's going on?
Feet.
Calves,
Knees.
Thighs.
Hips.
What are you feeling?
Stiff,
Comfortable.
Tight,
Easy.
Through your belly and back and chest.
Notice what's going on for you.
Feel good,
Bad,
Indifferent.
Tense,
Eager.
Silly,
Relaxed.
Or things that don't have precise words.
Your arms,
Hands.
Head and face.
Where do you find yourself physically at this moment?
And go a little deeper.
What's going on in your heart and mind?
Not evaluating,
Just noticing.
Checking your body.
Checking in,
Making it fun,
Kind,
And generous to yourself.
Deepening your breath.
Deeper inhale,
Slower exhale.
Giving yourself something good,
Grateful.
Proud of the time you spend to meditate.
Hands grasp and crush and destroy.
And we're going to focus on the ability of hands and bodies and minds to give,
Create,
And build,
And heal the good in this world.
Settling down,
Getting quiet.
Still.
Okay,
So we're going to acknowledge that the world has harm and destruction and ugliness.
Maybe you want to acknowledge something specific or just broadly.
Nasty things are out there.
And in you,
In all of us,
There are capacities for cruelty.
Just acknowledge.
Don't dwell.
Rage,
You don't need to do that right now.
You don't need to focus.
Just know there's bad inside and outside.
We were made with id and wicked impulse,
Aggressive,
Inquisitive.
Sometimes useful.
Sometimes not.
Accept,
Breathe into that.
Be real with yourself.
You,
Like the world,
Are broken.
Have unfortunate parts.
Created with every kind of capacity within.
A world full of billions of people with all of those goods and evils.
Usually in the same person.
In a world with a lot of brokenness,
Problems,
Disruptions.
Expand into compassion for all of it.
Validating all of it.
It's all there and real.
Part of our human experience.
Breathe into that acknowledgement a little more.
Going slow.
Within each of us and throughout the world,
There is capacity for goodness.
Creativity,
Building.
Healing and remaking this world better.
Our work is to make sure that goodness predominates.
It is more pervasive than the weakness,
The wickedness,
The deficits.
Find your capacity as you meditate.
Be just and kind.
Peaceful and harmonious.
Breathe into that part of you.
And the world is full of light and goodness.
Godness and generosity.
Notice that too.
All the beauty and all the wonder and capacity out there and within you.
Playfulness,
Joy.
Extend your goodness out to match the goodness in the world.
Stretching ever outward and deepening within.
Breathe into that wonder.
Blessings.
