Welcome and please take a seat.
Do what you can to prevent distractions while you're in this space.
Be seated in any meditative posture and allow yourself to be comfortable.
Slightly draw in your chin and rest your gaze on the space just ahead of you.
If you prefer,
Now is the time to gently close your eyes and mouth.
Let's begin by taking a deep breath in through the nose and out through the nose.
Focus your attention on your breath.
It will be as your anchor throughout this meditation.
During this practice,
If thoughts arise,
Acknowledge them and let them go.
Just return to the breath.
We often categorize life events into what we prefer to call good or bad.
If something is considered good,
It usually means it's beneficial.
If something is bad,
It means it's harmful.
But we don't know everything and we don't know the future,
So how can we be so sure that something is good or bad if we haven't been patient enough to see where it actually leads?
For instance,
Let's say you woke up tomorrow to find a text message from your boss notifying you that you've been fired from your position without any explanation or warning.
Now for most people,
This would be considered bad because you've got bills to pay,
Mouths to feed,
Stuff to buy,
Your job was part of your identity,
Whatever it may be.
We all need a way to support ourselves and sustain life,
But perhaps what we can consider to be bad is actually a blessing in disguise.
Perhaps it's only bad because we cannot see where it leads.
Who's to say that losing that job wouldn't open the door to find an even better job that is more in tune to allow you to give your real deeper gifts?
Perhaps if we could shift our mental focus from how it's affecting us now to what kind of opportunities it allows us,
We could extinguish the habit of categorizing everything into good or bad,
And instead change our attitude to see things in a more open and positive way.
To see the tragedy as a gift takes insight and courage.
This is important to consider because if we allow our mind to be swept up by the content of our life,
We can be thrown this way and that at the whim of our unstable mind and the inevitable bad stuff that can happen around or within us.
In this way,
The context of our life is ruled by the content in it.
We need a ground to stand on.
We need a way to contextualize the content which is constantly changing around us in a way that leads to us living happy,
Balanced lives.
We need stability in our lives,
Not certainty that everything will work out in the way we want.
If you want to be the noble ruler of your world,
You must learn how to take advantage of the neutrality of the mind.
We decide to decrease the amount of time spent in negative emotion and increase the amount of time spent in thoughts and ideas that lead somewhere.
If we place our mind on thoughts that are based on compassion and wisdom,
That's what the mind will become familiar with and like any habit,
It will increase.
This is why people suffering from anxiety and depression have been healed through deciding for themselves that they will no longer drink from the fountain of what about me and instead nourish themselves daily from the fountain that reads what about you.
By bringing a bigger mind into our daily activity,
We are changing our attitude.
We are changing the context of our life.
Now we may begin to flush away the stubborn energy in our system by remaining connected to our breathing,
Allowing gentle space to create a distance between us and our mind,
Us and our body.
Let's continue with breathing to create a solid foundation.
Make each breath more fluid than your last.
Breathing in through the nose,
Breathing out through the nose.
Follow my count with each breath.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe out,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Breathe in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Now exhale through your mouth as if you were blowing out a candle.
Blow out all the air.
As you inhale,
Focus on slowing down the breath into a calm rhythm that is your own.
Spread this relaxation throughout your whole body.
Relax and let go.
Pretend you don't know.
Wait.
