Good morning all.
Welcome to our Tuesday practice.
Hope you're feeling well today.
If you've had a good restful night's sleep.
So yesterday I mentioned compassion and kindness,
And I talked about the idea that for someone to,
Well,
Certain studies have shown that people who are incredibly compassionate tend to have something in common,
And that is they all have very strong boundaries about what they allow from people and expect from others.
Now it's interesting because obviously it is not helpful to have you know.
Expectations sometimes of other people that can create a lot of suffering.
But we also must have some understanding of how we wish to be treated in the world and what is okay for us to do with our time and what tips us over the edge of doing a little too much.
The other thing,
Another study I wanted to share with you this morning was around altruism and kindness.
And there was one study that looked at people who.
.
.
They had.
.
.
They'd staged at a university a special study where they got people to finalise a test.
They got them to do a test and then they got them to take it to a different building by a certain time.
They said,
You've got to get this test result in,
But it's over in this other building and you've got to do it by this time.
And basically what they actually,
The study wasn't anything to do with the test.
Stage someone to actually fall over and drop their book.
In the path of this person.
As they were going to the other building.
And they were actually looking at altruism.
And they were looking at how often someone stopped to help someone who dropped their books.
And they had all these qualities and characteristics of people.
They did all these analysis of each person before.
Running their study and they looked at different personality traits and they looked at all sorts of things.
As to why someone might stop.
And help someone.
And they had one group of people who had to get there in a certain time,
And it was quite a rush.
And they had another group of people who had more time to get over to the other building.
And what they found was,
Is that.
.
.
One of the main predictive factors of whether or not someone was kind and performed an act of altruism.
Had nothing to do with their personality.
It simply depended on how much time they had.
How much time they felt they had to help.
So it's an interesting one.
And it's something I've noticed up here when I moved up to Byron Bay.
I just realized that we have something called time affluence up here.
You've heard of wealth or money affluence.
Think people here seem to have created lives where they have a little bit more time to do the things they love and to spend time with loved ones it's not quite as busy as in the city.
And it manifests in lots of different ways.
For example,
If someone was going to come visit,
I would definitely go and pick them up from the airport.
Whereas in Melbourne,
If someone was going to come visit,
I probably wouldn't have picked them up from the airport.
It's funny,
Isn't it?
But I have more time,
Time affluence here.
And I think a lot of people choose to live in smaller towns or choose to live coastal or in the country so they can have that time affluence.
But it just goes to show that A lot of the research also suggests that we are actually happier.
But time affluence is one of the most important things.
We can have for our wellbeing,
Having the time to do the things that we love.
And That is far more important than wealth.
Intensive happiness.
So although people around this area might not have that much money.
They do have a lot of time.
And they seem to be happier.
So there's my second thoughts to you this morning on kindness and altruism.
It really might depend on how much time you have in your life.
Yourself and for others.
So.
How can you create?
A little bit more time for feeling like you could help that person who's dropped their books.
Anyway,
I think it's just an internal mentality of creating space.
And it really doesn't matter where you are.
You can create space no matter where you live.
Through your own internal meditation practice,
Through feeling well.
Through feeling happy.
And through setting boundaries as well.
Your external world is really just,
Your internal world is the most important thing.
Because it's funny,
Isn't it?
You can also feel sometimes,
I don't know if this is the same for you,
But sometimes if I've had a particularly busy period and then all of a sudden I don't have much on.
My mind still feels like.
.
.
I've still got a lot on and I still find I'm anxious or I still find I'm feeling guilty or feeling stressed for not doing what I should be doing.
But actually,
When I look at my diary,
I don't have that much on.
So it's like your mind determines how you feel and how much spaciousness you have.
And then there's other times where I'm feeling incredibly well in my mind and body,
Feeling healthy,
Feeling alive and in flow.
And I've got an awful lot on,
But it's just effortlessly happening.
And it feels like I've got.
.
.
It doesn't feel stressful in any way.
So I think you're exactly right.
It is an internal state.
So let's try and work on that this morning.
Try and sort out our internal world.
And allow the rest of us to follow.
So when you're ready,
Let's get into our practice.
How spacious does it feel inside of you this morning or today?
Sometimes it can feel a little bit narrowed in vision.
Like focusing inward.
We can't see the forest from the trees.
That's okay.
These times we.
.
.
And just.
.
.
Been doing a lot.
The world has demanded things of us.
We just need to give a little extra self-compassion.
So in this practice,
The goal is actually To have no goals.
The one thing we do where.
.
.
Anything goes.
We are okay to simply sit and be.
We know that simply through being in our senses,
We are retraining our minds.
But this will happen faster if we are able to create a sense of openness,
Of.
.
.
None striving.
Of effortlessness.
I invite you to allow yourself to move into a safe place now.
This could be as simple as acknowledging that you are safe right now in this moment.
Allow the body to let go a little more.
The mind to let go of needing to be hypervigilant to your internal or external surroundings.
Mine can take a break.
It is safe to be here.
Or if you're a visual person,
You like visualization,
You might like to imagine yourself somewhere else.
Somewhere that brings you a deep sense of connection.
Or calm.
Maybe it's somewhere in nature.
You can simply sit here breathing in this place.
Taking in the sounds.
The touch and the foot.
The smells.
Feeling of the air.
You Coming home.
To ourselves.
Recharging with each breath.
You are not here for anyone else.
You are here just for you.
Bye.
If you're following the breath intently,
Then I invite you to just let go of any.
.
.
Forceful attention and simply allow your awareness to sit back.
And rest along with the rest of you.
Taking it all in.
Whole body breathing.
Whole space.
How far can the attention reach?
Sitting here simply for the joy of sitting.
How do you wish to speak to yourself today?
On default,
Or with conscious compassion.
You might like to start things off today.
By bringing some kind words in.
Burst.
Have your own back today.
And you can stay in this practice as long as you like.
Be ready to move into your day.
And straightening.
Breathing.
Tuning into the eyes,
The eyelids.
Allowing them to blink ever so gently open.
All right,
Everyone.
Have a wonderful day.
Have a wonderful day,
Everyone.
Spaciousness and kindness all around.
I'll see you again.
