Finding a place where you will be undisturbed for a few minutes.
Connect with the present moment using your breath.
Allowing any thoughts to gently come and gently leave.
Without the need to fuse with them.
Focusing now on the sounds that you can hear.
Noticing all of the sounds that are happening around you at this very moment.
Like a beautiful,
Unpredictable symphony.
Allowing all of those sounds in.
Drawing your awareness in and focusing on the sounds that are closest to you.
Or even sounds that are coming from you.
Finding the sound that is as close to you as possible.
The sound of your breathing,
Your digestive system,
Your pulse.
And just listening to this sound.
And then expanding what you focus on to include all of the sounds you can hear within the room you're in.
Any electronic devices or appliances.
Any music.
The sound of my voice playing through some speakers or headphones.
Listening only to the sounds within the room.
And now hearing only sounds outside the room.
Can you hear cars on the street?
The birds or the breeze outside?
Sounds of nature?
Voices?
Or other man-made sounds?
Finding peace with all the sounds that you can hear.
Not trying to filter anything out.
Fully accepting the sounds of your environment.
It can be tempting when we meditate to try and escape from the sounds of our world.
But in this exercise you simply need to allow them,
Accept them and observe them.
Now just choosing one sound to focus your attention on.
A sound either coming from inside the room or outside the room.
See if you can isolate this sound and just allowing all the other noises to fade into the distance,
Just focusing all of your attention on this one sound.
Noticing everything that you can about this sound.
The pitch.
The depth.
The texture.
The rhythm.
And see if you can notice more than one tone that contributes to constructing this sound.
Is there in fact more than one sound combining to make this sound that you're listening to?
And now bring back in all the other sounds that you can hear.
Inviting everything back and listening to all of the sounds all at once.
Allowing yourself to be fully present with the sounds in your environment.
And now opening your eyes and returning to your day.
