The fear of missing out is actually a state of forgetfulness of our true nature.
But before we go into that,
I invite you to move a bit.
So just make any movements with your body that feel pleasant.
Maybe stretch a bit,
Maybe shake a bit,
Maybe open your mouth as wide as possible to relieve the tension from your face.
Do anything that makes you feel a little bit more alive.
So any movement that feels pleasant,
Doesn't have to look in any specific way,
But just feel into your body and stretch out and move and jiggle and wiggle and do what feels pleasant.
Really allow yourself to get a little bit lost in the movement.
Don't decide what your next movement will be,
But just allow your body to move itself.
Feel into your body and go a little bit crazy,
But not crazy in the way to just let go,
Not to make an effort to be crazy,
But just let loose.
And maybe that's very slow for you,
Maybe you want to make very slow movements.
Just allow movement to move.
And then slowly,
Slowly come back to sitting still.
And then notice how your body feels right now.
Is it any different than three minutes ago?
So you're used to being in this body,
But notice that you don't actually know what it is.
So you were once a baby,
Completely unsure of how to move this hardware.
And then over the days and weeks and months and years you got used to being in this body.
And now you're used to being in this body and you don't actually know what it is.
Over the days and weeks and months and years you got used to operating this humanoid body-mind.
But just that you're used to it doesn't mean that you know what it is.
So can you tune into this beginner mind of,
Hey I actually live inside this body,
What does it feel like?
There's only exactly one copy,
That is you,
Of all the other beings out there.
Your body,
Your mind,
Your senses,
Your perspective is completely unique.
It has never been there before and never will be again in this exact form.
So can you look through your eyes,
You can even keep your eyes open,
Can you look through your eyes and feel into your body and breathe into your lungs with the awareness that you are in a living,
Breathing part of the universe.
And the great mystery of the universe is inside your very heart.
How does it feel to breathe in and breathe out?
When you breathe as if for the first time your life is absolutely unique.
So see it as an opportunity to honor it with your presence,
Your attention.
And notice that whatever you give attention automatically becomes interesting.
So just immediately test that hypothesis.
Just start with your eyes open or closed,
Paying a bit more attention to what it's really like to breathe right now.
And notice that when you don't go to your thoughts about,
Yeah,
I know what breathing is like,
But when you actually feel into the feelings,
Be with the breath as it really is unfolding right now,
Breath after breath.
It's actually quite cool and interesting and pleasant to be present,
Right?
Or maybe you automatically are breathing a bit deeper because you're more aware of it.
That often happens to me.
Maybe you want to just help yourself a little bit by inhaling and exhaling a little bit deeper,
In and out.
And just allow yourself to become more and more present.
And just allow yourself to become more and more present.
And if a moment of boredom comes,
Then investigate that.
What does it feel like to be present?
What does boredom feel like?
Because we automatically have a sort of tough love reaction of,
Oh,
I'm bored,
I don't want to be here.
But actually notice in your body,
Where is it?
Where is the boredom?
What is actually happening?
All of these ideas that we are missing out on something,
Look for it in your body and make it into an object of investigation.
That will make it interesting,
Incredibly interesting.
A way to do it is not to sort of contract around,
Okay,
I have to be interested,
But just allow yourself to slow down around whatever is unfolding.
If it's boredom or fear of missing out,
Which is sort of the same thing,
Just allow it to be there with some accepting presence.
And remember that you don't know actually what you are.
So as long as you live,
You will never be able to be everywhere at once.
You can only be at one place.
But the cool thing is,
Nobody else can be where you are right now.
You hold a part of the mystery.
Your experience is entirely mysterious to me.
I can only guess.
And you have a unique position to investigate in presence your own unfolding,
Mysterious life.
So I invite you to sit with this curiosity for a little bit longer and take it into the rest of your day as a reminder.
And the bell will signify the end of this practice.
For a few more minutes.
Enjoy.
