Good morning.
Thank you for joining me today for our morning meditation.
Today's topic is on patience.
I focus on this topic often as it's a skill and a virtue that I'm constantly trying to master.
I've been told many times in my life to be more patient,
That I'm not patient,
That it would better serve me to learn and grow patience.
So here we are yet again.
I'm trying to cultivate patience.
So let's do this together today.
Finding yourself seated in an upright position,
Feet flat on the floor,
Palms are face down,
And I'm trying to get in an upright position,
Feet flat on the floor,
Palms are face down or face up,
Gently closing your eyes if you can.
Some days it's not in our practice to close our eyes,
And that is okay.
Remembering that mindfulness is paying attention on purpose to the present moment without judgment.
So as we work on cultivating our patience,
Let's try not to judge ourselves for what we're doing right or wrong,
Carving out some time to focus on our breathing and our senses is the practice itself.
So let's just do that.
Exhaling all your breath out,
Inhaling deeply through the nose,
Feeling your chest rise and your stomach expand,
Letting fresh new oxygen into the body.
And as you exhale,
Just letting something go and noticing your muscles releasing,
Relaxing.
A few more times like this,
Inhale deeply and exhale completely,
Sighing it out even,
Letting your hands uncurl,
Let your teeth ungrind,
Allow space in the throat and the stomach.
Inhaling again,
Breathing deep,
Noticing how your breath is becoming slower,
Deeper,
More intentional.
And exhale completely,
Letting your body soften and arriving to the present moment.
Your mind may wander to tasks that you have to do,
To things left undone,
To whatever was driving you crazy that you chose this patience meditation,
Maybe your children or work or an animal or maybe yourself.
Whatever it is,
As your mind wanders,
Gently come back to the breath and the breathing,
Giving yourself some time.
What we're doing right now is creating space,
Space between what has occurred and our action,
Our reaction.
That space is what is going to help us create patience before we react and take action for something that pushed our patience to the limit.
We need a little bit of space to have clarity,
To breathe,
To reflect,
Ponder,
Ultimately letting go and accepting.
Come back to your body and notice if anything is tensed up and energetically let the next inhale and exhale relieve this area.
Maybe it was your lower spine,
Maybe it was your hips,
Your feet,
Maybe some tension built up in the back of the eyes or the head and just take a moment to breathe,
Breathing deeply,
Creating the space.
Becoming more patient starts with practice,
Starts with breathing,
Settling,
Letting go and finally accepting.
As we breathe,
Relax our body,
Focus our mind.
Now listen to your heart.
What is your heart telling you?
What is one area in your life where patience is truly a virtue?
Commit to being patient in one scenario in your day today.
Only you know what that is.
When you're confronted with that scenario before you react,
I encourage you to give yourself some space by taking a breath,
Inhaling deeply,
Exhaling completely.
That first step is how we build patience,
Creating space.
Before we end our time together,
Settle in just a little bit more deeply.
Take three delicious,
Nurturing breaths,
Remembering not to judge yourself.
You are perfect the way you are,
Imperfect and all.
Enjoy these last few breaths.
Settle in,
Set your intention,
Remembering one area today where you're going to take some breaths and practice your patience.
When you're ready,
Open your eyes,
Wiggle your fingers and your nose.
Thank you so much for allowing me the precious gift of your time.
Until next time.
