Welcome back.
Welcome back to the present moment.
Welcome back from wherever you were.
Welcome home.
Tune into your breath.
Release any tension in the body.
If it's available to you,
Maybe you close your eyes.
Allow your heart rate to slow.
Start to shift your focus inwards.
This is a meditation to come back to the present moment.
So release your to-do list,
The first half of your day,
Anything you have planned for later.
I invite you to drop into your experience of experiencing.
Drop into your experience of pure experiencing.
It's less esoteric than it sounds.
Start to bring your awareness to your breath.
Notice the physical sensations of breathing.
Observe the temperature of the room,
Any sounds in the background.
Allow your body to relax in the space.
In your mind's eye,
See yourself in your environment wherever that is.
Maybe it's your room,
Your couch,
Your office,
Maybe even your car.
See yourself wherever you are.
Calm,
Focused,
Grounded,
Safe.
Now in your mind's eye,
Zoom in.
What can you relax?
What can you release?
What can you relieve?
What can you retire?
What in your body and your mind can you relax,
Release,
Relieve,
And retire?
Let's go one layer deeper now.
Bring your awareness to your heart space.
How does it feel?
There's no judgment.
There's no right or wrong.
If your heart is beating,
It's doing exactly what it should.
All feelings are welcome here.
All feelings are welcome here.
Can you be here without the agenda,
With awareness and presence,
But without judgment,
Without attachment or identification?
Can you observe your physical,
Mental,
And emotional states of being without identifying with those states of being?
Collecting information,
Data,
Any thoughts that may come and go.
There's no need to run with any of them.
That is not what this time is for.
They are thoughts.
They are not real.
They're like ghosts arriving and dissolving in the distance with each passing moment.
And all that remains is you in your room,
In your space,
In your car,
Wherever you are,
In the present moment.
With a steady breath,
Can one present moment bleed into a second present moment?
And could that second present moment with steady breath,
Could it bleed into a third present moment?
There's no hypothesis or narrative.
There's no script going on in the background.
Allowing your thoughts to come and go,
Using the breath to anchor back into the present moment of right here without presence,
We miss the moment.
And when we miss the moment,
We often end up missing many moments.
And over time when we miss many moments,
We miss our lives.
Be here now,
And you will be here later.
Miss here now,
And you will also miss later.
With the breath,
Inhale here,
Exhale now.
Inhale here,
Exhale now.
Inhale here,
Exhale now.
Release your shoulders.
Maybe find a gentle smile on your face.
Know that you can come back to the breath,
Come back to the present moment at any time.
And remember that life is always perfectly unfolding right in front of us.
It's happening for us.
Every moment is here for our pure experience.
And the more deeply we can be there for each moment,
Without judgment,
Resistance,
The more deeply we will be able to experience the fullness of life.
There's nothing really to get or have or do.
It's all distractions.
When we see this more clearly,
Everything else sort of falls into place.
Even with a messy house,
Your life is right now.
Even with a busy schedule,
Your life is happening right now.
In a fight with a friend or a loved one,
Life is happening right now.
The more we can lean in,
The better we are,
Even when it's hard.
Especially when it's hard.
So with the breath,
With intention,
With mindfulness for the present moment,
Resist the urge to distract yourself.
Resist the urge to numb.
Remember that life is now.
And the potential of life later exists,
But the reality is now.
No judgment.
I know it's really hard sometimes,
But can you let go of wherever you thought you would be or should be or ought to be?
Can you allow yourself to just experience fully exactly where you are right now?
Because even this moment,
Whether it's a positive one or a negative one,
A beautiful one or a difficult one,
Whether it's full of pleasure or full of pain,
This moment won't last forever.
So savor it.
Sit with it.
And as you go about your day and your week and your life,
See if you can string these little moments of mindfulness together.
And maybe with enough practice,
Enough patience,
And enough small special little moments,
You will find yourself living in the seat of mindful awareness fully.
And it really is the best seat in the house,
No matter what's happening.
The seat of mindful awareness is the best seat in the house.
Thanks for showing up today.
