So welcome,
Welcome.
I'm really grateful you're here with me today.
So often,
Without even realizing it,
We accept a very small idea of ourselves.
This limited one,
This fragile one,
A body that can be hurt,
A mind that can feel overwhelmed,
A self that can be diminished by conditions and circumstances.
A Course in Miracles actually speaks to this very clearly,
That the mind is often willing to accept littleness,
But it resists the truth of its own magnitude.
And true healing really isn't about improving a small self,
It's about accepting what is already true.
That what you are is eternal,
What I am is eternal,
Changeless,
Formless,
Untouched by what appears to happen in the body or in the world.
And so,
Over the weekend,
It was my birthday,
And just a couple days before,
I came down with a bad cold.
Sneezing,
And sinus pressure,
And just feeling hot and cold,
Feeling run down.
You know,
Just the body doing all of the things that bodies do when they have colds.
And a few people had said how awful it was to be sick on my birthday.
And I just laughed,
Because it's just a concept.
Who says the body shouldn't be sick on a birthday?
Who decided how the day or the weekend was supposed to look?
And I was just letting everything just be exactly as it was,
Without the story,
Without any meaning,
Without any resistance.
And at one point,
I was feeling really just so stuffed up.
And it was difficult to breathe through my nose properly.
And so there was a sense of contraction,
Of limitation,
Appearing.
Sensation appeared,
Discomfort appeared,
And they were just simply known.
And what knew them was unchanged,
Untouched.
So the body can do what bodies do.
And my body continued to do what it was doing.
And then there was just resting.
Resting as what was never involved.
So that's the invitation today.
Just resting.
If you'd like,
You can close your eyes.
But just letting the body be exactly as it is.
Letting it be comfortable or uncomfortable,
Well or unwell.
Still or restless.
Just notice that experience is already happening.
Sounds will continue to come and go.
Sensations might shift.
Thoughts are going to appear.
And yet something is quiet.
Quietly here.
Knowing all of it.
Effortlessly.
Very gently.
Notice if there's any sense of,
I am this body.
I am this condition.
I am this sensation,
This thought.
But don't judge it.
Just notice the habit.
Just letting your attention soften here.
And just resting.
Resting.
Resting is a simple sense of being.
Not being someone.
Just being.
And allowing yourself just to simply rest there.
And if you find yourself becoming entangled with thoughts or sensations,
That's okay.
Just rest.
Notice that this being,
The truest essence of who you are,
Doesn't get sick.
Doesn't age.
Doesn't break.
The body does those things.
This changeless,
Formless essence that is your true nature is uninvolved.
If the mind appears to be weaving in and out of thoughts and resting,
Let that be included.
It's just a reminder that what you are isn't limited by any thought or sensation.
It's all included.
The thoughts,
The sensations,
Any ideas of sickness or fatigue or pain,
They don't touch what you are.
They simply appear and disappear.
Like everything else.
Just resting is what doesn't come and go.
Just this.
No story.
No false identity.
Just this.
As we gently bring this meditation to a close,
Just notice the body as it is.
The room.
The sounds.
Perhaps there's a gentle and natural movement of your fingers and toes,
Allowing your eyes to open.
And as you go back out into the world today with all of the movement,
Just notice that nothing essential really changes.
And we don't take this back into life,
This meditation.
Life just unfolds within this,
As this.
And the body may feel good or bad.
The circumstances and conditions of your life may change or they may remain the same.
And none of that touches what you are.
Thank you for resting here with me today.
Sharing this space with me.
Namaste.
