We carry around so many identities.
I'm a worker.
I'm a teacher.
I'm a friend.
I'm a subterranean mining official.
I'm a parent.
I'm a son.
I'm a Bakugo fanatic.
All these things are perhaps part of who we are,
And perhaps they are simply things we do.
With that in mind,
Let's practice.
Come to your senses.
Notice any sights in front of you before closing your eyes.
Notice colors and shapes.
Shadow and shade.
Then close your eyes and notice what you're still seeing.
Notice any sounds.
Far away first.
Then near ones.
Notice any tastes lingering.
Tears of your enemies perhaps.
Notice any smells.
Notice any obvious sensations in your body.
Maybe just doing a quick scan,
Or just maybe a few things jump out.
Tingling,
Pulsing.
Tightness,
Clenching,
Shivering,
Looseness,
Openness.
Then notice thinking is happening.
Because I'm sure it is.
Thinking isn't a problem.
Just a reminder.
Now,
You may like to bring a soft smile to your lips.
It's a simple act to contune your body into the frequency of joy.
Now,
Bring to mind someone you know well.
Think of all the things they are.
The job,
The hobbies,
The likes and dislikes,
The style,
The personality.
Now,
Consider a person you know.
Now,
Consider them simply as a body with consciousness.
Which one seems to be truer to who they are?
Now,
With this in mind,
Keeping the idea that perhaps you yourself are just a body in consciousness,
Notice your breath and start repeating I as you inhale,
And am on the exhale.
Repeating these in your mind,
Of course,
Or aloud if that works for you.
Open yourself to the idea of yourself as infinite possibility as represented in the open statement of I am.
If it's supportive,
Keep an image of yourself as light connected to this idea,
Or perhaps an image of yourself as a young child before most of your conditioning set in,
When you are still with eyes full of wonder.
When you become distracted,
Simply celebrate this as a moment of mindfulness because you've realized you're distracted.
Release the distraction.
Relax your body.
Return to your smile.
And return to the breath.
If you find yourself filling in the blanks of what you are,
Just notice the ego mind is telling a story and return to your breath in the phrase.
Maybe it's a pleasant story.
Maybe it's an unpleasant one.
Either way,
Still a story.
Does this simple statement of being bring any extra spaciousness to your body and mind?
Can you perhaps see that you simply are?
When your mind wanders,
Again,
Celebrate yourself for noticing.
It's a moment of mindfulness.
Notice that you're not your wandering mind.
You simply are.
It's so easy to fill in the blanks.
I am this or that.
There can be a nervousness in the mystery without labeling,
Without judging and deciding,
Concretizing.
Just seeing if you can allow that space of possibility.
If you're lost in a story,
Come on back to being.
We all have stories.
For now,
Let's just be.
As we come to a close,
I invite you to bring this open sense of yourself with you into your day.
Perhaps it could allow you to see yourself in a new way or perhaps even respond differently in a familiar situation.
You very well could be the universe experiencing itself after all.
And if so,
I suspect you have a few possibilities you've not yet tapped into.
Thanks for your practice.
May you be fully whole and wholly free.
