Good morning.
Before anything else,
Saddle.
Feet on the floor,
Hands somewhere they can rest.
Notice five things in the room that you can see without moving your head.
You don't have to name them,
Just see them.
If you've pressed play on this track,
Something is already probably running.
The knot in your chest,
The list of things that you haven't done.
Don't we all have such a big list these days?
The conversation that you're rehearsing,
Perhaps.
The Stoics had a phrase for what's happening.
We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.
Seneca 2000 years ago watching his own mind do exactly what yours is doing now.
So we're not going to fix anything in this guided meditation.
We're going to slow down,
Recollect what's actually true,
And then make one quiet plan.
Three slow breaths,
Longer than usual.
For many people,
A longer out-breath helps settle the body.
Okay,
Ready?
Breathe in for four,
And out for 8.
Breathe in,
Four.
.
.
Out,
Eight One more.
Breathe in.
And out.
You are here.
The day hasn't started yet.
But what you're feeling is real.
But it is not the day.
Okay,
We're going to be looking now at six lines.
There's going to be longer silences here.
And if you struggle with anxiety,
You don't need more content,
Right?
You need more space.
So we're gonna slow everything down.
Alright,
We're gonna start with number 1.
It is not events that disturb me.
But my judgments about them.
The day hasn't started.
What I am feeling is a judgment.
My mind is making about what might happen,
But the judgment is not the event.
We suffer more often in imagination.
Than in reality.
Most of what we are rehearsing right now won't happen.
And the things that do most of those will be smaller than we pictured them to be.
3.
.
From Marcus.
Confine yourself to the present.
Not the next conversation.
Not the email that you haven't sent.
Not the meeting this afternoon.
This breath.
These hands.
This room.
If a thing is in my power.
Why act as though it weren't?
If it isn't,
Why complain?
If I can do something about it.
I'll do something.
If I can't,
Complaining changes nothing.
5.
A Stoic formulation.
Today I will name what worries me.
And take it one step at a time.
Anxiety is a fog.
Specificity is the wind.
6.
Marcus again.
Stick to what's in front of you.
Now,
One quiet move.
Pick the one thing your mind keeps returning to.
Not all of them.
The One.
Now say what it actually is in a sentence.
And then,
One step,
Not solving it,
One step,
If I get to my desk,
Then I will.
One step is enough.
That's the practice,
Six old lines,
One specific worry named,
And one step.
The anxiety might not leave today,
But it doesn't have to for the day to go well.
Take one more slow breath.
Breathe in.
Notice your hands,
The weight of them.
Without.
And go gently today.
And if this helped,
Please leave a rating.
It does help other listeners find the track.
