Grounding Attention In The Present - 20 Minute Daily Insight

In this 20-minute meditation, you’ll have a chance to practice grounding your attention in the present moment so you can regain emotional stability and a sense of control, in the midst of difficult thoughts and feelings. This practice will help you be more deliberate about your actions and align yourself more closely with what is truly important to you, even when facing adversity.

Transcript

Hello,

And welcome to The Daily Insight.

My name is Julian Lacay,

A teacher here on Insight Timer.

In today's meditation,

We'll be practicing grounding our attention in the present moment,

So that we can more fully engage with life around us.

To begin,

Finding a place where you can feel safe,

And where you won't be interrupted for the next 20 minutes.

In settling your body in a comfortable position,

Either sitting or lying down,

Or standing if that's more comfortable for you.

Choosing whether you prefer closing your eyes or keeping them open.

If you're experiencing a difficulty right now,

You can use this meditation to stay grounded until it passes on its own.

If you're not experiencing a difficulty,

You can still use this meditation to more fully bring your attention into the present moment.

You can also take a moment now to bring a difficulty to mind if you want to practice grounding yourself when things get difficult,

To be better prepared for the next challenge you'll face.

And if so,

Bringing a moderately challenging situation to mind right now,

And taking some time to recall it in detail,

As though it was happening now.

You can begin by bringing your attention to your thoughts,

And noticing what kind of mental activity is happening right now in the mind.

Are there many thoughts,

Or few of them?

Are they passing by quickly or slowly?

Notice what kinds of thoughts are showing up.

Perhaps your mind is worrying,

Judging,

Or maybe planning,

Preparing,

Or fantasizing.

And bringing your attention to your body,

And noticing what you're feeling right now.

What emotions are here?

See if you can silently note them to yourself.

Perhaps anxiety or fear is here.

Or maybe anger,

Frustration,

Or sadness,

Grief,

Fatigue,

Or some other feeling.

And notice where they're showing up in your body,

And how you're feeling them as physical sensations.

Paying close attention to what you can feel physically in your body.

Perhaps feeling sensations of bracing or tension in the chest or shoulders.

Tightness or nausea in the throat or abdomen.

Heat or coolness in the face or the hands.

Or some other sensations.

Now becoming aware of breathing by shifting your attention down into the belly region.

Perhaps putting your hand on your abdomen and noticing the rising and the falling movements.

Silently noting to yourself,

Breathing in on the in-breath.

And breathing out on the out-breath.

Just riding the waves of your own breathing at the belly region.

Notice that you have some degree of control over the breath,

And if you choose to,

You can slow it down a little,

And you can breathe more deeply into the belly.

Staying with the sensations of breathing in the abdomen for a few more moments.

And now shifting your attention to sounds arriving at your ears.

They may originate from near or far,

But they're all arriving right here in your awareness.

Notice two or three things that you can hear.

Letting your awareness be wide open and fully receptive.

Allowing the ears to receive the different layers of sounds that unfold from moment to moment.

Listening for the texture,

The pitch,

The loudness and softness.

And the rhythm or fluctuations of different sounds.

And maybe even the space between sounds.

And now opening your eyes if they were closed and noticing your surroundings.

Notice two or three things that you can see,

Looking at them closely.

Noticing the colors,

Shapes,

Sizes,

The lights and shadows.

And now widening your attention and bringing awareness to the periphery of your visual field.

Taking in all that you can see,

The wide open and receptive awareness.

And now closing the eyes if you feel comfortable doing so.

And notice that it's not completely dark.

There are shapes and colors that are moving around.

Notice your visual field is still here,

Even with your eyes closed.

And bringing your attention back to your mind and noticing the thoughts that are here.

What's your mind saying?

That something bad will happen,

That you're not good enough,

Or you're not doing it right.

Or perhaps it's planning or trying to figure something out.

Are any mental images showing up?

Of past events or future ones?

Or just random images?

Notice that these thoughts are simply mental events that are appearing,

Changing and disappearing in awareness.

Notice these mental events flowing through the mind like water flowing through a riverbed.

And shifting your attention to the body and noticing the emotions and sensations that are here now.

Notice how they're different than before.

Maybe you're noticing slight differences or maybe more obvious ones.

Maybe you're noticing feeling better,

Relatively the same,

Or maybe even worse.

Just acknowledging the thoughts and feelings that are flowing through the mind and the body from moment to moment,

Without struggling to make them different than how they are right now.

You have the whole rest of the day to struggle with them if you wish.

But just as an experiment,

For now,

Allowing them to just flow in and out on their own.

Now bringing your attention back to the sensations of breathing at the abdomen.

And also maybe noticing breathing in the chest and the nostrils.

And see if you can include these sensations of breathing with the other thoughts and feelings that are here right now.

Just breathing with them.

And if there are any challenging sensations,

Perhaps directing the breath towards those sensations.

Breathing into them to create more space for them to be here.

And breathing out from them as you soften around them.

Breathing in,

Creating a sense of spaciousness,

And breathing out,

Softening a little more.

See if you can be aware of your mind and body as a whole,

Being fully alive with thoughts and feelings constantly flowing through.

Considering that these experiences are part of being a normal human being that experiences a wide range of thoughts and feelings,

From ones that are pleasant to neutral to ones that are unpleasant.

Rather than seeing them as a problem to solve or to get rid of,

See if you can simply observe them for what they are from moment to moment.

In the same way you might observe a sunset changing from moment to moment,

With a sense of wonder,

Humility,

Patience,

And presence.

Notice there's a conscious human being here that can notice all these changing thoughts and feelings,

And that can also control some of what this body can do.

You can choose to move your body in various ways.

Try it out.

Wiggle your toes and your fingers.

Notice you have control over that.

Lengthen your spine.

Stretch your shoulders,

Arms,

And neck.

Notice you can choose to put your hand on your belly or over your heart,

And you can vary the pressure.

Notice that you can slow down and deepen your breathing if you choose to.

Open your eyes if they're closed and look around.

Notice what you can see.

Look closely at an object.

And another one.

And broaden your vision and take in all that you can see.

Notice that in the presence of these thoughts and feelings,

You are free to choose your actions,

What you can do with your attention and your body.

Now see if you can be aware of what's going on inside you,

Your thoughts,

Feelings,

And your body breathing,

And what's going on outside you,

What you can hear and see.

And be aware of your ability to choose your actions freely,

That you can move your attention and move your body as you wish.

And finally,

Take a moment to consider what is truly important to you.

What's your experience telling you about what would be important for you to do right now?

Perhaps noticing a need to slow down or take care of yourself or of someone else.

Perhaps doing more of something that will be nourishing for you or doing less of something that's depleting.

Or maybe to engage more fully with what you're doing,

With your environment,

Or with people around you.

What is it that truly matters to you?

What kind of person do you want to be?

What's called for in this moment?

And as this meditation comes to an end,

Reflecting on the following question.

As a thinking,

Feeling,

And breathing whole human being,

What do I choose to do in the next moments to nourish myself and engage more fully with what truly matters to me?

Wishing you well.

Reviews

🙏

Incredible grasp of the small adjustments needed to create internal changes with mindfulness. Thank you!

Feeling firmly grounded after that. Thank you 🙏🏽

Excellent grounding and awareness meditation, really helped me feel centered again. Thank you!! I’ll be coming back to this one.