Eyes are looking down and we're breathing gently through our mouths.
The mouth is just a little bit open as the breath comes naturally in and out.
Our spines are straight yet supple and relaxed,
Like we're a marionette with a string coming through the back tops of our heads and we're hanging from the ceiling.
So it's easy to be relaxed yet straight.
Letting our lower bellies hang out with each breath.
And our attention is on this process that we call breathing.
But we let go of that word and just see what the actual experience is.
Be an adventurer as you watch the movement,
The sensation.
Nothing to do but settle into this one thing.
Breathing.
Breathing.
In that moment when you realize your mind has chased after a thought and made a whole movie,
Good,
Something to celebrate.
This is a rare moment that you've been aware of that.
So that's something to celebrate.
And then you come back to the simple watching of your breath.
Also something to celebrate because it feels good.
Breathing.
And so we have many cycles of this forgetting and remembering,
Forgetting and remembering,
Building our capacity with each round.
And you might see,
Can I rest my attention on this breathing process for an entire breath?
Or maybe just one inhalation.
Again,
It's fine for thoughts to pass through arising and passing away.
And we can register them without having to follow after them and make stories.
Breathing.
And now we'll shift gears and do sympathetic joy.
For this,
It's okay to close your eyes if that helps you to visualize better.
So it's a beautiful day today.
And we might imagine ourselves going out very soon for lunch and going for a walk in the sunshine and feeling the fresh air and sunshine on our faces and savoring that.
Feeling happy for ourselves that we get this moment in the sunshine.
We savor it for one more moment.
And now we think somewhere,
Somebody we care about is stepping out into the sunshine and the fresh air and they're enjoying it.
We look at the smile on their face.
We're so happy for them.
They don't have to do anything else right now but just to enjoy this.
And so we savor right along with them.
We're so happy for them.
Seeing the smile on their face,
We can't help but smile.
Now we think of someone else who we easily care for.
They're stepping outside and taking a break too.
Nothing they have to do right now but breathe the fresh air,
Feel it on their face and feel the sunshine warming them.
And so we share this little moment with them.
And as they smile,
We smile too.
Now we think of all the people in this room who are about to go outside and enjoy the beautiful day.
Imagine each and every person stepping outside,
Looking up and smiling.
And we're happy with them.
We take one more moment with them and savor it.
Now we think of everyone in Manhattan right now who is having this beautiful day.
We imagine at some point every person is going to stop outside and feel the beautiful day,
The sun,
The fresh air.
And we're happy that they get to experience that,
Whoever they are,
Wherever they are.
And remembering that time is not linear,
We can expand our lens much wider and think that there has been a beautiful day that each person,
Every person in the world has been able to experience.
We might imagine some people on the beach,
Other people just stepping outside their door,
And they too are gazing up at the sky,
Feeling the sun on their face and breathing the fresh air.
At some point everyone has experienced that,
And so we experience it right along with them.
As they smile,
We naturally smile too.
And so we feel beneath the surface of all these waves on that ocean.
We feel how we're all connected at the root.
This is why when they are happy and they smile,
We're happy too.
And so we savor that whole ocean connection.
I believe that the more of us who can feel that whole ocean connection,
We will naturally affect everybody else in this ocean.
So they'll feel it more strongly too.
Now let's shift gears again and be like that marionette hanging from the ceiling with the string through the back top of your head,
Eyes gazing down so they're naturally sort of half closed.
Pressing your attention once again on this process of breathing.
And in between the in breath and the out breath,
You might pause for a moment and savor that complete stillness.
And also after the out breath,
Savoring that complete stillness for just a moment.
I.
Boy is he appeal.
Super-Orbed It's impossible to be alive with his heart.
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