Hello everyone and welcome to a morning meditation in the tradition of the 12 steps in which we seek to set our intention for the 24 hours ahead.
Throughout all of our practice we seek spiritual progress not perfection and everything contained herein is but a suggestion.
May I simply suggest that you take a moment to sink deeply to be rooted wherever you are.
Sinking deeply into your chair or cushion we also sink deeply into the present moment.
Know that it is impossible to have a bad meditation as your intention and desire and of themselves seek to bring about peace in the world through garnering peace in yourself.
In so doing may I ask that you use your breath as a bookmark as we begin.
If you become distracted flipping pages back into your past or toward your future may I simply suggest that you come back to the present moment using your breath as a bookmark.
Let me also suggest that if we have a moment in our in-breath or at the top of our breath to breathe in gratitude to think about what we are grateful for on each in-breath.
Knowing that that breath will consciously be bringing air for which we can be grateful along with anything else which comes to mind simply thinking grateful.
Let's practice this for a few breaths before I begin reading from the 11th step in the big book on each in-breath what we are grateful for.
On awakening let us think about the 24 hours ahead.
We consider our plans for the day.
Before we begin we may ask our higher power to direct our thinking especially asking that it be divorced from the pitfalls of self-pity dishonest or self-seeking motives.
Under these conditions we can employ our mental faculties with assurance for after all we were given minds and consciousness to use.
Our thought life will then be placed on a much higher plane when our thinking is cleared of wrong motives.
We may not be able to determine an exact course of action to take.
Here we simply lift it up.
We ask for inspiration and intuitive thought or decision.
We relax and take it easy.
After this we let go of the outcome.
We don't struggle.
We are responsible for the effort not the outcome.
We are often surprised how the right answers come and actions seem to come to mind after we have meditated upon this and tried it even for a little while.
Returning back to our breath.
I would suggest now that as we breathe in we remember grateful but that we add on our out breath peace.
New found peace generated from this practice willing to spring forth and well up in all of our actions in the path that we will walk today recognizing and remembering our intention in order to share peace with the world around us.
All is well.
At the beginning of this day,
We seek the countenance of light and love.
In the countless forms of creation,
The Sun's rising glory,
The face of a friend or stranger,
The presence of light within us,
And the heart at the heart of this moment.
We ask God,
Please grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things that I can,
My thoughts,
My attitudes,
And my actions,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
