If you will find a comfortable position allowing your muscles to relax in your face and shoulders with every exhale letting go of tension in your back and belly.
Breathing into your chair and settling into your being.
Beginning to focus on the breath and the rise and fall of your chest.
Realizing the ease at which you are able to breathe.
And after another breath or two you can allow the natural rhythm of your breath to fall into the background of your mind.
As you begin to reflect on this idea of change.
Noticing internal sensations of change.
Noticing the way oxygen moves through you.
Noticing the ever changing flow of blood in your veins and arteries.
Noticing other more subtle sensations of change.
Coolness or warmth expanding or contracting.
Thoughts moving or jumping from one idea to the next.
Noticing perhaps even the change of emotions.
The change of bodily sensations that accompany each emotion.
Taking a step back.
Is it possible to notice what's holding all of those changes?
To become aware of your field of awareness.
Gently cradling the change of thoughts.
The flow of emotions.
The awareness of the felt sense experience within your body.
Noticing perhaps the sense of calm or well-being underneath the different emotions.
This space or respite that exists underneath the stream of consciousness.
Noticing the physical stillness at the core of your being.
Even when body sensations are moving and changing.
On the next breath,
Is it possible to reflect on the changes that are happening outside of your body?
The changes in the physical world.
The changes in our relationships.
In our perception of others.
In our ideas of the world.
These situations are changing all around us at all times.
That can create feelings of instability or groundlessness.
Just as you were aware of the stillness or the unchanging elements within your own body.
Are there moments of stillness outside of you?
Moments that pop into your awareness when things are pausing.
When there's rest.
When there's space to simply be.
Wherever you find it,
Is it possible to enjoy that stillness?
Let it steady you in the face of change.
Let it provide relief from the noise and bustle.
A source of clarity and peace.
Mary Oliver writes,
Today I'm flying low and I'm not saying a word.
I'm letting all the voodoo's of ambition sleep.
The world goes on as it must.
The bees in the garden rumbling a little.
The fish leaping.
The gnats getting eaten.
And so forth.
But I'm taking the day off.
Quiet as a feather.
I hardly move,
Though really I'm traveling a terrific distance.
Stillness.
One of the doors into the temple.
Is it possible to give yourself the space?
The permission to be still.
To open yourself to the awareness of moments of stillness that already exist without any effort.
This stillness endures.
Amidst the noise.
Amidst the ever changing flow.
Of movement.
And situational change.
And in that stillness resides love.
Compassion.
Peace.
And clarity.
May you all notice moments of clarity and being at ease within yourself and the world as we travel through this week,
This month,
And this new year.
COVID
