Expect Great Things To Happen

An uplifting practice that will help you let go of worries and retrain your mind to see new & expansive possibilities. In this practice, you will be working on transforming anxious thought patterns, and opening yourself to receive great things in your life. You will leave feeling easeful in your mind and inspired in your heart. In the first few minutes, Lou shares the inspiration for the practice.

Transcript

Hello and welcome my name is Lou Redmond and I appreciate you practicing with me today.

I was recently going through some old journals and I came across a phrase that I used to repeat to myself every single day I would write it and start my journal entry with it and I'd always think about it and just continue repeating this and I have no idea when I stopped this habit of repeating this phrase but it really struck me and the phrase was expect great things to happen and I was reflecting on this phrase and I realized it seems a little bit opposed to a stoic or a Buddhist philosophy which might say the opposite what might say that expect suffering and expect that things aren't going to go your way and if we know that that's going to be the reality then we're not as attached to it when they do and we allow ourselves to live in this balanced and equanimity or equanimous state and I think in reflecting on both ends I think we can hold both together and while I'm not a fully practicing Buddhist I really try to be a practicing optimist and I don't think necessarily it's bad to be looking towards hopeful outcomes of the future obviously we don't want to be attached to something we want to not get our hopes up and then get down but what happens way more often is that people and me myself included it feels like we are so worried about negative things we fear things that don't actually come true and I forgot who said it but it was as if worrying is praying for the worst case scenario and that scenario never comes and there's another quote that's like our greatest fears don't actually happen I'm butchering this but I'm sure you can look it up please if you know what quote I'm talking about make it in the comments I'd love to be enlightened and so this practice today is really about one letting go of our anxiety and our worries and seeing if we can retrain our mind back towards that state of hope back towards that state of optimism and so go ahead and find any last movements that you might need if you haven't yet please close down your eyes and let's begin our practice here today so starting by allowing your body to relax allowing the weight of your body to come down and continuing to keep that expansive and light feeling throughout your upper body and softening any areas that might need a little extra care down through your face down through your belly keeping a broadening through your chest and just a relaxed shoulder beginning to invite the awareness into your breathing and it might help as you do this to note breathing in and breathing out and following an easy smooth rhythm healing with each inhale that little bit of a an expansion and with each exhale that release and contraction breathing in and breathing out you can say that silently to yourself or you can switch it to inhaling and exhaling maybe it's just in and out just a couple moments here on your own to get settled begin to bring your awareness to your mind wherever that is to you it might be around your head you might have a bigger view of your mind but bringing your awareness wherever mind is for you and the practice of meditation is really to understand our minds how it functions what are its habits what are its patterns and often our mind has been grooved in habitual thought patterns maybe they're worry maybe it's a fear and what meditation allows us to do is kind of fill in those grooves so that we can create new habits new patterns within our mind I'd like you to imagine your mind as wide as a sky wide and as bright as a bright blue sky noting the expansive nature of your mind continuing to breathe and enliven that expansive quality I'm just taking in for a moment this bright wide sky of your mind meditation is also about connecting our heads to our hearts and you feel that connection and from your mind down into your heart you'll let energy flow and you even feel your chest brought in a little bit to help us cultivate our hearts find some gratitude for something that your mind has allowed you to do maybe it's a degree it's allowed you to pursue a problem it helped you solve it could just be the simple act of driving your car any little thing big thing that the mind has helped you do see if you can continue to stay down in your heart sending that that energy up and finding any feeling of gratitude that you have for something that your mind does it won't take a few moments here to cultivate that allow the gratitude to widen your mind sky to brighten it take a conscious breath in and let that go the mind tends to have good intentions but it doesn't always know how to show it so bring to mind something that causes you worry or anxiety maybe it's a pattern of thought it's specific situation that you're having or it could be just a more chronic anxiety that you feel or just a anticipation for the future that never really gets there maybe it's with your children maybe it's your job a relationship any feeling of worry or anxiety see if you can allow it into your awareness and then first noting if there's any place in the body where this anxiety manifests maybe it's a tightness in the head or the neck or the shoulders an uneasiness in the stomach and you might not feel anything but just noting the body and regardless both feeling the breath as it holds that part of your body and you can't find a specific part just feeling the breath even holding this situation in your awareness I was being with this for a few moments as you're being with it maybe just remembering or allowing this in and it's the the knowing that our mind just wants what's best for us that's what it was programmed to do is to keep us alive and wants us to survive and it's just been or just had a history of not showing it the right way pretends that there's a fearful things that aren't really there so we're going to practice it's acknowledging this anxiety for what it actually is intended to do so to begin and just notice any feeling of fear or worry you will imagine that's leaving your body and it's moving outside of you and you can imagine maybe that you're sitting at a table there's another chair and the anxiety is kind of moving out of you and sitting on the chair is some sort of energy or you can just imagine this anxiety outside of you right in front of you where you're at and just breathe and release it outside of you for another moment and coming back into your heart center let's take a moment to really thank this anxiety for its intention and you might speak to it silently or out loud I thank you for caring for me thank you for wanting me to be loved and thank you for wanting me to be safe thank you thank you for having my best interest in your heart and notice as you think it if it just shifts the relationship to it at all maybe doesn't have the power that it's been having it wants what you want just doesn't always know the best way to show it just holding that here licking your anxiety right in front of you and just sending them that caring appreciative energy and although it wants what's best for you it doesn't need to control you it doesn't have to be here so with each breath see if you can see that anxiety begin to melt away whether it was sitting in a chair whether it's just in front of you see it begin to melt away and float away with each breath taking back your power and creating space for for you to reprogram those new thought patterns away from anxiety and towards a more wholesome and sustainable approach breathing in breathing out and releasing any anxiety that's still there and together let's take a good breath in and let that go now that we've cleared some space I'm gonna have you think of something amazing that has happened to you thing truly truly amazing maybe it was your partner your life partner that you met maybe it's a lucky break you got an accomplishment that you achieved what great thing has already happened to you I'm sure something is there and see if you can bring that experience into your awareness and see if you can fully go there in that experience and see what you saw at that time notice who is there notice anything else you see where you were anything you heard in that situation other people any other senses any smells or tastes they remind you of this maybe you were outside and then from that heart center really trying to cultivate the feeling of this experience what did it feel like in this moment breathing in that energy of possibility and knowing that good things have happened to you a couple moments here when as you breathe in the good energy find gratitude for having had this experience coming back to that thankful heart permeating that gratitude in all directions of your being and see if you can keep this energy keep this feeling as a knowingness that good things happen to you this is proof and then slowly let that go and bring yourself back into your current experience right where you are in whatever room you're in and come back to the awareness in your mind come back to imagining your mind as wide and bright as the sky bringing that bright blue sky into your vision and this time we're gonna write some words in your sky you can see these words in skywriting so it's kind of like the clouds that the planes right on the sky and in this skywriting it reads expect great things to happen expect great things to happen and see if you can see this almost like a like a 180 panorama in the sky just allowing those words to sink in to your mind and into your consciousness notice if you can embody that phrase notice if there's any resistance and thinking that good things are possible for the future both are welcomed but to help us embody this phrase we're going to repeat a few words and you can say them out loud or you can say them silently to yourself I am worthy of great things I am capable of great things I am open to receive great things I expect great things to happen I am worthy I am capable I am open to receive I expect great things to happen we're gonna repeat that last line however we're gonna bring it into the now so repeating silently to yourself great things are happening just repeat that over and over again for a few moments great things are happening and then letting that go and finally just bringing to mind if there's something specific in your life that you'd like to realize a goal a dream a vision bring that image to mind for a moment with all of this energy that we've cultivated see if you can see yourself accomplishing it see yourself in that experience seeing those great things coming true what would that feel like to be there and finding the gratitude now as it's already happened it's great things are happening and then when you feel ready letting that go and beginning to come back into your body come back into your room maybe making some movements if that feels right now whenever you're ready beginning to just open your eyes to come back into your day and I thank you so much for showing up for choosing to practice with me I'd love to engage with you so please leave any comments that might have come up or that you might have and may you see the possibility in your life and I just want to note again that it's not that we live in this place of entitlement where we're just expecting things of everyone because that's what we might take from that it's really just to trust that there is a benign presence that we can cultivate from within and as we allow that benign presence to lead we can trust that good things are happening great things are happening even if we don't see it in that moment even if it takes going through struggle or difficulty to realize that wow that was a great thing that happened it didn't feel like it at the time but it was great and that's what our practice can ultimately allow us to connect to and to embody and to be an example for other people I will go ahead and let you go thank you as always so much love to you namaste

Reviews

WoW - This meditation made a huge positive impact on me.
I loved the perspective, visualization, imagination, and guidance. Your voice is very soothing.

I expect great things to happen. Thank you 🙏🏽

Thanks so much for sharing Lou! Sometimes I get down because my life is not what I would have imagined it would be at this time, but you reminded me that I have had tons of great experiences in my life and no doubt there will be more! Namaste from Maria on Long Island, New York, your neighbor!

I love your calming voice. Expect great things. Thanks for the message and reminder.

Expecting Great Things To Happen This Beautiful November Morning.....Much Love and Peace ❤️✌️

Very much appreciated. Such a simple powerful phrase to help change my mindset 🧡🕉️🧡

Great things are happening … when we release fear. Thank you Lou. I think the phrase that you might have been looking for is
Our greatest fear is fear itself ??

Powerful session. For m.e I saw my fear(worry) appear as a dark smoky image and then I watched as it dissipated into the air…. My worry stemmed from finances … used to smiles.

It felt great to thank it. …and watch it dissolve into the aether.

My joy comes from love… love for myself … the love I’ve found with another … my child … family …all beings .. which just radiated thru my being. … I am filled with gratitude.

Much love and light
Namaste
Diba

So powerful, just the right amount of guidance, right amount of space, thank you!

Mark Twain something lije: i gave lived through so much tragedy, mist of which never happened.

Thanks for this.

I love all the space you leave between the words. It’s so powerful and restful and helps the mind realign and reconfigure new pathways of thought and beingness.

An other Grat meditation. I did not aspect this to be related to anxiety but actually it help me axactly in a moment of struggle to be more in acceptance and look from a prospective of the heart. Thank you

Very helpful after a series of disappointments. I will repeat this meditation. Thank you! 🙏

Great guided meditation! You did an awesome job at guiding into wonderful visualizations of mind/sky, breathing out anxiety (while befriending it) and the sky writing was a treat. Thank you!

So so good. That sky writing was a special moment! Made me smile and I truly saw it in my minds eye and felt it in my heart. 💖 “Great things are happening.” …bringing it into the present was powerful. Thank you Lou! 🙏🏼

Thank you 🙏🏾 this was a wonderful meditation 🧘‍♀️

That was good! I actually felt still & at peace after a nightmare of a weekend. Thanks

Thank yiu so much/ this was very special and profound. Blessings to you. Namaste

Wonderful 🌟🌟🌟
Thank you so much! 🤗

I will do some more of that inner work
easing my anxiety of not doing enough
at the moment & not feeling good enough.

Thank you for reminding me of this. It was a new year “resolution “ for me a few years ago. And I don’t know why I stopped keeping it top of mind. Maybe because it’s become embodied. There’s a calmness that comes with this expectation. 🙏🏼

This was so absolutely wonderful and perfect! I’ve been trying hard not to get sleepy while meditating and pay more attention and experience the words and feelings more .. and this was SO HELPFUL! Thank-you!!!

It felt great to quiet my anxieties for a short time. I appreciate your soft and living approach!