One way to reframe meditation practice that I think helps us both stick with the practice and makes it quite useful in everyday life is to see it as an opportunity to practice living with what's actually going on in our lives with more patience and simplicity.
We're not aiming to deny what's going on.
We're not aiming to push away what's going on.
And we're certainly not aiming to create some impossible state of totally still mind or complete calm.
Instead,
We're aiming to see what's happening with as much clarity and care and compassion as possible.
Aiming to be at peace with as things are in this way doesn't mean being passive either.
The idea of being at peace may mean seeing quite clearly that a situation is confusing or difficult or sticky.
And then with a sense of clarity and compassion for ourselves and everyone else involved,
Making clear and precise decisions,
Taking action in ways that are as skillful and caring as possible.
And this perspective can develop through our meditation practice because we aim to,
And we give ourselves permission to,
Approach whatever is going on for the few minutes of meditation with a sense of care and openness and letting go of the extra as much as we're capable of in that moment.
So finding yourself a comfortable posture you'll be able to sustain for these few minutes of practice.
We can begin by bringing that sense of kind and patient awareness to our body first.
That might even start with your posture,
Noticing how you're sitting,
Making adjustments so that you feel awake and alert,
Noticing areas of tension and seeing if you're able to release them a little bit.
Gathering your awareness and bringing it to the sensation of breathing,
Letting go of any need to do anything or make anything happen right now.
And perhaps reframing moments where you become distracted from the breath as a success when you come back,
The mind always stays busy.
Things happen that draw our attention and awareness away throughout the day.
And each moment you come back to the breath is a moment of awareness,
A moment of intention.
The awareness that your intention is to be paying attention to your breath and yet things distract you and pull you away is all just part of the practice.
This is how life is.
So can you approach this sense of distraction,
The sense of intention with clarity,
Noticing,
Oh,
My mind is busy and letting go of anything else and simply coming back to the next breath.
And then if you like,
Expanding your awareness to the entirety of your body.
Most of us live with experiences of pleasure,
More pleasant experiences in the body and also moments of discomfort,
Pain even at times.
And if something definitively needs adjustment to relieve you of some physical pain right now,
That's always okay.
But for anything else that's either comfortable for you to work with or unchangeable in this moment,
As you expand your awareness to your body,
Seeing if you can notice it and notice where that sensation sends you.
And then as best as you're able,
Bring your awareness to simply noticing the physical sensation and coming back if you like to the movement of your breath,
Bringing a sense of awareness and clarity of purpose to noticing physical sensation in your body.
If something needs to be done,
Taking care of it,
And for everything else,
Noticing and letting go.
And now continuing to use your breath lightly as an anchor,
Shifting your awareness to notice your emotional state.
Emotions are part of our experience.
They're there,
Whether we acknowledge them or not.
They tend to influence how we think and how we interact with the world.
So cultivating a sense of open and caring awareness,
Living with a sense of peace with our emotions as they arise and pass,
Is core to living at peace in the world.
It's also core to staying in touch with our best intentions as they tend to drive the bus if we're not paying attention to them.
So noticing now your emotional state and seeing if you can give yourself permission for these next few minutes to stay aware of your emotions with a sense of care if they're difficult,
With a sense of compassion and giving yourself permission to experience them at all.
And then letting go of any sense in this moment of needing to fix or change them.
Right now I'm experiencing happiness,
Or right now I'm experiencing sadness,
Or whatever emotions come to mind.
And seeing if you can bring to this part of the practice a sense of compassion too,
Leaning towards the intention to treat yourself as you would a young child or a close friend.
And when your mind gets too distracted,
Too all over the place,
There's always the option of coming back to some moments of following the breath again.
And now shifting your awareness to thoughts.
Thoughts can feel so all consuming.
And through meditation,
We can't make them stop.
That's never the point.
Can we live more at peace with this part of our experience,
Recognizing we each have our own habits.
We each make up stories,
Stories that try to make sense of our past or that project into the future.
Problems can feel sticky and all consuming and ruminative.
So for this moment,
For these few minutes of practice,
Can we note thoughts simply as thoughts?
Fears simply as fears.
Fantasies simply as fantasies.
Observe them like clouds passing in the sky.
And also with a sense of peace and care.
My mind is in an agitated state right now.
This is really exhausting.
And can we observe that and give ourselves some self-care and aim to settle for just a few moments back into the breath?
Or at a different time,
Maybe we experience a quieter mind,
A simpler mind,
Noticing the thoughts as they arrive.
With more ease.
But through the practice,
Simply noticing,
Oh,
Thinking or thought,
And then coming back to the breath again.
The intention and perspective we bring to the practice is fundamental to practicing itself.
Through the practice,
We can aim to live in life even during exceedingly difficult times with more awareness and compassion and self-care and all of that leading to a better ability to stay in touch with our own best intentions when we need to act precisely or communicate well.
So when we practice,
Whatever happens will happen.
But can we do our best to stay aware,
To stay clear of thought,
And to stay kind?
So as we bring our practice to a close,
Settling back into the breath for a moment,
And then perhaps setting the intention to continue this sense of compassionate and kind awareness as you move on into the rest of your day.
