We'll meditate again for five minutes today,
So make yourself comfortable,
Close your eyes,
And just begin to observe your experience.
What is it like right now?
You can start with the breath,
Noticing the quality of your breath today.
Is it fast,
Slow,
Light,
Heavy?
No need to change it,
Just observing.
Just let it be exactly as it is.
Your task in meditation is to simply be with reality as it is.
No need to change anything.
Just be right here as this moment happens,
Exactly as it happens.
That might involve agitation,
Thoughts,
Emotions,
Unpleasantness,
And that's okay too.
Just observe all of that,
However it is.
Maybe there's judgment of those things,
Maybe you want them to change.
And just notice that,
Wanting something to change.
What is it like to want?
If you feel cold,
Hmm,
You're cold right now.
What is it like to be cold?
And you'll have an impulse to want to change it,
To fix it.
But what if you don't?
What if you just be with the cold,
Let yourself be cold?
Or whatever that sensation is.
Maybe you're too hot,
Maybe something is itchy,
Maybe your legs are uncomfortable.
And just welcoming whatever is true.
What is that like?
Your mind will create stories and thoughts about these things.
You have to scratch that itch.
If you don't,
Something bad will happen.
It will be so uncomfortable.
Just notice that story,
And you can label it thought.
It doesn't have to be true.
And just imagine that all of these thoughts in your mind are just sound.
You can gently turn down the volume.
What if each thought is just a suggestion?
You don't have to take it seriously.
And instead,
You can turn up the volume on your sensory experience.
Feeling your body,
Feeling your breath,
Hearing the sounds around you even.
Maybe there's a bird singing,
A car passing by.
Interesting.
There's a car,
There's a bird.
And you can label those things,
And watch as your mind tries to go further and connect the dots to something else as that spotlight moves away from you,
Following that string of thoughts.
And just gently move the spotlight back onto the breath.
That's a sound.
And back to the breath.
That's a sensation.
Back to the breath.
Thought.
And that's all we're doing here.
Again and again.
Noticing as the mind goes away,
As it creates a story,
As it follows a thought.
And then,
So gently,
Guiding our awareness and our attention back to right here,
Right now.
Following the breath,
Following the body,
Right here,
Right now.
And that's it.
Thank you for being here.
