It's so easy to get caught up in what went wrong during the day and to overlook what went well.
So let's spend a few moments now in gratitude,
Finding something worth reliving that did actually go well.
So come into a seated posture and allow your eyes to gently close,
Just resting the eyelids down.
I'm just going to do a short meditation of around eight minutes or so.
So slowly,
Increase the length of your out-breath just a little and relax and think through your day.
If you're doing this at the end of the day,
You've got a whole day to reflect on.
If it's in the morning,
You can reflect on the day before.
So run through the day backwards backwards and as you do,
Whether you believe that things went well or badly,
Look for a moment that was actually good.
Just rewinding like an old video recorder.
You may even find that you dwell on something that was difficult.
If that happens,
Try to find something good in that.
If you were unhappy,
Maybe someone showed their humanity,
Some tenderness,
Or maybe something went incredibly well.
Don't waste it.
Bring it back into your experience.
As brightly as you can,
As loud as you can,
And become immersed in that experience all over again.
Making sure that if it's that tiny glint of kindness that happened in a dark moment,
That it's the kindness you're looking at,
Not what surrounded it.
And if it's a moment of ecstatic joy,
Turn it up,
Soak in it,
Relive it,
Taking that goodness all over again.
And even if it feels fake,
Put a gentle smile on your face.
Turning up the corners,
The mouth,
Like a Buddha.
That smiling Buddha is smiling for a reason.
It's a pointer to the fact that when we smile,
Subtle changes happen in the mind,
In our neurochemistry.
When we're happy,
We smile,
But it can work the other way around too.
And let that smile spread down into the heart,
Even the heart bending in the shape of a smile.
And feel that warmth,
That joy and happiness that gratitude.
Feel it radiate through every cell of the body now,
Uplifted.
And keep that smile alive in the body and on the face as we bring this meditation to a close.
And try to practice this at the end of every day.
And soon you'll train your brain to actually look for the good in the day as it happens.
And you won't waste any of it.
You'll be training yourself to become happier and happier.
Allow the eyes to open and smile with the eyes too.
Have a wonderful sleep,
Or if you're starting your day,
A wonderful day.
Bye.
