Welcome to this guided meditation on the unified mindfulness technique of See Good.
See Good is about positive visualization.
And we do this to counterbalance something called negativity bias,
Which is our hardwired and very human tendency to focus on negative parts of our experience even when positive parts are available.
The See Good technique also builds mindfulness skills such as concentration,
Sensory clarity and equanimity.
This technique does involve turning attention inwards to our inner experience.
So it's a good idea to do this in a time and place when you feel comfortable letting things that are going on around you be in the background.
So let's explore See Good.
Take a moment to settle into a comfortable but alert posture.
This may be seated,
Lying down or even standing.
Whatever helps you maintain a sense of both energy and ease.
Eyes can be open or closed,
But for the See Good technique,
Many people find it easier to do with the eyes closed,
At least in the beginning.
Just take a moment to further connect with that sense of alertness and ease by inviting in a nice open breath and imagining that that fresh air is lifting the crown of the head up and away from your shoulders.
You might pause and then as you let go of the breath,
Just notice how the shoulders,
The belly and the chest naturally settle into the support of gravity.
Just using the breath in this way for one or two more rounds to connect to this balanced sense of alertness and calm.
When you're ready,
Consider a feeling,
A behavior or a way of thinking that you'd like to change.
This could be something that's not serving you,
That you'd like to stop thinking or feeling or an action,
A way of acting you'd like to stop.
It could be something new and positive that you want to start or it could be an existing feeling,
Behavior,
A way of thinking that you would like to sustain or even grow.
When you have that idea,
You don't need to worry about picking the perfect one.
You'll get the benefits of this practice either way.
But when you're ready,
Try to call up an image that represents this idea to you.
It doesn't need to be logical,
It just needs to resonate with you.
Sometimes it can also be useful to say or word or a phrase to help bring the image to mind.
Once you are able to bring that image to your mind's eye,
The practice of see good is to just sustain that image.
It will fade eventually.
Just regenerate it.
Focus on it and keep regenerating it.
So try that now.
See good.
As you continue to connect with see good,
You may notice that your image is very clear and detailed.
It may be immersive like a virtual reality,
360 degrees around you.
It may just be like it's projected at a point in front of you or maybe behind the eyes.
It could be a sense of your body image.
It could be some combination.
It could be fading,
Ephemeral,
Fuzzy,
Maybe not a lot of color.
Any and all of these experiences are perfectly normal.
The important part is just noticing what is true for you.
What is your unique experience of positive imagery right now of see good and to just keep sustaining that as much as possible.
You might find your attention being pulled into the body or into sounds and that's a perfect opportunity to build your concentration muscle by returning your attention to your positive image.
And you're also building your equanimity by letting those other things be in the background.
No need to fight them or change them.
Just refocusing.
You may notice that the image becomes a motion picture.
And if possible,
Try to avoid getting carried away into daydream or fantasy with that motion picture and instead return to a relatively still image.
And the image may be subtly shifting or flowing and that's fine.
The mind loves to work in contrast so it's very common when we go to bring a positive image to our mind that other interesting but maybe not so positive images appear in its place.
It's a normal part of the process and it's a good opportunity to again build your concentration by returning to the positive imagery and to build your clarity about what's actually happening in your mind's eye moment by moment.
If you're finding see good useful for you,
Feel free to stop this audio and continue to practice on your own.
As we move to the end of this guidance,
I invite you to shift the image just a bit and take a moment to visualize yourself thinking yourself for taking this time to give yourself this positivity boost.
So when you're ready,
Feel free to make a transition by gently opening the eyes if they're closed,
Looking around to reorient to your physical space,
Tuning in to the sounds around you and shifting the body to reorient to physical space.
And this concludes the guided meditation.
