Hello and welcome to this 5 minute morning meditation.
Sit upright,
Even if your body still feels heavy with sleep,
And before you reach for your phone or begin rehearsing the day in your mind,
Allow yourself to notice something simple and surprisingly rare.
The day has not actually begun yet.
It only exists as anticipation.
Feel the weight of your body where it meets the chair or the floor or the bed even,
And let your attention rest on the steady movement of the breath as it enters and leaves without asking anything from you.
Most people believe they wake up directly into their responsibilities,
But what truly happens is that they wake up into their thoughts about responsibility and those thoughts immediately begin shaping the tone of the entire day before anything has even occurred.
Notice the subtle urge to get ahead of the day,
To plan it,
To brace for it,
To prepare the conversations that have not happened and the outcomes that have not unfolded.
And now gently recognize that in this exact moment,
There is only breathing,
Only the quiet presence of your body,
Only this room.
There are no meetings happening right now,
No problems happening right now,
And no demands happening right now.
It's just the breath moving in and out.
Let yourself feel what it is like to arrive before you start to react and remind yourself of the difference between a day that begins in anticipation,
Which later feels rushed,
And a day that begins in presence,
Which later on in the day feels grounded.
Take a slow inhale and let the exhale be slightly longer,
As if you're settling into yourself rather than stepping outside of yourself.
Again,
Inhale and exhale.
And once more,
See if you can remind yourself not to chase the day-to-day,
You are already here.
So when you open your eyes,
Carry the simple shift with you,
Respond from where you are,
Not from where you fear you might have to be.
Have a beautiful day.
Namaste.
