Good morning,
This is Andrea from QiHappy.
Thank you very much for starting the day with me.
Let's take this moment together to fully arrive in the present moment with your mind and body.
I'm sure you've observed before that oftentimes our body is present,
But our mind is somewhere else.
Like right now,
Take a moment to observe,
Where is your mind at the moment?
Is it here,
With me,
Or is it somewhere else,
In the past,
Or in the future?
Our mind oftentimes switches between the past,
And oftentimes in the past,
Where we have regrets,
And where we think we should have done things differently.
Or our mind is in the future,
Where we worry about what is coming,
Or very anxious about the next thing that will happen.
But what is always in the present moment is our body and our breath.
So let's take a moment to arrive.
Take a comfortable seat,
With your feet flat on the floor,
Relax your arms,
Your hands are on your lap,
With the palms facing upwards,
And take a deep breath in,
And slowly release.
You may close your eyes,
If you're comfortable with it,
And become aware of your feet on the floor,
See if you can feel all of your toes,
You can wiggle them if it helps.
Become aware of as many toes as you can,
And don't worry if you can't.
Become aware of your legs.
Become aware of the weight of your body on your chair,
Or on your cushion.
Become aware of your abdomen,
Your chest.
Become aware of your hands,
Resting on your legs.
Become aware of your arms,
Shoulders.
Become aware of your head,
Your face.
Without judging,
Just observing.
Become aware of your whole body.
Your whole body.
With your attention on your body,
See where your attention is drawn to.
It might be a sensation in your body,
It might be pain,
It might be an itch.
Just see where your attention goes,
And start labeling what you observe.
To give you an example,
It could go like this.
Eye itching.
Stiff neck.
Cold hands.
So just label what you observe,
With each breath.
For each breath,
Use one label.
It can also be your breath.
And don't worry if your mind wanders.
Just return back to any sensations in your body.
So take a moment to label what you observe.
Now imagine that you're sitting in front of two doors.
One on your left,
And one on your right.
And the door on your left is for thoughts about the past.
And the door on your right is for thoughts about the future.
Start looking for any thoughts you have.
And when a thought about the past arrives,
Send it through the left door.
And if a thought about the future arrives,
Send it through the right door.
For any thoughts about the present moment,
Just let them be.
So before we start observing our thoughts,
Take a deep breath in.
And slowly let go.
And now start looking for any thoughts.
And as soon as a thought arrives,
Let it go through the respective door.
A thought about the past through the left door.
And a thought about the future through the right door.
Continue to look for any thoughts.
And let them go past the respective doors.
See if you can find any further thoughts.
About the past or the future.
And let them go through the doors.
If you have any thoughts about the present moment or sensations,
That's okay.
Just let them be.
See if you can find a last thought.
And let it go through the respective door.
And imagine that the doors disappear.
And you become aware of your feet on the floor.
And you become aware of your hands on your lap.
And take a deep breath in.
And slowly release.
And take a moment to observe whether you feel any different to how you felt before the exercise with the doors.
Without judging.
And now think of yesterday.
And I would like you to think of three things that went well yesterday.
It can be really small things.
Like a nice nourishing meal.
Or a smile from a stranger.
So just think of three things that went well yesterday.
And see how it feels to think of these things that went well.
And if you can only think of one thing,
That's okay.
Our brains tend to focus on negative things.
That's the way we're wired to think.
Because in the past it was essential that you could escape from the danger and not get eaten by a tiger,
For example.
However,
We can train our brain to rewire.
And to think of what went well is one way to do that.
So every day in the morning,
For example,
Think of three things that went well the day before.
It may be really challenging at the moment in these special times with huge challenges and worries.
Think of one thing that in the future could be a gift from what currently happens in the world.
And it can be really small things.
Like,
For example,
Realizing what matters in your life.
Cherishing meeting a friend or a family member or a pet.
What could be something in the future that is a positive outcome from the current situation.
For example,
I may realize that my health is of utmost importance and that looking after ourselves is not a luxury but a necessity.
And it's okay if you can't think of anything positive right now.
That's totally okay.
You can try it out some other time.
Or some other morning.
Everything in life can be turned into a gift.
It may just take some time for us to see the gift.
The fact that you're listening to this means you're allowing yourself some time off just for yourself.
You look after yourself and you rebuild some energy so that you can also support others around you.
It's like being on an airplane and when the oxygen masks come down you first need to wear a mask yourself.
So you can then support others.
And that also goes for looking after yourself generally in life.
If you don't look after yourself you can't support others.
So let's all put that oxygen masks on and give the world a big smile.
Today is going to be a good day.
It's going to be good because you decide that it will be a good day.
What could be one small act of kindness towards others that would help to spread positivity in the world?
It could be a very tiny thing like letting someone go first in a queue or just smile at a stranger.
Consider just giving without expecting anything in return.
Let's send a big thank you to the world,
To other human beings,
To animals,
To nature.
Take a deep breath in and slowly release.
Become aware of your feet on the floor.
Become aware of your hands and fingers.
And slowly but gradually when you're ready open your eyes again if you had them closed.
And become aware of your surroundings.
I wish you a magical day.
