This is a meditation that you can perform whenever you're feeling like you're not being as productive as you could be.
This might be when you're feeling frozen in inaction,
When you're procrastinating from performing an important task,
Or when you're feeling like outside circumstances are controlling you and keeping you away from doing what you feel is most important to you at the moment.
Feel free to listen to this meditation at any of those times to help you reground yourself and get yourself back into a productive mindset.
Begin by finding a quiet place where you can be alone for a few minutes if possible.
I know that if you're being pulled in many directions by people around you,
You may not be able to find a place to be alone,
But if you can find a way to at least be quiet and uninterrupted for a few minutes,
That would be helpful.
You can sit or stand or if possible lay down.
Close your eyes and take a long deep breath in,
Letting the air completely fill your lungs.
Hold the breath for an instant and then,
Without effort,
Let the breath fully release out of your body.
Take another deep breath in,
Feeling the air come in through your nose down into your lungs.
Hold it for a moment and then just let go of all of the tension in your body to let the air gradually and fully release from your lungs.
And now,
One last time,
Take a slow deep breath in,
Drawing in as much air as you can without feeling uncomfortable.
Let the air rest in your lungs for a moment and then relax and fully exhale all of the air from your body naturally and without effort.
And then relax and return to breathing naturally.
Because lack of productivity often results from a lack of alignment between our actions and our intentions,
I'll next ask you to ask yourself,
What is my intention right now?
Or you might find it easier to ask,
What is my goal right now?
What am I trying to accomplish with my time and energy right now?
If you've been swept up by outside circumstances,
It might take you a few moments even to call to mind what your intention was before you lost focus.
So I'll give you a few moments to reflect on,
Remember,
And return to a feeling of having a solid connection to your present intention.
And I suggest that you step back a bit from the specific actions that you plan to perform and instead bring to mind a broader intention,
Such as your intention to cook a meal for your family or to teach a skill to a coworker or even a broader intention such as practicing a particular skill at which you want to improve.
Take a few moments to reflect on this.
Now that you've recalled your intention and brought it to the forefront of your mind,
I'll ask you to take a few more moments and let the feeling of your intention sink deeply into your bones.
Relax while you focus on your intention and see if it's possible to let that knowledge and feeling of what your present intention is sink in deeply so that it feels completely present with you.
I'll pause again to let this sink in,
But feel free to pause the recording as well to take as much time as you need to feel that you have reconnected your mind,
Body,
And spirit to your intention.
Now that you have brought your intention fully into your present conscious awareness,
Ask yourself,
What is the single action that I can take next in the next moment to most advance that intention?
Now is the time with your intention fully present for you and while you're feeling grounded and have taken a step back from the whirlwind of your external environment to ask yourself,
What is the single action that I can take right now to most advance my intention?
Although the circumstances that you're in may of course influence your decision,
Now is the time to be aware that the decision is still yours to make and that you are not under the control of your circumstances and to reflect on your decision in light of the intention that you feel so fully right now in your mind,
Body,
And spirit.
And if you're feeling any anxiety about whether you'll be able to choose an action that's achievable,
I encourage you to choose something very small,
So small that you'll almost certainly be able to complete it before your attention again veers elsewhere.
I'll now pause for my instructions to give you a few moments to reflect on your decision about the next action to take.
Feel free to pause the recording if you need even more time.
Now,
Assuming that you've chosen an action to take next,
I encourage you to first congratulate yourself for re-grounding yourself in your intention after having felt pulled away from it.
Then I encourage you to open your eyes and immediately engage in the action that you chose,
Engaging in it with the full intention of performing that action with 100% of your attention energy and to completing that action no matter how small before turning to anything else.
Before I end this guidance,
I want to leave you with an acknowledgement that despite all of your efforts during this guided meditation,
You may not complete the action you have chosen for any of a variety of reasons.
If that happens,
I encourage you to use that as an opportunity to notice that your attention went elsewhere before you completed your task and to gently return your attention to that task in an effort to complete it.
Begin to repeat this as many times as necessary,
Each time with the intention of letting go of any self-judgements you may notice.
If you again find yourself swept up in your circumstances,
Feel free to return to this meditation again.
Thank you.
