Cultivating Positivity

This is a charming and relaxing practice aimed at cultivating positivity in one's day and life. In this brief practice listeners are guided briefly through different ways to access and cultivate positive feelings.

Transcript

In this meditation,

We will practice noticing and cultivating positive mood states.

By learning to tune into and nurture positive and pleasant mood states,

You're cultivating powerful resources that can enhance your well-being and resilience.

To begin,

Get settled into a comfortable position.

If you notice you're holding tension anywhere in the body,

See if you can relax some of it as you breathe in and out,

Maybe taking some deeper and slower breaths.

We can notice and cultivate positive mood states in a few different ways.

The first way is to see if you can notice any pleasant sensations already present in your body right now.

If you can sense any pleasant sensations,

Tune into them more closely.

Maybe your breath is clear and deep,

So just breathing in and breathing out feels good right now.

It might be pleasant to feel your eyes resting,

Getting a break from screens,

Not needing to focus on anything right now.

Maybe your body feels relaxed and steady,

You can appreciate that for a moment.

If it's hard to notice anything pleasant in your present experience right now,

Or you have active pain or discomfort,

You can encourage a positive mood state by calling to mind something pleasant or happy for you.

Maybe it's a pleasant memory or experience you've had in the past,

Or maybe it's something you're looking forward to.

Maybe it's thinking about a person you care about a lot who always makes you smile.

Your mind may go to a few different options for this practice,

But try to select a point of focus that you'll stay with for the next few moments.

Immerse yourself fully in this imagining of the pleasant experience,

Calling to mind as many details as you can right now,

And savoring any positive feelings it evokes.

If at any point you notice that your attention has drifted off,

Just make a note of it and return to the pleasant thought.

A third way we can cultivate positive states is by simply smiling gently to ourselves.

Try forming a gentle smile,

Observing how your face changes as you do so,

And noticing if it brings up any pleasant feelings or thoughts.

Preparing to end this practice,

Bring your awareness to the feeling of your feet against the floor,

Your hands in your lap,

The rising and falling sensations of your breath.

Take a few more nice,

Deep breaths,

And gently open your eyes when you're ready,

Bringing your full awareness back into the room where you are right now.

Remember that these methods for feeling better,

Just like awareness of the breath,

Are always available to you.

Reviews

Lovely!

Just what I needed – a quick and easy positivity reset. Thank you!

Short, very clear, uplifting and definitely can translate to longer joy-building practices and new habits. Thank you!

Great ideas -- & short & sweet! Thank you!

Good short shot of positivity.

Simple, uncomplicated and positive. Namaste 🙏🏼🌻🦋

Thank you! Short and healing ❤️

I have such a hard time not being in a foul mood in the morning....this mediation however really helped me. Thank you very much!! I will be using this everyday to start my day off better

Feels good. Thank you!

I enjoyed the shifts between the different ways to experience the meditation. The light tone of voice and expression that you used made it easy to allow the smile on my face when you suggested it, too. I stayed with the practice for another 5min, enjoying the tingling sensations in my soles against the rug, my palms on my thighs, and my forehead and heart space, too. I did the deep slow breath countdown from 17, and closed it out. Thanks for the gift!