Welcome to this short mindfulness meditation practice centered around preparing yourself for the upcoming day at work.
I'd like us to begin by sitting comfortably,
Feet firmly on the ground,
Hands resting on your lap,
And with an upright spine you can think of this as having a dignified posture.
And we're going to begin the exercise by focusing on our breathing,
Which acts as an anchor to the present moment.
And we'll do this by taking three very deep breaths in through the nose,
Holding them for a second or two,
And then exhaling completely,
Pushing all of the air out of our lungs,
And as we do that,
Consciously relaxing the muscles in our body.
So we begin with a deep inhale through the nose,
Holding,
And exhaling.
And then on the last exhale,
Letting go,
Letting your breathing return to its normal rhythm in and out,
Softly through the nose.
I'd like you to take a moment to express gratitude and be thankful for having this moment to prepare yourself for the upcoming day.
This day is a part of your life over which you have some level of control.
You could simply be waking,
Showering,
Dressing,
Eating breakfast,
Organizing other people,
Getting yourself to work,
Performing tasks,
Coming home,
Sleeping,
Starting again,
And living life in a very mindless way,
Passively accepting everything that happens to you.
However,
You're already being more mindful.
You're already aware that you have a level of control over how your day at work will play out,
And centering yourself,
Preparing yourself in this way,
Is a large part of taking control.
I'd like you to think ahead to how your day will unfold.
Don't follow any of the thoughts.
Don't try to hold conversations as you think they may happen,
Or to live through stress that you think is coming.
But simply note what your day will look like.
What kind of activities will you be required to complete today?
What sort of meetings will you attend?
Which people will you meet throughout the day?
Some of the tasks that you will do today might be challenging.
Others might be easy.
They might be boring and repetitive.
They might be exciting and rewarding.
But you know,
Going into your day's work,
That you will begin to achieve things.
You will take on tasks,
And they will end.
Your work day will end,
And you will return home.
You can decide how you will approach this upcoming day.
In control,
Calmly,
With belief in your competence.
Take some time today between tasks,
Between meetings,
Between obligations,
To stop and breathe,
Even if only for five seconds or so,
And re-centre yourself back to this moment of planned calm,
Focus and centring.
I'd like you to consider also the people who you will meet today.
Colleagues,
Friends,
Maybe members of the public,
Maybe children.
And I'd like you to bear in mind that each person that you meet today is very much like you,
Striving to be happy,
Hoping to be free from pain and discomfort,
Going through their busy day.
And I'd like you to reflect on how you might have an impact on the people that you meet today.
Will you be bringing them positive energy?
Will yours be the friendly smile that they remember at the end of the day?
We often have an incalculable,
Invisible impact on those that we meet.
And it's helpful to be mindful of our own body language,
Facial expressions,
Tone of voice.
And with empathy,
Imagine how we are impacting those that we meet throughout the day.
We also have an element of choice and control in how we react to things that we can't control.
It might be that some of the things you do today will not be pleasant.
It might be that you have an interaction with another person which is unpleasant.
It's important to bear in mind that whilst we cannot control what happens to us,
We certainly can control our reaction to it.
And perhaps instead of choosing upset,
Instead of choosing rumination,
We can choose calm,
We can choose to be centered,
We can choose to breathe into the present moment.
Become aware again of your breathing,
Of the motion of the in-breath,
Of the release of the out-breath.
And when you are ready,
You can gently open your eyes.
