So we'll just begin with five minutes of silence so that we can bring ourselves into the place we're at.
A place that has no distractions and a place where you can focus your attention on the meditations today.
So we'll think about our posture and where we're sitting.
Bring ourselves inward now,
Focusing on our breath.
We begin each morning by setting three motivations for the day.
Today may I do no harm to others or myself with my body,
Speech,
And mind.
Today may I be of benefit as much as I am able with my body,
Speech,
And mind.
And today may I generate the vast motivation of bodhicitta.
And may that profound motivation direct all the actions of my body,
Speech,
And mind.
So this morning we're going to do the meditation on mind as the source of happiness and pain.
It's the creator of our own experience.
Of course,
Often we don't think of it that way.
We think that our experience is caused by those outside of us.
Other actions,
Other situations.
So this is helpful meditation to get clear about where our misery and where our happiness lie.
It's within our mind.
So begin by remembering a situation that was difficult.
Maybe when you were angry at someone,
Had some conflict perhaps.
Something that recently happened,
So it's pretty fresh in your mind.
Now as you remember the situation,
Focus on what you were thinking and feeling during it.
Don't focus on what the other person was saying or doing,
But focus on what you were thinking and feeling.
And how did the way you would describe the situation to yourself influence how you experienced it?
How did the way you described the situation to yourself influence how you experienced it?
Now depending on the way you described the situation to yourself,
Then you experienced it that way.
Then you began to say and do things.
So how did your attitude affect what you said and did?
And how did what you said then again affect the situation and affect the other people involved in it?
Now go back again to the way you were interpreting the situation and ask yourself,
Was that realistic?
Was I really seeing the situation in an objective way?
Or was I seeing it through the filter of me and I and my and mine?
Because usually while we're in conflict with somebody we think we're perceiving an objective situation.
We think we're perceiving it accurately.
We think we're perceiving it accurately.
But since we're a major character in it,
We're usually filtering it through our own perspective,
Our own needs,
Our own agendas.
So go back and reflect on that.
See if that was happening when you were involved in the situation.
Now how else could you have looked at the situation?
What would the situation look like if you looked at it through the other person's perspective?
Their needs,
Their concerns.
What are other possible interpretations or ways of describing those events?
And how would that have changed how you experienced the situation?
So as a conclusion,
Let's make the determination to be aware of how we interpret events.
Be very mindful when we're projecting negativities.
And when our view is very narrow,
Make a determination to look at events in a very broad,
Compassionate,
And open-minded way.
