When you meditate,
You're using your mind differently.
It's the same mind,
Or at least it feels like it.
But you start with the decision to keep it restrained,
Within limits.
And it's all about you and your mind.
So start with the body part of you,
The physical.
And keep your attention on the breath.
Watch it come and go.
If you're calm,
It will slowly grow longer.
So watch that while you let it happen.
The whole point here is to let the mind be,
But keep an eye on it.
It's like looking after a little child.
Let the breath come and go,
And keep your attention on it.
In and out.
And between each in and out,
A still point.
Lasts just for a moment.
But just take notice of it.
Helps to focus your attention.
It's interesting too.
This is you breathing.
What's new about that?
Well when you look,
When you're watching it,
Everything is new.
Every breath is different.
So here you are,
You and your mind.
Watching something very familiar,
And yet quite new.
That's what it means to be in the present moment.
The present moment is always new.
And when you focus on the newness,
Then the old patterns,
The reactive patterns,
The habits,
They have less chance of kicking in.
Your mind is open.
You are open.
And in that openness now ask yourself how you feel.
Don't get complicated.
You feel good or bad.
Relaxed or tense.
Grateful or poor me.
You and your mind are on a journey together.
But only when you pay attention.
The rest of the time you and your mind seem to be separate.
And yet when they're together,
They're so much stronger.
And that strength comes from the effort that you put into meditation.
And the effort is not strenuous.
It's simply making a decision to sit for 10 minutes and sticking to it,
No matter what.
How do you feel?
Do you feel bad?
Does that make you want to quit your meditation?
Maybe it does,
But you don't quit.
Do you feel good?
Maybe this is going so well that you don't need to meditate anymore.
It doesn't matter how you feel.
What matters is whether you're paying attention.
How do you feel?
Now what about your thoughts?
Your mind is a constant source of thoughts.
Sometimes racing so fast you can hardly keep up.
Here you are now,
Just you and your mind.
It's manageable and you can see the thoughts coming and going.
And you're careful not to get caught up in them.
But to watch,
To see,
To pay attention,
To be aware,
To be in the present moment,
Just you and your mind.
It's really not complicated.
And yet you may think that your mind is complicating things all the time and making life much more stressful than it needs to be.
And if that's true,
Well that's good news because that means the stress is within your reach.
You have a say.
And you do that by meditating,
By taking ten minutes to watch the breath,
To know how you're feeling and to watch the thoughts without getting caught up in them.
And after those ten minutes you are more mindful and you can carry that extra mindfulness into the next thing you do and maybe even further.
And you can reinforce it during the day by taking another ten minutes or less by taking one minute or less by taking one breath.
If you breathe like this attentively every morning for ten minutes,
Then you can call on any single breath during the day to bring you back to this state of clarity.
It's a gift.
If you've done this ten minutes,
Be grateful to you and your mind.
That's what makes it possible.
And remember,
The breath is very simple,
But keeping your attention on it isn't so easy.
So give yourself a pat on the back for sticking with it for ten minutes and resolving to keep doing it,
Not just every morning,
But during the day.
A breath here,
A breath there leads gradually to greater attention,
Greater clarity and a much happier you and your mind.
