We'll take a few moments to settle into listening.
We don't need to do anything in particular.
We are simply allowing ourselves to be here.
The body can be how it wants to be.
Sitting.
Or lying down.
We can just listen to the body first.
And let it arrange itself in a way that feels right.
The eyes can be open or closed.
If they are open.
They might soften their focus.
And if they are closed,
The muscles around them can soften gently.
The jaw,
The neck.
The shoulders can soften too.
There's nothing we need to prepare for.
We're just making a little space for listening.
Sometimes when we listen.
There's a subtle effort involved.
Maybe a slight leaning forward or perhaps a sense of searching.
But today.
We are exploring something different.
We're not going to look for sounds.
We're not going to strain to hear.
We're simply allowing sounds to arrive on their own.
Perhaps there's a hum of traffic in the distance.
Maybe birdsong.
Or a door closing somewhere.
The faint movement of air.
We don't need to go towards.
Any of those things.
We can just notice that sound appears.
We are letting the ears receive.
Whatever reaches them.
We might begin to sense the difference between listening with effort and simply hearing.
Hearing happens on its own.
Even if we try not to hear.
Sound still arrives.
A sound begins.
It stays for a moment.
And then it disappears.
We don't have to make it stop.
We don't have to make it continue.
We're just noticing.
This natural rhythm.
Arrival.
Presence.
And fading.
If the mind comments on what it hears,
That's okay.
Those thoughts are sounds too.
Of a different kind.
They appear.
And they pass.
We don't need to push anything away.
And we don't need to hold on to anything either.
For a little while,
We can rest in this simple recognition.
Sound comes to us.
We don't have to go out and find it.
We don't have to narrow or sharpen our attention.
We can let hearing happen.
All by itself.
And now.
We can begin to widen our awareness slightly.
Noticing the sense of space around us.
The way the body rests on the surface beneath it.
The temperature of the air on the skin.
The sounds may still be here.
But we are not doing anything with them.
When it feels right.
We might invite a small movement.
Perhaps in the fingers or the toes.
Maybe a deep breath happens on its own.
And if the eyes have been closed they can open in their own time.
We can carry this quiet understanding with us.
We don't have to strain for experience.
Some things arrive perfectly well on their own.
And we can move on from here.
In a gentler way.
