I just had someone smile at me down the street and I was struck by the effect that it had on my sense of well-being and I wanted to offer a practice to invoke a sense of happiness,
Joy,
Kindness.
So finding a comfortable seat and take a moment to find equilibrium on your sitting bones,
Maybe swaying from side to side,
Backward and forward a little,
Imagining your pelvis kind of screwing down into the earth,
Nestling into the support of the earth there and find stillness and allow a natural length of the spine,
Sensation that the crown of your head is reaching up towards the sky like a sunflower does to the Sun and let all the rest of your body,
Either side of your spine,
Kind of drop away from that experience of your center column,
Letting your muscles be soft and as you rest here bring your awareness to your breath,
Seeing whether you could bring a gladness to the fact that you're breathing and an awareness of this sense of something greater breathing you,
Meeting you right here,
Right now and as you next inhale bring your inhale all the way up to your brain and continue to breathe naturally as your awareness rests on your brain and bringing your consciousness to something today,
In the last week,
That made you happy,
That allowed you to experience a sense of joy and if there's not something that's happened today or in the last week just bringing your awareness to something that does bring you joy,
A glimmer in your life,
Something that reminds you of the beauty of life,
Kindness,
Something that reminds you to smile,
Could be a color,
Place in nature,
Person,
Thing and see that as you rest your awareness,
As you think about this experience,
This color,
This thing,
You could gently invite the sides of your mouth to turn up,
Maybe you think about someone laughing and just feel how smiling physically feels on your face,
How does it feel to smile,
To express joy through your facial expressions,
As you exhale let that joy,
Memory,
That thing drop down into your heart space and feel it being held here in the cradle of love,
Gratitude,
Appreciation and let that sense of smiling,
Of joy,
Circulate around and through your heart space now,
As you continue to breathe naturally,
Feel that you're stoking this sense of gratitude,
Happiness,
Recognizing that all it takes is the choice to tune into this sense of gratitude,
Of happiness,
Of joy that's available to us always and that sometimes all it takes is a smile,
An act of kindness to impart this kind of remembering that it's always within us,
Taking a big breath in through the nose and out of the mouth,
Feeling yourself present in your body and giving yourself permission to take this sense out of your practice and into the rest of your life,
Perhaps sharing kindness,
A smile with someone else today.
