Hello.
What I love about meditation is that it really offers you the gift of clarity.
You get to see things in your own life with greater clarity.
You get to see your relationships,
How you're responding to yourself.
What your values are,
What your purpose is.
Because let's face it,
Life these days is pretty busy.
With the emails,
The family commitments.
The news,
Social media,
It's very easy for our wisdom to get clouded and so that's why meditation is such a beautiful practice to really allow us to see what really matters.
And so there are lots of frameworks we can use to do this and today in a guided practice I want to explore the frameworks of creation,
Maintenance and destruction.
Three really powerful lenses through which you can see your life and gain some clarity.
And the other beautiful thing about this framework is it reminds us that life is indeed always changing.
That life is impermanent,
That our experiences are impermanent and when we hold this deep in our hearts as we move through our days.
It makes the good times even more special.
And it reminds us that when life is hard,
That these moments will change too.
So we've got two benefits out of this practice.
One,
It gives us this lens to seek greater clarity in our lives.
And two,
It reminds us of the truth of our own lives,
Of our existence,
That life is change and we are always changing.
So with that in mind,
Let's close down our eyes.
And without any sense of real striving you can just allow your awareness to land on your breath.
And just noticing which part of your breath is capturing your curiosity today.
And over the next few moments,
Just seeing if you can get curious about your breath as a four-part cycle.
So just allowing your awareness to be with the inhale.
The natural pause that forms at the top of the inhale.
The exhale and the pause at the bottom.
So we've got this beautiful four-part breath.
That we can just devote our entire attention to.
Noticing with a sense of curiosity if there are parts of this breath that feel natural,
Parts that you hurry through.
And allowing this to be a metaphor for life.
Because if you're like most of us,
Chances are there will be aspects of your life that you lean into.
That you enjoy,
That you'd like more of.
And there's probably parts of your life you resist,
Lean away from.
And so that's probably mirrored in this four-part breath cycle.
And so what would it feel like just to have a little more balance?
A little more equanimity towards each part of the breath cycle.
And now we're going to move into a reflection upon these three.
Stages of life that we're going to look at.
The first one is creation.
It's starting something new.
It's the hope of a new project,
A new life stage.
It's beginning.
Maybe it comes with a sense of excitement,
Maybe with a sense of anxiety or apprehension.
And so over the next few rounds of breath,
Just noticing how your body reacts to the word creation.
Do you lean in?
Do you lean away?
Moving now to maintenance.
This idea of committing to things,
Of sticking with things,
Even when they feel repetitive.
Boring,
Part of the routine.
Are you the type of person that enjoys maintenance?
Tending to things that are important,
Calling your family or friends,
Showing up,
Being reliable.
Committing to things.
Or do you find maintenance boring?
Heavy.
Tiresome.
And again noticing any clues in your body.
As we move to destruction.
This might be letting something go.
Moving on.
Endings.
Release.
Where does the energy of destruction live in your body?
And now that we've felt into these three aspects of life,
These three truths,
We're going to get a little more granular,
A little more specific.
As you just allow something that.
.
.
Felt pressing,
Felt relevant,
Felt important to you in your life recently,
Just to bubble up.
Is it something at work?
Is it a life transition?
Is it a relationship issue?
And as you bring the details to mind.
Just noticing any sense of activation within your body.
Where you might feel this.
And offering this activation a few soothing breaths.
And now we're looking to go deeper.
Deeper than the initial activation.
To what maybe the truth is of this circumstance or situation you've called into this practice.
What is the deeper truth here?
And if nothing specific comes to mind,
Well that's okay too.
We just trust in your awareness.
And your commitment to this practice.
And so as we hold this challenge,
This relationship,
This life circumstance in our mind's eye and we also hold the deeper truth within our heart.
We get radically honest.
As we ask ourselves,
What is being asked of me right now?
Is it to walk the path of creation?
Maintenance.
Or destruction.
Really trusting yourself here.
That you know the path to walk.
And now imagining how this circumstance,
This relationship would change if you really committed to walking one of these paths.
Creation and all it represents for you.
Maintenance or destruction.
Awareness coming back to your body as it sits or lies in meditation.
As you feel more deeply into the truth that life is always changing.
And that rather than being afraid of this,
We actually get to use this knowledge.
To really be present for the good moments.
To have a sense of reverence and appreciation for.
The good times.
Or just for being alive.
And we use this knowledge of impermanence also.
To hold us steady when life feels hard.
To remind us that tomorrow is a new day.
That things change.
And so if your meditation practice was a gift,
This time you offer yourself for greater clarity.
What gift did your practice offer you today?
Eyes opening if you like.
Getting a sense of the space you're in.
From my home to your home,
From my heart to your heart,
Thanks so much for sharing your practice with me.
