Cherishing gentle positivity,
This gentle guided meditation will help guide you toward noticing the positive things you experience in your daily life.
It is known that the brain has a negativity bias.
This means that your mind will naturally focus harder on unpleasant things.
It is a way of making sure that you are alert to danger,
And so protecting you.
However,
If you focus on the pleasant things,
The mind will begin to recognise them more often,
To concentrate upon them,
Rather than the negative.
When you consciously seek or search for the positive things that are in your life,
Or that you see day by day,
The more you will find them.
There is always something,
No matter how small.
In fact,
The smaller and gentler things can carry great comfort.
Begin by intending to notice positive things.
We can often find that when our mind is full of anxiety,
Or simply concentrating on work,
Or outshores,
We do not notice them,
We blank them out,
But they are always there.
On your way to work,
For example,
There can be something,
It could be a flower growing through a crack in the pavement,
A pattern of clouds in the sky,
The light reflecting in a puddle.
When you notice anything that fulfills you in some way,
Embrace it,
And then notice what that feeling is.
It may be hopeful,
Or calm,
Comforted,
Or any feeling like that.
Such moments can be brief,
And often they are small glimmers,
Not an explosion of great joy,
But they are still full of healing.
The following narration will place you in a quiet,
Safe place.
After the narration has ended,
Perhaps you can look back and consider any positive feelings that occurred.
You may find they are quite gentle,
But these simple,
Quiet feelings can glow softly in your heart and help you to heal and hope.
Imagine yourself standing in a quiet country lane that leads towards your cottage in the haven.
It is a mild breezy day in mid autumn.
On your left,
You can see the hills sloping up to the distant moors,
Their tops shrouded in low running cloud,
But there is no rain in the air.
Closer in the field,
Horses graze.
You come to a gate where one is leaning,
Watching you with dark eyes.
You come past here often,
And the horse knows you well.
They are the same ones that pull the little pony trap.
This one gives a friendly little wicker,
And you stop to make a fuss of it,
Smiling before going on.
The lane is quiet,
And the air smells of all the scents of the fall of the year.
Deep soil,
Fallen leaves,
Faintly sweet and faintly musty at once.
You take a deep breath of it.
You pass by the old lady's cottage,
Smelling wood smoke from her garden,
Where she will have been pruning the apple and pear trees.
Apple wood smells sweet on an open fire,
And every year the pony trap delivers some to you.
The tops of the trees of the wood opposite your house sway in the wind.
The leaves have turned to bronze and copper and a deep gold.
Some of them flutter past you.
The hedgerow,
Too,
Is changing colour,
And the berries of wild roses tangle over the hedgerow like beads in a necklace.
The hawthorn trees,
Too,
Carry their bright loads of berries.
It is a season of many colours.
You pause at the entrance to the wood and the winding path that leads through it.
The stream that runs through your garden and under the lane and the little bridge sounds fuller with rain from the hills.
Often you enjoy going through the woods on an autumn day,
But dusk is falling now and the bluster of the wind makes you think of being inside,
Beside your own fire or tucked up in bed.
You turn and go up the path to your house,
To its warmth and comfort,
Taking a hot drink into your living room.
You sit in your favourite chair and watch the fire.
The autumn evening falls gently,
A smoky grey that gradually darkens to night.
You close your eyes and listen to the gentle crackle of the fire and the wind outside.
