Give yourself a moment to arrive here.
Take your time to shuffle your body and yourself into a posture and a state that feels most comfortable for you at this point.
Whether that's adjusting something or simply allowing your experience to come into land,
Give yourself a breath to slow down and arrive from where you have been to where you now are.
It can be helpful to orientate yourself in space and time.
Remind yourself where you are,
What's the actual space you are in,
And then remind yourself what day it is and what time of day it is.
You have given yourself this space and this time to invest in your own experience.
It is likely that your mind will wander as it is likely that your feelings will ebb and flow.
This is perfectly normal and understandable.
Go gently with yourself during this time and remember that you can listen to it as often as is helpful to you.
In your own time,
Gently soften the focus of your eyes or close your eyes,
Whatever feels most helpful to you at this point,
As you open up to this meditation.
Our focus here is the mundane magic we can experience in our everyday.
We often are attached to having big experiences and we tend to favour those big belly laughs or those monumental moments where big things happen in our lives.
It's not that they are not important.
My invitation to you is to not miss the detail,
Not miss the magic of your everyday,
That mundane magic of brushing your teeth,
Washing the dishes,
Folding laundry,
Cooking,
Those everyday activities that we do that can give us a sense of an anchor in our day,
The rhythm that we have from the time that we wake up till the time that we sleep and drop off at night.
A surprising amount of our day is actually doing a whole range of activities.
They are almost rhythmic because we tend to do them every day or at least a few times a week.
And because we do them so habitually and so regularly,
We often actually pay attention to them.
So my invitation to you is to get curious about the rhythm and the structure of your day.
How are you starting your day?
How do you move through your day?
What are the activities that you do?
And as you come to the end of your day,
How do you close it?
How do you bring your day to a close in a way that allows you to move into sleep,
Having completed your day,
Whatever showed up,
Whatever weather came through your day?
How do you bring your day to a close in a sense of completion that allows you to then fall asleep?
Chances are that you have those activities that all of us share.
We wake up,
Brush our teeth,
Have a shower,
Feed the kids,
Walk the dog,
Put the laundry on,
Do the dishes,
Open the fridge,
Close the fridge,
Close the fridge.
And as you reflect and get curious about your day,
Are there aspects of those everyday activities that bug you?
It's interesting how those little micro activities or micro issues that we can have with something as mundane as the smell of our shampoo can sometimes just prick our frustration.
Are you drying your dishes with a tea towel that doesn't quite get them dry?
It is interesting how some of these seemingly small things can actually carry almost like a direct debit out of our emotional bank account.
It may not be much,
Might be a fiver,
But actually if you stack them up,
If you've got say ten of those in your day,
That's 50 pounds or $50 right there coming out of your emotional bank account.
And actually,
Chances are that those things can be quite simply and easily changed to something that actually you like.
And then shifting across to those everyday mundane activities that give you a sense of pleasure or liking or joy.
Do you enjoy the sound your fridge makes when you open and close the fridge door?
Does it give you joy that you keep your dog's lead and towels in a beautiful little basket by the front door?
Do you like stepping into your car?
Do the clothes you wear feel good to touch?
Do you enjoy the way they feel against your skin?
All those little treasures.
My invitation to you is to pay attention to your day,
To pay attention to the mundane magic of putting the kettle on.
Because chances are that when big stuff is happening and there is so much of life's weather going on that the mundane magic of your everyday becomes a refuge.
It becomes like an anchor that helps you hold steady.
Give yourself a moment to observe and absorb what you are learning.
Notice the sensations you are experiencing,
The emotions and the thoughts that you are having,
And with your breath stay here for a wee while.
Stay here for a wee while.
And as you live your breath,
Expand your awareness throughout your body,
Feeling the sensations from the top of your head to the tips of your toes,
Noticing whatever details your awareness is bringing to your attention.
Give thanks to yourself and to the feelings that have come up during this meditation.
Without you investing your time and your focus in getting curious here,
You would not learn why these feelings are showing up and what valuable information they contain.
It needs both you and your feelings to take your experience forward.
Now,
In your own time,
Connect to your sense of expanding your awareness beyond yourself and your body,
To the space around you and the sounds that you can hear.
And when you are ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Take this with you forward from here,
Going gently with yourself.
And remember,
It's more helpful to be curious than critical.
