Pleasant Experiences

This guided mindfulness meditation is based on the theme of noticing pleasant events in week 3 of MBSR. It is a short practice without bells or music that guides the listener to notice what has been pleasant for them recently without attachment or aversion.

Transcript

Maybe dropping into a sense of imagining or a sense of remembering some pleasant experience that you've had over the past week. So that might be one of the things that you've made a note of on the pleasant events calendar. Or it might be something else, Something else that is strongly coming to mind. Maybe just even noticing how being asked to choose one pleasant thing, How the mind maybe is already trying to choose the best one or some sense of needing it to be a particular experience. It might be a pleasant experience that you've had this evening. It might be actually as simple as just bringing to mind that walking practice that we just did. Or it might be the mindful movement. Just whatever it is, Seeing if you can really strongly get a sense of that experience, Of that situation as if you were experiencing it again just now in this moment. And as best you can, Try to unpack what thoughts there are around that experience. Maybe how you're labeling it. Maybe what it's called. Maybe a sense of what it means, Maybe some interpretation of that pleasant experience or event. And as best you can, Just noticing that those are thoughts, That they are maybe part of the experience and yet they are around the experience. They are labels, They're thoughts, They're emotions. Maybe noticing any emotions that there are around that pleasant experience. Seeing if you can get a sense of how you feel about it, How it feels to intentionally make contact with that experience. Maybe getting a real sense of the happiness, The joy, The presence. Seeing if there's more than one emotion there. There might be a sense of positive emotion tinged by some sadness, Some sense of letting go, Some sense of not being able to hold on, Some sense of wanting to hold on. And what body sensations. As you're visualizing this experience, As you're getting a strong sense of it, Of experiencing it again now, Where do you feel that in your body? What's showing up for you? Maybe there's a warmth, Maybe a lightening, Maybe an opening or grounding, A strength, A stretch. Getting a sense of pleasant experience in the body. How you know it's pleasant. Indeed, Any other sensations, Any other sense of where this is in the body, Something else showing up for you. Maybe having a sense of all of this, That that experience is thoughts, Is emotions, Is bodily sensations. How much of that we commonly notice. How much we miss. How much is just something that we would call pleasant but don't really get a strong sense of. Maybe noticing how getting a stronger or deeper sense of this might affect us in the future. Maybe that sense of, You know, The taking the time to smell the roses impacting on how we are whenever we pass flowers, That maybe we take more time. We use our senses more. Maybe we experience more. And now just gradually beginning to bring your focus of awareness back to the present moment. So away from that pleasant visualization or imagining. Back to what you're experiencing right now. And whether that be pleasant or unpleasant or neutral. And starting to maybe open eyes if they were closed, Maybe to move if you were still. Refocus your attention if it was strongly drawn away.