Dear friends,
Welcome to this meditation which is described as a five minute break for reflection.
It's intended for times when you need a short reflective break,
Time when you need to stop from the rush,
But you only have five minutes.
An opening quote from Carl Sandburg,
Time is the coin of your life,
It is the only coin you have,
And only you can determine how it will be spent.
Although time is short,
Please try to get yourself into a comfortable position.
Relax,
Take a deep breath and realise that you have these few minutes to come into the present.
Whenever you need to stop and regroup,
Remember that the gift of your life giving breath is right here with you.
Awareness of the present moment is only one breath away.
As you draw attention to your breathing in and your breathing out,
Be thankful for the inspiration to stop for a moment and to realise that this is the time of your life.
Your life could be spent mindlessly on a treadmill,
But you discovered that you have a choice,
A choice to live in awareness,
And you are doing that right now by stopping.
Next,
And without worrying unduly,
Cast your mind over the day that lies ahead.
There will be challenges,
You know that.
You may have worries about things,
But most of the things you have worried about have never come to pass.
And remember that for those that do,
Realise that you will find solutions just as you did in the past.
You will find challenges that you don't expect as you begin your day.
Make up your mind now to go about your day calmly taking a short pause and a mindful breath between tasks.
Don't rush without a pause from one task to the next.
You don't want to reach the end of the day without having ever come up for air.
So you need to resolve now,
In this mindful moment at the start of the day,
To meet the events and the opportunities of the day from a pre-decided position of inner calm.
This calm approach will enable you to deal more effectively with any obstacles which come your way.
The same calm approach from you will help the people you meet to cope with their work of the day in a way that helps reduce stress and helps minimise disputes.
Everyone benefits from this.
Each day offers you a new opportunity to do good,
To offer a kind word that costs absolutely nothing.
Remember to look into the eyes of the people you meet with real interest.
Let's not take one another for granted.
The people we meet are not just carrying out a routine function.
They are real people,
Like you and like me.
Think of the ways in which you might be a light and an encouragement to the people around you.
Do to others as you would like others to do to you.
This is the golden rule.
Despite our many superficial differences,
This is a tread which you will see running through almost all the religious and philosophical systems by which people try to make sense of the world.
Our closing thought in this meditation comes from Kali Dasa.
Look to this day,
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all the verities and realities of your existence.
The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendour of achievement are but experiences of time.
For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision.
But today well lived makes yesterday a dream of happiness,
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well therefore to this day.
Such is the salutation to the ever new dawn.
Namaste.
