Dear friends,
Welcome to this meditation which is designed to help you offer thanks for each new day.
Every new day is a gift.
We are inclined to feel that we have an endless supply of days,
But that is not the case.
One day the supply will run out.
So just now we give thanks for our life renewed as we awake to the light of each new day.
We begin by getting ourselves into a comfortable position.
A quiet,
Regular place if you have one.
But in any event let's try to establish a quiet place within our own heads.
The place where there is very often the most noise.
And you might like to close your eyes if you are doing this meditation at home.
Notice the sounds around you,
Starting with the near sounds and then noticing more distant sounds.
Notice your breathing,
This is your life giving breath going in and out.
An opening thought,
This is from the Metta Sutta,
The Buddha's words on loving kindness.
This is what should be done by one who is skilled in goodness and who knows the path of peace.
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
Unbordened with duties and frugal in their ways,
Peaceful and calm and wise and skillful,
Not proud or demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing that the wise would later reprove.
So now let's spend some quiet moments in thoughts of gratitude for the unearned gift of our existence in this very day.
If there is a worry troubling you,
Just sit with it for a while.
Recognise this pain as your current reality.
There is no need to bury it,
But recall the fact that everything changes and this will change too.
Very often our anticipation of trouble causes us more pain than the actual trouble of the moment.
Thankfully everything changes.
We worry when the good changes,
But the good news is that the bad changes as well.
Is there something you have long wanted to do,
A someday wish you might call it?
Hold it in mind for a little while.
Ask yourself can anything be done today to bring that wish near a fulfilment?
Or maybe it is something that should be dropped as an idea.
That is ok too.
Just remember that unfulfilled someday ideas can hold us fast like wet sand and they prevent us from making progress in many other areas.
It lifts a heavy load off our shoulders when we finally decide to do this or drop this.
Today is an opportunity to perform some action that will leave the world a little better place by the time you go to bed tonight.
Now spend a little while thinking of what that might be and figure out when and how you might do this.
But resolve to do it today.
The life of each of us causes ripples just like a stone thrown into a calm lake.
The Buddha reminds us,
Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care,
For people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.
A kind word or a kind deed starts a chain reaction of kindness.
An unkind word cannot be taken back.
Uttering an unkind word is like ripping open a pillow full of feathers.
So for today resolve to speak only kind words and perform only helpful actions just for today.
Some closing words before our closing bell.
Just as a mother would guard her child,
Her only child,
With her own life,
Even so let me cultivate a boundless mind for all beings in the world.
Let me cultivate a boundless love for all beings in the world,
Above,
Below and across,
Unhindered,
Without ill will or enmity.
Standing,
Walking,
Seated or lying down,
Free from torpor,
Let me as far as possible fix my attention on this recollection.
This,
They say,
Is the Divine Life right here.
Namaste.
