Dear friends you are very welcome to this meditation session and I hope you get benefit from it.
Today our theme is relaxation.
We are going to relax into the peace of night.
You may have been busy in the time before this session so to allow yourself to come into the present moment let's have some quiet music.
Allow yourself to relax,
Just become aware of your breath,
The simple fact of your breathing in and your breathing out.
Just relax and allow your body and your mind to meet together in this space and now we are ready to begin.
Please make sure you are in a comfortable position.
On a cold day I like to arm myself with a warm cup of tea.
Take a few seconds to become aware of your surroundings,
The evening light,
The warmth of the cup between your hands if you're holding one.
Take a moment to notice your breathing.
You're breathing in and you're breathing out and come into an awareness of your existence in this wonderful present moment as we pause to express gratitude for this unique day.
An opening thought.
Amid all the noise in our lives we take this moment to sit in silence,
To give thanks for this day,
To give thanks for all those in our lives who have brought us warmth and love,
To give thanks for the gift of life,
To know we are here but for a brief moment in time.
Let us open ourselves here and now to the process of becoming more whole,
Of living more fully,
Of giving and forgiving more freely.
The day now ending has been unique even if it appeared the same as any other day on the surface that is.
Let's spend a few moments thinking of the people we met,
The jobs done,
The little successes,
The undoubted failures,
The jobs still undone.
And bearing in mind how we got on during this day,
Can we make some resolutions just for tomorrow?
Is there one or are there maybe two things we can watch out for so that tomorrow will be an even better day than today?
Next we take a few moments to look out on the scene outside.
Maybe we can see a cityscape formed by the creative hands of humanity.
Or we might be looking out at a natural scene.
Perhaps what we see is our own garden.
Spend a few moments now in appreciation of the place where we spend our days and nights during our stay in this wonderful world.
Finally we express thanks to whatever we consider to be ultimate reality.
If that is an external creator God in the Christian or Muslim or Jewish view of things,
That's just fine.
If we express thanks to Mother Nature that's fine.
If we see the ultimate or what we call God as in and through all things,
That's fine as well.
Whatever our views,
The evening of a day is a cause for gratitude and mindful reflection.
When we stop and think about it we realise that it's quite extraordinary that we are here,
That we're here at all.
The one thing we can be sure of is that all our attempts to define the ultimate leave us with only the slightest hint of what that ultimate might be.
Let's spend a few moments in quiet relaxation,
Looking out,
Reflecting in and out.
Close your eyes as you get ready to enter gratefully into the cocoon of night.
An evening thought before our closing bell.
This is from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
The night shall be filled with music and the cares that infest the day shall fold their tents like the Arabs and as silently steal away.
May you sleep well tonight and tomorrow may you arise refreshed to greet the new day.
Namaste
