Hello,
And welcome to Part 2 of the Art of Mindful Smiling.
After having learned how and why this is an effective tool,
Here I will guide you right into mindful smiling.
As always,
Get yourself seated comfortably on your cushion or in your favorite meditation chair,
Then close your eyes.
Let's settle and ground ourselves with some box breathing.
This is where we breathe in for a count of four,
Hold for a count of four,
Then we exhale for a count of four,
And hold our breath at the bottom for a count of four.
And we repeat this four times.
So breathe in for one,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Again,
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Last time,
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
And hold,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Ah,
And now find your natural pace of breathing.
I like the box breathing.
It's very calming.
On to mindful smiling.
First,
Visualize something that brings you joy,
Something you love,
Or someone you love,
Or an adorable puppy choosing you.
Even that day you got a promotion.
It can be anything in your life that gives you happy vibes.
We will use this as the seed for smiling.
Focus on your image right now and start to smile.
It's a good memory,
Isn't it?
You can feel your heart tingle and sparkle a bit.
Allow your smile to involve your whole face.
Even if you're not feeling it yet,
Make the smile as authentic as possible.
The feeling will come.
Now shift your focus from the memory or situation to the feeling,
The sensations in your body that it created.
Choose to connect the smile to those feelings.
Even if you don't know how,
Just think.
Connect it.
Now hold that smile and allow your thoughts to just float past.
If any unpleasant thoughts come by,
Just maintain the gentle smile.
Allow your smile to push those unpleasant thoughts along.
I'll come back to you every few minutes just to gently remind you to smile.
See if you can maintain it for the entire meditation.
What a beautiful happy smile you have.
Keep it going.
Are you feeling it?
Take a deep breath and keep that happy smile going.
Are you feeling it?
Take a deep breath and keep that happy smile going.
Smiles are contagious.
And I'm smiling just thinking about you smiling all this time.
You're doing great.
Think to yourself,
Smiling makes me happy.
I can feel this in my heart.
Smiling makes me happy.
I can feel this in my heart.
And now we are done.
How did you do?
Do you feel in a better mood?
Do you feel more peace?
Did you struggle to keep it a smile or was it easy for you?
I'd love to know your experience.
Leave me a review and share what it was like for you.
I hope that you feel that you are in a better mood and that you can maintain that mood simply by returning to smiling,
Regardless of what is going on around you.
This allows you to create your mood,
Instead of the environment creating it for you.
Thank you for listening,
Dear soul.
Namaste.
