Habits

We say we want to be happy. We say we want to be free. And yet, when we reflect honestly on our thinking, on our actions, and our words, we often repeat the many causes of our suffering. So, when we're practicing, whether it's in our meditation or whether it's in our everyday life, in our post-meditation, it's important that we bring awareness to every moment. There are so many habits that we have, so many things that we do again and again and again, and in not seeing them clearly, we repeat them and in repeating them, we repeat our suffering. So, meditation offers us the opportunity to see what we're doing clearly. Not just externally in our actions, in our words but also internally. To see the patterns of thought or the patterns of thinking, to see the patterns of emotion. And when we do that rather than getting caught up in the story rather than repeating the same thing over and over again, we offer ourselves the opportunity to see it clearly, to acknowledge it, to let it go and to be free. So making sure that you're sitting comfortably that you're not going to be disturbed for the next few minutes. Just beginning with some nice, big, deep breaths. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. As you breathe in, focus on that feeling of the body expanding as it takes in fresh air. As you breathe out through the mouth, just focusing on that sensation. The muscles softening, relaxing in the body. Just one more time, breathing in through the nose. And as you breathe out this time, just gently closing the eyes and allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm. And just feeling the weight of the body press down. Feeling that point of contact. Noticing the sensation of the hands and the arms resting on the legs. And beginning to notice the space around you, in particular any sounds. Easy to get caught up in thinking about them but just allowing sounds to come and go. Just noticing as they pass. And then as you bring the attention back to the body starting at the top of the head, just scanning down. Just building up a picture of how the body feels. Not trying to change anything, just noticing. And beginning to notice the breath as well Noticing how the breath's behaving right now whether the breaths are long or short. Noticing where you feel the movement, and just resting the attention on that movement. Counting, if it helps you maintain focus, and realizing when the mind's wandered off. And then just letting go of any focus on the breath or any distraction, just coming back to that feeling of contact, of weight between the body and the seat beneath you. Back to the sounds around you, and then in your own time just gently opening the eyes again....