Meditation with a Pet

    SF
    Sean FargoPublished September 21, 2020 · Updated April 8, 2024 · 1 min read

    Guided Script

    Meditation with a Pet

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    Printable Worksheet

    Meditation with a Pet

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    A mindful companion to this worksheet

    A mindful approach to meditation with a pet

    “Meditation with a Pet” is an invitation to slow down and meet your experience with curiosity, honesty, and kindness — three qualities that quietly transform everything they touch.

    How mindfulness can help

    Mindfulness offers a steady inner ground from which to engage any topic. Instead of being swept along by reaction, we learn to notice what is here — sensations, thoughts, feelings — and respond from a place of presence rather than pressure.

    Gentle steps to try

    1. Begin with the breath. Take three slow breaths before opening the worksheet. Let your body remember it is here.
    2. Read with curiosity. Move through each prompt slowly. Notice which questions soften you, and which ones tighten you.
    3. Write what is true now. There are no right answers — only honest ones. The truth at this moment is what the worksheet is asking for.
    4. Close with one breath. When you finish, pause. Place a hand on your heart and acknowledge yourself for showing up.

    Insight does not arrive on a schedule. Trust the practice of returning, the courage of honesty, and the slow unfolding of your own becoming.

    Here’s a Sample of the “Meditation with a Pet” Guided Meditation Script:

    The term “loving kindness” can seem, at times, like something impossible.When we feel stuck in negativity, anger or hate, who feels able to tap into anything close to love, or kindness?Living in the age of social media, it’s easy to assume that our fellow humans are perpetually blissful, and so filled with love that they’ve never known a bad day in their lives.This belief can feed our dissatisfaction with ourselves, and make the practice of loving kindness feel even further from our reach.A teacher of mine suggests that when we can’t access loving kindness, we can try “warm and friendly” instead.Animals can be great guides on this path. They live perpetually in the present, and never resist their own emotions.They can be amazing teachers of unconditional love.

    This isn’t a formal meditation, but more of an experience that can be done in the company of a pet.The animal doesn’t have to be your own, but it should be one who’s familiar enough with you to be near you, or better yet, sitting on your lap.(pause…)Observe the feeling you get from this being wanting to be in your presence.Notice what it feels like to be accepted exactly as you are.This being isn’t asking you to change anything about yourself.It doesn’t matter what you look like, how successful you are, or what mistakes you’ve supposedly made in your life.To this being, you are 100% okay, exactly as you are in this moment.

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