Guided Meditation: How to Stay Present Longer

Speaking, for our mind to be able to come to a place of stillness, to feel like we're able to concentrate on one thing at a time. It's helpful for our minds and our hearts to open to a sense of safety, to whether we are safe, whether we feel safe enough to exclude a lot of our experience. For sake of concentrating on one aspect of our experience. There's a few different ways that we can invite a sense of safety or opening of the heart. Rick has no shortage of techniques around this. And I'm sure many of you are very skilled at many of these practices. One of the things I was trained in at the first monastery where I was a monk for a year was to reflect on moments of our own life in which we felt um accumulating some good karma, generosity of heart, sense of gladness, a wholesome spirit, of connections, sometimes in a meditation practice in the past, we may have experienced something quite profound. But to reflect on moments of our life in which our heart opens and we feel a strong sense of goodness. And even to the point of ranking them from ten to one, one being the most say um profound or opening for us. Um it's not a contest or anything, but just really sensing into the goodness of our lives. Maybe it's a connection with our child, the efforts we put in for a healthy planet, that really resonates with us. And this can lead to a gladdening of the mind, an opening of the heart, can help our nervous system to feel safe. Um maybe taking a deep breath or two. But the invitation is to see if we can just come back gently. Concentration object, if you will. And we can either close our eyes gently or look downward just to limit visual distractions if we feel safe. First, if we can sense into the breath, the nostrils feeling the inhale and exhale move through the nostrils. For the felt sensations of breathing, awareness residing solely in the tips of the nostrils, feeling each breath. And finding something around us to focus on with our eye. Staying solely with the sight of the small point. Healthy happy ease, safe, healthy, happy ease. Or a piece of clear crystal. Maybe we can feel a sense of care. Sense of appreciation of something, big or small. Maybe it's the smile of a pet. Or just gratitude for being alive. Sensing into the physical heart, feeling whatever it's feeling, really narrowing our awareness to these sensations of care or gratitude. Back to the nostrils. And how do you feel about that? Taking a deep breath or two. Wiggling our fingers or toes.