Breathe in, breathe out.
Seated comfortably, window open, a light breeze shakes the curtains.
I close my eyes to relax. I wanted relief. I wanted a kind of peace that my sleep wasn’t providing.
Hmm.
I quieted my body. I say, “It’s ok. We’ll just sit here for a while, it’s ok.”
My thoughts and ideas drifted around me.
I said, “Hmm. It’s ok. We’ll just sit here for a while.”
I let my mind jump and glide and skip, as I tried to find the quiet behind my thoughts.
It’s there, a blanket of quiet.
Shhh.
Hum.
There it is.
My mind plays the movies of my life again. Beautiful pictures and streams glide across my consciousness.
I say, “Thank you.”
I say,
“Thank you Mind. Thank you streams. Thank you for carrying the script of my life. Thank you for holding those pictures and scripts so lovingly. Thank you for your hard work. Thank you for your generosity and steadfastness. Thank you for always being there for me. Thank you for giving me a movie to be a part of.”
I wasn’t upset at the chaos of thoughts and pictures leaping around my consciousness. I knew they were important. I knew they meant well. Without these stories, I couldn’t have the satisfaction of a certain kind of life. Specific, personal stories that I was invested in.
I saw these thoughts like an array of beautiful white and gray clouds in a vast sky.
I took a breath and brought my attention below the clouds, where the sky is clear and steady.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Peace.
I felt grateful for the peaceful, endless sky. I felt grateful for the endless rumbling movement of clouds streaming in. Shaping and reshaping themselves into color and texture and noise.
Om. Peace.
What a beautiful view.
I invite you to try a mantra in your meditation. It can be anything you like. A sound or an easy phrase.
It can be “om” or “hum” or whatever feels good to you. Today I chose “thank you”.
So I let my thoughts dance and I let my attention drift towards “thank you” when I could.
In meditation, you’re looking for Space. A bit of space between your identity, which is mostly formed by consistent thoughts and a feeling-reaction to those thoughts. And the place where you are identity-less.
Where meaning is relaxed away from thought, so there is less pressure to tend to those thoughts.
Breathe in, breathe out.
As the preasure lifts, you find space. Space to breathe into the rest of who you are. That which is quiet, peaceful, well, whole and grounded in eternal life.
I hope that today you can find those spaces between thought. The space between sound. And that you can rest in those spaces, breathing in, breathing out.
With <3,
Heba
Love: 