09) Welcome to Being Human - Meditate Now
Audio Version - Guided Meditation
Written Transcript of the guided meditation
Welcome, my friend.
It looks like we're gonna hang out for a little bit and drop into a meditative space.
The title of this meditation is Welcome to Being Human.
I feel it's going to be an extraordinarily profound opportunity to just embrace the totality of what it is to be human.
It's such an interesting thing to be human because there's what we think about being human, and then there is what is about being human.
This is part of the insanity of being human.
Our incessant thinking about our own thinking. Then there is 'what is'.
This is really a gentle opportunity to lay down the thinking, if only for a little bit, and allow ourselves to connect with the sincerity of being human.
In this sincerity, we might find a gentleness that recognizes playful humor in it all and allows us to settle into our humanness rather than fighting or resisting it in some way or another we'll recognize that "oh, it's okay."
So let's do that.
Let's settle into being human.
Start of Guided Meditation
Focus on the Breath
We're going to invite ourselves into the present moment, and we can do this by quickly discerning the difference between the life we imagine to be happening and the life that is.
We can acknowledge that there is a world in the mind, a dream that we often mistake as reality.
Thinking about this, that, and the other. We can see that this and the other isn't actually here right now.
We can bring our awareness into what is real.
We can allow the breath to be the guide.
So just focus on the breath for a second.
Just see that the breath is happening.
The breath flows in and then flows out.
Just notice that this is all happening on its own — the breath moving, contracting, and expanding.
Maybe a little bit by little bit, we can give the breath back to the breath.
Let it do what it does.
I invite us to recognize that this flow in our breath is the same flow of the ocean tide moving in and out.
The same flow of a wave that draws back to the ocean and then falls towards the shore.
In... And out...
The breath that moves in and out is moved by the same power that moves the wind from here to there.
Let's just honor this force, this power, this movement of life that breathes through you.
We can recognize that. "Oh, I'm not doing that."
You are the one that’s breathing
I invite us to recognize the gentle comedy in thinking that you are the one that's breathing.
Isn't that funny to think that breathing was up to you?
Interestingly enough, when you put your attention on your breathing as if it was up to you, then breathing becomes a little bit more difficult.
It's like there's a slight agitation that fears you'll get it wrong.
But when you recognize that it's not up to you, you let go of it, and then breathing returns to its naturalness.
You see, my friend, this is simply an innocent misunderstanding that thinks breathing is up to you.
In that assumption, breathing becomes a little bit more difficult.
We recognize the truth of things and we give the breath back to the breath.
I invite us to recognize this open space of emptiness just as we're here together right now. The more we drop into this moment, it's like the emptiness becomes more expansive.
The noise starts to settle down.
There's this landscape of openness that completely allows whatever is.
It's almost like this openness allows you to think about whatever you think about.
There's no expectation. There's no demand.
It's like, the foundation of this moment right now is a blank canvas that allows you to paint whatever you're inspired to paint; allows you to think whatever you're inspired to think.
You can imagine this. You can imagine that it's all allowed.
Whatever you imagine, it comes, and then it goes.
Just like the breath — it comes, and it goes.
Let's recognize as well that whatever is imagined in its coming and in its going, it doesn't disturb the canvas of openness.
Notice that no matter what you imagine, the wellness that is this emptiness remains undisturbed.
This, of course, is why you're allowed to imagine whatever you imagine. This space is unconcerned.
This is the epitome of wellness.
The emptiness holds space for all that is — including your humanness.
Breathe into that for a moment.
This space that holds you. This wellness that's always here even if you imagine that it's not — it's always here.
This peace lay rested beyond all of the noise in the mind.
You can see that throughout your whole life, it's been here, maybe just not seen.
You can also recognize that it'll always be there.
Even if there are many moments when you don't see it, it's holding you, it's allowing you to be you, and however you are, it does not disturb the foundation of this wellness.
Explore! It’s Allowed
In a very sincere way, life is a space holder for you to temporarily explore what it is to be human. — It's all allowed.
The confusion is allowed.
The fear is allowed.
Happiness is allowed.
The sadness is allowed.
All of these things are like colors; we experiment upon the canvas of life.
We get to paint so many different experiences.
I invite you once again to recognize that whatever you paint, whatever you imagine, it doesn't disturb the canvas.
It doesn't disturb the truth of life.
Which is also to say it doesn't disturb the truth of what you are.
Of course, there is who you imagine yourself to be, and then there is what you really are.
No matter what you imagine yourself to be, it cannot touch the truth of
You see, my friend, you're here to explore the human.
It's a form of play. Even though, yes, I understand that sometimes it doesn't seem like play. That's okay, too. For that is part of the play.
It all comes and goes. The happiness comes and goes. The sadness comes and goes.
The excitement comes and goes. The frustration comes and goes.
Let's notice that one of the fundamental difficulties in being human is the assumption that it's not okay to be human.
In that assumption, being human becomes even more difficult.
Let's just recognize this for a moment.
It's okay to be human.
Wonderful to take this moment and rest in this stillness, this openness that embraces all that is.
Be gentle on yourself, dear one.
'Til next time. Cheers.
