Present-Moment Awareness

Awareness is found in the moment. It can't be from another time. Can't be contained or collected. Even though it might have been something quite beautiful, it is now but a memory. I think we have a tendency as we meditate, as we live our lives, to try to hold on to those precious moments. Those moments where for whatever reason, we let go of thinking, where we're not overwhelmed by feeling of any kind of emotion. And in that moment, we experience perhaps a healthy appreciation of what's actually taking place in the moment. But it feels so good and we experience it so rarely, we kinda wanna box it up and package it and make sure that we don't forget it. But in doing that, we're actually closing ourself down from future moments. We're spending so much time focusing on an experience of what once was in the past, that we're no longer present to experience what is in this moment. So even when we experience those moments, if we can let go of them, even if they're pleasant, even if they're enjoyable, if we can let go of them, not only do we create the space and freedom for them to arise again, perhaps we even create the space and freedom to enjoy something better. So just taking a moment to be still, make sure you're sitting comfortably. We're gonna start with the eyes open. And when you're ready in your own time, just taking some big, deep breaths. And with this out-breath, closing the eyes, feeling that contact, the body pressing down against the seat or the floor beneath you. Just taking a moment or two just to focus the attention on that sensation. Feet on the floor. The hands, the arms resting on the legs. Starting to notice any sounds now. And as you bring the attention back to the body, taking a moment to notice how the body feels right now. So not how it felt before, not how it felt last time, but how it feels in this moment. And the easiest way of doing that, starting at the top of the head, just scanning down from head to toe. Noticing what feels comfortable, what feels uncomfortable. Without trying to change anything, just building up a picture of how the body feels. And as you scan down through the body, just beginning to notice that movement of breath. Again, we're just noticing where you feel that movement. And as you continue to follow that movement, now starting to notice a little more detail. The journey of each in-breath and each out-breath. And now as you begin to count the breaths, and we're just counting to 10 each time before starting again at 1. And if at any stage you get distracted, just letting go of the distraction, coming back to the breath, and just picking it up from the number you left off on. So allowing thoughts to arise, allowing feelings to arise....