Presence and Contemplation

Place your attention here and now with me in this moment. Begin to focus your attention first on your breathing and slow your breathing down. You may want to take a couple of deep, cleansing breaths and then begin to slow your breathing down. As you focus on your breathing and on slowing it down, feel your entire body relax.

Feel the facial muscles relax, unfurrow your brow, relax your mouth and jaw, relax your neck. Allow the feeling of relaxation flow through your entire body as you continue to focus on slowing down your breathing. Allow any tension in the body to simply melt away, feel the tension melt away as you slow down your breathing.

Focus on slowing down your thoughts as you continue to feel yourself relax, allow your thoughts to become gentle thoughts. Allow tenderness and gentleness to enter as you allow any harsh and stressful thoughts to simply pass by. Allow the stream of activity in your brain, the chatter to slow down, to pass away, as you feel a gentle tenderness fill you.

Allow all thoughts to pass away, even hurtful thoughts or thoughts of anger, just allow them to pass by and dissolve away. You can allow all thoughts, even if they are stressful or disturbing to simply pass by as mental activity, nothing important to hold onto, it is just the brain performing a function, just as the heart performs the function of pumping blood through your body.

Allow the peace and calm that fills you as you continue to relax and allow random thoughts to simply pass away encourage forgiveness. Allow any and all thoughts that can be replaced with forgiveness to pass away and allow forgiveness to fill that space.

A quote from Lord Edwary Hyde Clarendon for you to contemplate:

Anger is the most impotent of passions. It affects nothing it touches and hurts the one who is possessed by it more than the one against whom it is directed. 

I run a regular series every Friday offering presence and contemplation at my blog The Evolving Spirit

    

Acceptance in the moment

Being present is a beginning in living in the now but how one feels in the moment is important to note. Can you reach acceptance in the present moment? How do you feel when you slow down your breathing, still your thoughts, and focus your mind? If you are having a difficult time achieving the bliss and peace so many describe in celebration of each and every moment, see if you can at least reach acceptance.

Acceptance is a beginning. Can you reach a point in every moment of your life, when you stop to focus and really pay attention in the moment, of at least accepting your reality in that moment?

See if you can at least achieve acceptance, not anything else, no emotion, no value judgment of whether it’s a good or bad moment. Just try acceptance in your reality in existence in any given moment, even in those moments where there may be something challenging.

 

Everyone has to start somewhere.

Aine