Day 7 — Meditation to Release the Negative and Feel Love -- 30 Days of Mindfulness

Come to a comfortable seated position, settle the mind, settle the body, and draw your attention in to the inner sensations. Slowly redirect your mind's point of attention away from the external world and begin to perceive the subtle sensations of the inner world. We begin with a few moments of mindfulness. Bring your attention to the sensation of the inflowing and the outgoing breath. Let the simple reality of the sensation of your breath keep your mind focused in on the inner sensations, the inner world. So as you feel the breath moving in, the breath moving out, you might find it useful to draw your attention to a single point of awareness so you can feel your breath. Perhaps try inside the nostrils, along the upper lip, around the rim of the nostrils and inside the nose. As you bring your attention to the breath, don't look for any particular sensation. Instead, remain equanimous. And if there are sensations which you find not so pleasurable, observe that too, but try not to react. So for example, you might notice that the breath feels hot and heavy, and you might normally react strongly towards that. But in these moments of mindfulness, practice remaining equanimous so that you become aware of what is. If the breath is warm and heavy, hot and stressed and labored, just observe. If there's a tendency to judge that and label those experiences as negative, you could observe. Observe what is. You might notice that the mind's tendency to judge skews negative, and that you find there's a tendency towards strong aversion. On the other hand, if the sensations of the breath seem very pleasurable, you might notice that there's a tendency of the mind to cling and to grasp towards pleasure. Or you might notice that the breath is neither pleasurable nor painful. There's no reaction. Instead, there's simply the pure, neutral tone of what is. As you notice the feeling of breath moving in, breath moving out, the purpose of these moments of mindfulness is actually to use the anchor of the breath to practice the state of equanimity, pure observation of what is. Observe, breath as breath, whether the experience is positive, negative, or neutral, as rooted on past reactions. The practice of meditation is a training of the mind to help you be free, free from the proclivities of the past. Allow there to be equanimity, spaciousness, and awareness. So bring your attention back to the breath, and notice the feeling of the inflowing and the outgoing breath, remaining calm, equanimous, and simply aware. Practice holding your mind in a space of non-judgment, in a space of total acceptance of what is. Each time your mind's point of attention holds awareness on your breath, there's a feeling of calming down, the mind calms down, the inertia, driving, old thoughts slows down enough so you can reach a deeper level of consciousness, a deeper level of inner awareness. In this more perceptive space, the subtlety of sense perceptions increases, your mind becomes more refined, filled with wisdom, compassion, kindness, patience, and a truth, a timeless and eternal truth. So be aware now of the feeling in the body. As the body relaxes, the mind shifts into a deeper space, the body relaxes. You might feel a sense of expansion. As you become aware of the feeling of the body and the space around the body, notice the feeling, the awareness. As the mind reaches a more open and inclusive focus, expanding outward from the body, almost in a state of boundarylessness, so that there is a shift, a palpable shift in awareness and embodiment, a release into the infinite, into a field, a field of vibration, a field of oneness, an infinity that expands outward and inward simultaneously. As you tap into this field of energy, be aware of the presence of love, the vibration of love within you and within all things. Allow yourself to release into the heartbeat of the universe. With each breath, expanding, releasing more and more, remaining equanimous and aware, even as this feeling of infinity takes over the mind, the body, and even the spirit. Feel the emotions slowly shifting. You might be aware of the presence of happiness, a soft smile that seems to emanate from your heart, rest on your lips, but ripple outwards towards every being in the whole universe. Deep in the channel of the heart, feel your mind, your body, and your spirit all come into harmony and coherence in a genuine wish for all beings to be happy, be peaceful, be filled with love. May all beings live in harmony, in peace. May all beings be friends, be kind to one another, and rest in the infinite truth of love, of peace, and of harmony.