This meditation to enjoy life is inspired by the beauty that surrounds us each day. In the unfurling of the petals of a rose, in the grandiose colours painted across the sky at sunset. In the face of an exuberant child…

What moment caught your attention today? What brought you joy?

Perhaps this was a day that did not seem to flow well and nothing about it seemed beautiful. Use this meditation to bring you back to that place of joy from yesterday or days past. Experiencing joy helps to reset our nervous system and re-align our whole body to wholeness and health.

Using positive memories, along with long slow breaths to help calm the nervous system is a concept called Heart Math which has been studied extensively and found to be very effective for calming our nervous system. Bringing us back to a place of calm where we can make good decisions and generally be nicer to be around.

Let’s get started. Follow along here with the script or listen here to be guided through.

Meditation to Enjoy Life

Start by finding in balance in how you sit.

• Uncross your legs if you are sitting in a chair
• Shift back and forth on your sit bones to find that point where you are equally centered on both sides
• With a nice, deep inhalation feel your spine rise up and roll your shoulders back to open the area around your heart.
• Notice the position of your low ribs and chin, gently drawing them back so your spine is nice and straight with a small gentle curve in your low back.

Breathe in and out.

Simply notice your breath. Feel it rising up through your body on an inhalation from your sitting bones to the top of your head. Feel your body relax and release as you exhale as you continue to sit tall. Relax your face, your mouth and your jaw.

Check in with how you feel right now.

• In your body, is there soreness or stiffness anywhere.
• In your emotions, are you happy, sad, tired, excited…
• And in your mind, are you calm, agitated, expansive or restricted.

Return your awareness to your breath. Breathing in and out smooth and relaxed.

Imagine you could draw your breath in right from the center of your heart. Feel your heart expand each time you breathe in and let it relax each time you breathe out.

Now imagine something that brings you joy. It could be the sunrise this morning, the sunset last night. A beautiful flower from your garden or that you saw on a walk, the beauty of a lake or a mountain or anything from nature that has brought you joy in the moment. Perhaps it’s an image of a smiling happy face of someone you love, the joyful exuberance of a child, a shared lingering moment with your partner or being surrounded by those your love.

Take that image and place it now over your heart and imagine breathing in and out right through that image. Feel the remembered joy and draw it deep within you.

Slowly bring your awareness back to your body. Straightening up your spine if you need to, releasing any tension in your face, your body and connecting with the joy that is in this moment.

When you are ready, open your eyes feeling content and at peace.

Namaste

As you go about your day, just notice those little moments that bring you joy, take an internal snapshot that you can come back to when you need to re-align yourself with a positive outlook.

Share in the comments below what brought you joy today.