Day 12 - Three Realms of Awareness

These days my work office and my meditation space happen to be in the same room in the house. And this is where you'll find Rico meditating with me in the morning. (You can tell he is meditating because he doesn't have a ball in his mouth.) Welcome to Mindful Monday. Each Monday between noon and 12:30, my work offers an opportunity to gather remotely to practice mindfulness. Here's a meditation I shared a little over a month ago with my coworkers. It's just a little over 10 minutes long. Maybe take a break in the middle of your day for a bit to become grounded and centered. I bet it makes a difference.

Awareness is like a camera lens. It can be narrowly focused or expanded to an ever widening frame. In this meditation, I start by tuning into the body, then opening awareness to the sense of self we bring into our circles of relationships, and finally continuing to the outermost boundaries.

Why do you practice mindfulness? The reason I sit each morning is so that I remember to be mindful in all the other hours of my life, like how I show up at the office, sit at the dinner table with my family, or interact with others at the check-out aisle at Trader Joe's.

Practice Options

• Did you relax into body awareness during the beginning of the above meditation? If so, want to experience a 13 minute body scan?

• Maybe you connected most with self awareness in the middle of the meditation. Delve deeper into compassion with the meditation I shared this on Day 4 by Jack Kornfield: Worldwide Healing of Love (14 minutes)

• Did something within you open up during the final part of the meditation? Is mystery calling to you today? Set aside some uninterrupted time to settle into silence. Listen to where life's journey is leading you. Pull out a journal and write down your questions, ponderings, and insights.