Quiet your mind
Once you’ve completed your body scan turn
your attention to what’s going on in your mid. There are some people who wake
up every morning with a sense of ease, quiet, and spaciousness in their mind.
However, most people tend to wake up feeling tense, anxious, or even fearful.
They become overwhelmed just thinking about all the things they have to do and
begin to feel dread or antipathy toward the day ahead. Does this sound
familiar? As you begin to notice what your mind does when you wake up, you may
discover that you are caught in a pattern of looking for the difficulty that
lies ahead in your day and making negative comments to yourself about what has
to be done. This negativity creates tension and establishes a bad attitude.
What an unskillful way to start your days!
Notice too how your mind reacts to having
either a good or a bad night’s sleep. If you slept well, you may take it for
granted, never pausing to appreciate the good fortune of peaceful, refreshing
sleep. But if you stay mindful, you will discover that a feeling of gratitude
can be calming to your nervous system. If you had a poor night’s sleep, you may
feel sorry for yourself and complain internally. Be mindful of how this attitude
toward your sleep affects you. Does the complaining, irritation, or frustration
serve you in any way?
Now begin to focus on your mind, just as
you did with your body. Is there underlying tension? Is it racing? Jumpy? If
so, invite the mind to relax. You can evoke this feeling of relaxation by
focusing on a soothing memory or image, or reflecting on something you’re
grateful for. Over time, the practice of starting your day with a relaxed mind
helps create a new habit of maintaining a relaxed mind throughout the day.
Another benefit is that you become more skillful at relaxing your mind whenever
it becomes tense during difficult moments.
Imagine your day
After relaxing your body and mind as best
you’re able, the next step is to contemplate what lies ahead. First, picture
the day in your mind. Observe your attitude as you imagine the various aspects
of your day and the tasks you will be undertaking; it will shift dramatically
depending on what activity you’re focused upon.
Likewise, you will notice different physical
sensations in your body depending on which activity you are thinking about.
When you focus on something that’s difficult or requires a lot of attention,
pause, breathe, and allow your body and mind to relax. Repeat this process of
imagining, noticing, and relaxing until you feel centered. This feeling of
centeredness becomes your reference point when you’re actually engaged in the
difficult activity you imagined.
Visualize your intentions
After a few weeks of imagining your day and
noticing how your mind and body respond, add the practice of remembering and
clarifying your attentions. While you’re lying in bed, invoke the intentions
you are committed to living from every day. Imagine your day and visualize how
you will manifest your intentions during your various activities. You don’t
need to go into a lot of detail; the purpose of this practice is to cultivate a
general feeling of living from intentionality.
Reconnecting to your intentions clears up
negative, anxious, and resentful attitudes that may already be present when you
wake up or that could potentially surface later in the day. If you are
anticipating that a difficult situation will arise, you might imagine some of
the ways you could become lost, anxious, fearful, greedy, or desperate and then
visualize how you might respond differently from your intentions. Having just a
moment’s clarity about this “hot spot” in the early morning will be a major
help to you when you are actually going through it later in the day. The
situation won’t feel so charged, and you’re less likely to get caught up in
your habitual reaction. Even though it is challenging, you will be ok because
you’re grounded in your intentions and not grasping at a particular outcome.
The nature of the mind-body connection is
such that if you begin to contract in response to a difficult situation, you
will feel it in your body as fatigue, nausea, or tension. The practice of
visualizing your intentions early in the morning can provide you with a
technique for grounding yourself if you start to experience any of these
sensations in your body. Wherever you are, whether it’s your workplace or your
home,, take a few minutes by yourself to become aware of your body, relax it
deeply, and remember your intentions.
The point of this practice is not to
visualize happy endings to the various activities in your day but rather to
develop the capacity to meet them skillfully, with clarity and ease. The
chanxes that you will experience a positive outcome are greater if you are
focused on how you are engaged in the activity rather than if you are focused
on the outcome. When your mind is relaxed and you are grounded in your
intentions, you are more likely to find a creative or intuitive way to bring
about a positive result.
