Happy Mind: Meditations from the Ancient World to Modernity

You are strong, beautiful and loved. But you probably don't feel like this all of the time, or even most of the time. Why? The primary function of your body and your mind is to keep you alive and create copies of your genes into the next generation. It is a highly efficient, capable entity finely crafted to achieve these goals. So when you suffer, whether from physical or emotional pain, this is they way that you know to change course. This is how you keep yourself alive. The organisms and people in our distant past that weren't good at that didn't pass down their genes. But these techniques that are so foundational that they are instinctual and reactive habits aren't good measures of what is actually happening to you at any given moment or on any given day. The intelligence of your emotional and physical self is excellent at generating the feelings and movements to keep you alive in the primitive and dangerous settings that life developed in over the last few million years. Unfortunately, it isn't well-adapted yet to the relative safety and comfort of today's world. So we have to do the work to train the brain to adapt to this new environment. You have to recognize that any time you are suffering, you have some belief that is preventing you from releasing the suffering. But you control your beliefs. But it takes practice to let go of long held beliefs. Lots and lots of practice. Let's do that now. (NOTE: This is a 45 minute version of the Strong, Beautiful and Loved guided meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You are loved. It may not feel like that right now, but it is true. You have to recognize that any time you don't feel loved, anytime you are suffering, you are the one creating this experience. You have some belief that is preventing you from releasing the suffering and feeling the love. Your beliefs then manifest as your experience which then confirms your beliefs as being true! But you get to decide what your beliefs are and therefore what your experience of life is like. So why not change your beliefs and reap the benefits that flow from there? You can do that now. Let's do it together. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You many not feel it, but you are beautiful. If you don't feel incredibly beautiful right now, you have some belief that is preventing you from seeing this truth. But you control your beliefs so you can shift your beliefs and this, in turn, will change your experience not just of this moment but of your whole life. But it takes practice. Lots of practice. Let's do that now in a simple but powerful meditation to help you remember just how beautiful you really are. (NOTE: This is a 30 minute version of the You Are Beautiful meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

You are beautiful. You may not realize it but it is true. If you don't feel incredibly beautiful right now, you have some belief that is preventing you from seeing this truth. But you control your beliefs so you can shift your beliefs and this, in turn, will change your experience not just of this moment but of your whole life. But it takes practice. Lots of practice. Let's do that now in a simple but powerful meditation to help you remember just how beautiful you really are. (NOTE: This is a 15 minute version of the You Are Beautiful meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This is a simple but beautiful and powerful technique to bring a positive mindset into dominance. The intelligence of your emotional and physical self is excellent at generating the feelings and movements to keep you alive in the primitive and dangerous settings that life developed in over the last few million years. Unfortunately, it isn't well-adapted yet to the relative safety and comfort of today's world. So we have to do the work to train the brain to adapt to this new environment. You have to recognize that any time you are suffering, you have some belief that is preventing you from releasing the suffering. But you control your beliefs. But it takes practice to let go of long held beliefs. Lots and lots of practice. Let's do that now. (NOTE: This is a 10 Min version of the You Are Strong Meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The intelligence of your emotional and physical self is excellent at generating the feelings and movements to keep you alive in the primitive and dangerous settings that life developed in over the last few million years. Unfortunately, it isn't well-adapted yet to the relative safety and comfort of today's world. So we have to do the work to train the brain to adapt to this new environment. You have to recognize that any time you are suffering, you have some belief that is preventing you from releasing the suffering. But you control your beliefs. But it takes practice to let go of long held beliefs. Lots and lots of practice. Let's do that now. (NOTE: This is a 30 min version of the You Are Strong Meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The primary function of your body and your mind is to keep you alive and create copies of your genes into the next generation. It is a highly efficient, capable entity finely crafted to achieve these goals. So when you suffer, whether from physical or emotional pain, this is the way that you know to change course. This is how you keep yourself alive. The organisms and people in our distant past that weren't good at that didn't pass down their genes. But these techniques that are so foundational that they are instinctual and reactive habits aren't good measures of what is actually happening to you at any given moment or on any given day. The intelligence of your emotional and physical self is excellent at generating the feelings and movements to keep you alive in the primitive and dangerous settings that life developed in over the last few million years. Unfortunately, it isn't well-adapted yet to the relative safety and comfort of today's world. So we have to do the work to train the brain to adapt to this new environment. You have to recognize that any time you are suffering, you have some belief that is preventing you from releasing the suffering. But you control your beliefs. But it takes practice to let go of long held beliefs. Lots and lots of practice. Let's do that now by being grateful for your strength. (NOTE: This is a 20 min version of the You Are Strong Meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When we talk about forgiveness, we are not talking about allowing ourselves to be treated badly or giving ourselves permission to act badly towards others. We are talking about taking control of our emotional well-being; about achieving self-mastery. But how do we do that? The complexity of our minds rivals that of our universe. And like the cosmos, our minds follow certain rules. Burned deep into our neural circuitry are vast networks that perform silently and invisibly beneath our consciousness to ensure our survival. They include sexual attraction, jealousy, wanting fairness, empathizing, and, among many more, recognizing facial expressions. This last skill of ours, reading facial expressions, is essential to function in any society or group of any kind. These expressions are one of the most important signals our brains receive from the environment and not surprisingly there are whole regions of our brains devoted to decoding these expressions, to figuring out their valence and meaning.So in this meditation we harness these powerful brain centers to help us release feelings of anger or shame or sadness or whatever other emotions are connected with a painful moment in our past where forgiveness is in order. If you are spiritually inclined, you can think of this meditation as breaking the bonds of karma or a prayer of accepting God's grace. We've all done things we regret. And we have all had other people treat us badly. So we can all benefit from creating a habit of forgiveness. To create and strengthen this habit, these forgiveness meditations need to be repeated often, sometimes more than once a day when there is a something causing you problems. So consider that as an option for you. Importantly, before we proceed, make sure you have someone specific in mind who has wronged you in some way or someone who you have wronged. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Haunted by something in your past? Regretting something you did? You're not alone. But sometimes there are experiences so difficult that they require a special focus in order to reach a state of forgiveness. This meditation is going to help bring you to a place where you can experience forgiveness even with the toughest situations. Remember that forgiveness doesn't mean that you will allow yourself to be treated badly in the future or that you ever need to see someone that has wronged you again. This is an internal and private conversation that allows you to heal yourself and return to a place of integrity and peace. This is an exercise in opening your heart, in letting go, in finding relief, in leaving all bitterness and anger or shame and grief behind. If you are spiritually inclined, you might like to think of this as a method to break the cycle of karma or accept God's grace. There are two features of human consciousness that are superpowers most of us fail to take full enough advantage of: You have the power to move your awareness and you have the power to hold your awareness where you choose. Today we are going to employ these powers to help heal a situation in your past that haunts you today. It may be something you have done or it could also be something that has been done to you. It could be from an offence, a flaw, a mistake. It will be something that makes you feel angry or ashamed or trapped or misunderstood or sad. Often these forgiveness meditations need to be repeated sometimes more than once a day, for many days for the full effect to take hold. So consider that as an option for you.I should say here that am indebted to the Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi for inspiring much of my practice but this meditation in particular. (NOTE: This is a 20 min version of the Meet me in the Field of Forgiveness Guided Meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The mindset of forgiveness is one of the happiest spontaneous side-effects of meditation generally. But sometimes there are experiences so difficult that they require a special focus. This meditation is going to help bring you to a place where you can experience forgiveness even with the toughest situations. Remember that forgiveness doesn't mean that you will allow yourself to be treated badly in the future or that you ever need to see someone that has wronged you again. This is an internal and private conversation that allows you to heal yourself and return to a place of integrity and peace. This is an exercise in opening your heart, in letting go, in finding relief, in leaving all bitterness and anger or shame and grief behind. If you are spiritually inclined, you might like to think of this as a method to break the cycle of karma or accept God's grace. There are two features of human consciousness that are superpowers most of us fail to take full enough advantage of: You have the power to move your awareness and you have the power to hold your awareness where you choose. Today we are going to employ these powers to help heal a situation in your past that haunts you today. It may be something you have done or it could also be something that has been done to you. It could be from an offence, a flaw, a mistake. It will be something that makes you feel angry or ashamed or trapped or misunderstood or sad. Often these forgiveness meditations need to be repeated sometimes more than once a day, for many days for the full effect to take hold. So consider that as an option for you.I should say here that am indebted to the Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi for inspiring much of my practice but this meditation in particular.(NOTE: This is a 30 min version of the Meet me in the Field of Forgiveness Guided Meditation) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The art of forgiveness is an ancient practice for healing illness, life troubles and psychological distress. It has so much power that some Buddhist teachers recommend practicing forgiveness to ourselves and others twice a day for months on end. When forgiveness is practiced with such steady devotion, forgiveness starts to seem almost like a field of energy. A field is anything that has a physical quantity at any point in space. Anywhere you look in the universe, even in a vacuum, you will find fields. We are all familiar with physical phenomena such as temperature, gravity, pressure, and magnetism. All these phenomena are present at any point in space so we can think of each of them being a "field." In the same way, we can think of forgiveness almost like a field permeating the universe, including us. But we have to do the work to tune in to the frequency of forgiveness for it to perform its magic. Or if you are religious, let's express this same idea another way. Let's describe it as you having the ability to imagine Jesus or Buddha or whoever your deity of choice is radiating out the forgiveness directly to you and your job is to accept "God's Grace" or the equivalent in your particular faith. Feel free to add that religious dimension during the meditation if that works for you. Otherwise, just let me do the work for you and help you find the release that awaits. (Note: this is a 30 minute version of the Welcoming Forgiveness Guided Meditation.) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Forgiveness is a sacred art with profound healing potential. It has so much power that some Buddhist teachers recommend practicing forgiveness to ourselves and others twice a day for months on end. When it is practiced with such steady devotion, forgiveness starts to seem almost like a field of energy. A field is anything that has a physical quantity at any point in space. Anywhere you look in the universe, even in a vacuum, you will find fields. We are all familiar with physical phenomena such as temperature, gravity, pressure, and magnetism. All these phenomena are present at any point in space so we can think of each of them being a "field." In the same way, we can think of forgiveness almost like a field permeating the universe, including us. But we have to do the work to tune in to the frequency of forgiveness for it to perform its magic. Or if you are religious, let's express this same idea another way. Let's describe it as you having the ability to imagine Jesus or Buddha, or whoever your deity of choice is, radiating out the forgiveness directly to you and your job is to accept "God's Grace" or the equivalent in your particular faith. Feel free to add that religious dimension during the meditation if that works for you. Otherwise, just let me do the work for you and help you find the release that awaits. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

YOU are not your feelings. Sometimes, you might feel that you are engulfed with sadness or anger or anxiety or whatever the feeling. You can't shake it. You might even come to believe that is just the kind of a person you are, that that is part of your personality. But this isn't true. Unfortunately, you can't just tell yourself to feel relaxed or beautiful or peaceful. If only it were that simple! Your states of mind seem to just arise. But you have two choices. You can choose to allow the environment and the people and circumstances within that environment to stimulate those states within yourself; or you can train your mind to generate them on its own, under your direction. But it takes practice. Lots of practice. So, this meditation is provides you an extended opportunity for this kind of practice. In this guided meditation, you are training your mind to focus its attention where you choose to have it focus rather than letting it running wild like a little puppy. And you are teaching it the trick of generating feelings of relaxation, peace, and beauty. Enjoy.(Note: this is a 45 minute version of the moving your awareness guided meditation.) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

YOU are not your feelings. Sometimes, you might feel that you are engulfed with sadness or anger or anxiety or whatever the feeling. You can't shake it. You might even come to believe that is just the kind of a person you are, that that is part of your personality. But this isn't true. Unfortunately, you can't just tell yourself to feel relaxed or beautiful or peaceful. If only it were that simple! Your states of mind seem to just arise. But you have two choices. You can choose to allow the environment and the people and circumstances within that environment to stimulate those states within yourself; or you can train your mind to generate them on its own, under your direction. But it takes practice. Lots of practice. So, this meditation is provides you an extended opportunity for this kind of practice. In this guided meditation, you are training your mind to focus its attention where you choose to have it focus rather than letting it running wild like a little puppy. And you are teaching it the trick of generating feelings of relaxation, peace, and beauty. Enjoy. (Note: this is a one hour version of the moving your awareness guided meditation.) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

“Stay in the present moment,” is an oft-heard recommendation from spiritual teachers. But how exactly do you do that? Your mind is not set up to ‘stay in the now.’ Fortunately, brains can be trained; the mind can be rewired. But it takes practice. And learning to accept what arises is the perfect way to master present moment awareness. This simple meditation helps you do just that. (Note, this is an extended, 20 min version of the shorter 10 min version of the same name and description) See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.