Finding Contentment | 15 Minute Guided Meditation

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The practice you're about to hear comes from our app, Declutter the Mind. You can learn more about it on declutterthemind.com or find it in the Google Play Store or App Store. Thanks for listening. Welcome to a guided meditation for contentment on Declutter the Mind. Just find a comfortable place to sit with your back upright and comfortable. Resting your hands in your lap. In this practice, let's see if we can arrive immediately. So closing our eyes here. Noticing the breath. Noticing the breath as it passes all on its own. Each in-breath. The rise and fall of each breath as they pass. Nothing we need to change here or modify about the breath. We're just arriving quickly into the present moment. Out of thoughts, out of thinking.

Much of our attention is scanning for what's wrong, right? It's scanning for what needs fixing, what isn't good enough yet. So let's do the opposite in this practice. And so instead, let's gently sweep our attention through the body, and this time look for parts that already feel at ease. Maybe your hands are comfortable. Maybe your face is relaxed. Maybe your legs are simply resting without pain, without strain. We so rarely notice the parts of us that feel fine. So take a moment, just allow that to register.

And let's also notice the simple, ordinary comfort that's available right now. The temperature of the air on your skin, the support beneath you, the easy rhythm of your breath, These small things are always there quietly offering themselves. And we usually just rush right past them on the way to the next thing. For now, let's allow them to be enough. And then with that, let's bring to mind one and small. good thing that's actually present in your life right now. Not the biggest thing, not the thing that you're supposed to name, just something simple and real. And pick one, and instead of noting it and moving straight on, let's fully land for a moment. Let's try to allow ourselves to actually feel that it's here in our life right now. And this isn't about making a list, it's about letting one good thing register all the way through.

And this isn't a flaw in you, it's just how the mind works. Everyone has this. It's always one step ahead. And just notice it.

There's another quiet thief of contentment that's also worth noticing here. A lot of our discontent is really about what we have and what we think we don't have. It's always about measuring or comparing. And so just recognizing that the instant you step into that race, whatever you have, stops feeling like enough. And so for just this moment, see if you can set the reaching for the things you feel like you don't have. See if you can set that down for a moment. And just finding something in this moment that you can feel gratitude for. Something that maybe hasn't been appreciated by you in a long time. It can be a person, a neighbor, a thing you get enjoyment from.

And if you bring this thing to mind and the mind keeps pulling forward to the next thing, to the better version, gently notice it, and then come back to the gratitude. Just for the next few moments.

You don't have to earn gratitude, earn contentment. You don't have to be awarded contentment as a prize. It's something that's available now. And it can be imperfect or still in progress. But it's accessible.

And notice if there's any... Happiness or contentment that's being surfaced as a result of. This practice of gratitude, we're noticing. And if it's not there, that's okay.

And then allow your breath to be easy.

And if your mind has wandered away from watching the breath, Gently return your attention to the breath without... Any judgment.

Gently open your eyes. Thanks for sitting. And I'll see you in the next session. Thanks for listening to the Daily Meditation Podcast. If you'd like more, head on over to declutterthemind.com, where you can find our guided meditations, courses, and our free app. Thanks for listening.