Banner photo by: Priscilla Du Preez @priscilladupreez
Do as Soon as Possible
1. Read this entire page so you understand all that you are asked to do this week.
2. Please read the Tips for Meditating handout and review them as needed.
3. Decide if you will use the flashback-halting protocol or the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 grounding practice as your go to practice if ever traumatic memories that you cannot compassionate hold arise during your meditation. Review and practice it. This is especially important for people who answered yes to any of the risk factors under our Trauma Advisory.
4. Take 10 minutes (or less) to read over the Creating a Daily Meditation Practice handout and answer the first seven questions in your journal. Be sure to write out your intention for question seven and try it out for the week to see if it works for you.
5. Read the “Tips for Using Your Meditation and Intentions Tracking Log” handout, and follow the instructions for filling out the form.
6. Read the “Mindful Pause Practice” handout and review it as necessary. You will be doing three one-breath-cycle long mindful pauses during your daily intention setting practices.
7. Cut the “Live with an Attitude of Gratitude” slogans out (or make your own versions) and hang them in places where you will see them (at your work desk, on your bathroom mirror, etc.).
Slogans are short sentences, or phrases, that help us adopt new skillful behaviors, attitudes, or views. This week’s slogan is “Live with an attitude of gratitude.” To use a slogan card, make an effort to read it several times throughout your day, to remind yourself of whatever skillful behavior or attitude you are trying to adopt. For this slogan, read it and remember to give thanks throughout your day.
Do Every Day
8. Every day, between now and the next class, meditate using the 5-minute guided gratitude meditation.You can stream or download it above.
Immediately after meditating, record the meditation on your tracking log. At each class we will ask you to share how many days you meditated this week and many people find it hard to remember unless they write it down. So develop the skillful habit of logging your meditations immediately after meditating.
The purpose behind this short meditation is to help you learn the habit of starting to meditate every day. You are learning to “just do it.” Because the meditation is short, it is harder for your mental excuses to talk you out of it. Please do your best to do that.
It is best to mediate in the morning when you are fresh and awake. Morning meditations also set a mindful tone for the rest of your day.
Now, some of you may already have a meditation practice where you meditate for longer periods. That’s wonderful. Feel free to do the course meditation either in addition to your regular practice, or as part of your current practice. Meaning if you normally do a 30-minute meditation, you can do our five-minute meditation, then the five-minute intention setting practice, and then 20 minutes of your regular meditation.
But for the duration of the course, please prioritize doing your mindfulness missions over your usual meditation practices. This means, do the mindfulness mission first, and then do your other practices. This will help you learn and test run these new practices to see how they serve you. Please do not think this means we think your practices suck. Absolutely not. There are many beautiful and wonderful practices that people can do, which is why we encourage you to continue with your practices. We also want you to give the course practices a fair trial, and to do that, they need to be prioritized for now.
9. Every day, between now and the next class, do the Gratitude Intention Setting practice (in your handouts), then immediately record it in your tracking log. At every class we will ask you to share how many times you did the intention-setting activity, and logging them will aid you in being accurate and honest.
Read and follow the instructions for the activity. This activity also has you do mindful pauses throughout it, so there is a handout on how to do that practice as well that you can refer to as needed.
The purpose of this activity is to commit to looking for all that is wonderful, beautiful, successful, and skillful in your life, in your friend’s lives, and in the world, and give thanks for it all.
As you develop your concentration through meditation, we want you to direct your focus more and more to those things that serve you, bring you joy, and provide you with the resources and creativity necessary to face life lovingly, wisely, and skillfully, despite all of its challenges and difficulties.
Gratitude practices are relatively easy and produce meaningful results quickly. Gratitude helps us feel more joy, energy, creativity, and empowerment to engage with life. That is why we focus on gratitude first in this course.
This practice is best done in the morning and I encourage you to do it immediately after your meditation. Of course, if that is not possible, find another time, but make it as early in the day as possible to encourage a gratitude-mindset for the rest of the day.
10. Look at your slogan card several times a day and remember your intention to live with an attitude of gratitude. Take a few moments to give thanks for all of the blessings in your life.
Do Every Day You Miss Doing the Meditation, the Intention-Setting, or Both
11. If you miss meditating or intention setting for a day, get out your journal and answer these questions:
• What prevented me from successfully completing my intention (to meditate, do the intention-setting, or both)?
• What can I do to prevent this situation from happening in the future?
• If I can’t prevent this situation from arising, what can I do to not let it derail me from completing my intention?
These questions can also be found in your Creating a Daily Meditation Practice handout under the heading “Test Drive Your Intention.” Every day you answer these questions, record that activity under the Investigation (Inv) section of your tracking log.
The first week has a lot to cover to get you off and running with a good start. You can do it. Many beings love and support you and are rooting for you to succeed. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me, your course teacher. I love you and be well.
Recommended
Watch this 11-minute video which demonstrates six common meditation postures you can try out.
In class, most of us meditate seated in a chair, but if you want to do a floor position or laying down, you can. Just let me know during class so I know why I might not see you in the video.