Present and Contemplative Friday

This was a popular post from the past. I'm still feeling a bit under the weather. I hope you enjoy this:


In this moment, slow down your breathing, relax your body, slow down your thoughts, and focus your mind. Give yourself permission in this brief space of time to simply slow down your breathing and relax your body. Pay attention to your breathing and your body. Take in some deep breaths if you need to. Breathe in through the nose, deeply, bring the breath all the way in, expanding your abdomen as you do, and hold the breath in, briefly, then allow the breath to gradually flow out through your mouth.

As you breathe in deeply and then release the breath, notice your body relaxing. Feel the relaxation flow all the way down from the top of your head, through your body down to your feet. Feel your feet solidly on the ground, feel your back straight but relaxed against the back of your chair. Focus on the words in front of you. Be aware in this moment of this moment and the words that are written here.

You have no place to be in this moment but here in the present, this is you existing, simply. Simply existing. Allow yourself to just BE with me here for this moment. Allow yourself to BE in this moment with everything in the moment. BE the chair you are sitting on; the computer you are reading these words from; the walls around you; the oxygen you breathe; the atoms that make up the energy that flows through each and every material item. BE ONE WITH ALL for this moment.

Below is an excerpt from the book: "If Life is a Game, These are the Rules", for you to contemplate:

Ten Rules for Being Human

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's yours to keep for the entire period.

2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called, "life."

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately "work."

4. Lessons are repeated until they are learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end. There's no part of life that doesn't contain its lessons. If you're alive, that means there are still lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better a place than "here." When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Other people are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie within you. The answers to life's questions lie within you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.

10. You will forget all this at birth.

Cherie Carter-Scott, author of: "If Life is a Game, These are the Rules"