175 : Meditation : Take a Break!
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Welcome to the Mindful Fire Podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. My dad will be so grateful. See you next time on the Mindful Fire Podcast. Welcome to the Mindful Fire Podcast. If you're enjoying the show, please leave a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. My dad will be so grateful.

See you next time on the Mindful Fire podcast.

Welcome to the Mindful Fire Podcast, a show about crafting a life you love and making work optional using the tools of mindfulness, envisioning, and financial independence. I'm your host, Adam Koyo, and I'm so glad you're here. Each episode of the Mindful Fire Podcast explores these three tools through teachings, guided meditations, and inspiring interviews with people actually living them to craft a life they love.

At its core, Mindful Fire is about creating more awareness and choice in your life. Mindfulness helps you develop self-awareness to know yourself better and what's most important to you by practicing a kind, curious awareness. Envisioning is all about choosing to think big about your life and putting the power of your predicting brain to work to create the life you dream of. And financial independence brings awareness and choice to your financial life.

Empowering you to make your vision a reality by getting your money sorted out and ultimately making work optional. And here's the best part. You don't have to wait until you reach financial independence to live out your vision. Mindful Fire is about using these tools to craft that life now on the path to financial independence and beyond.

Thanks so much for being here.

In today's practice, we're just going to simply take a break. You spend so much time in your life thinking and doing for everyone else. Now's the time to simply take a break for yourself. And so I invite you to begin by finding a position that allows you to be both alert and relaxed at the same time. You can gently close your eyes or have an unfocused gaze, gazing down a few feet in front of you.

And let's just begin with three deep breaths, in and out. And as we begin this practice together, I invite you to bring to mind an intention, an intention for what brings you to the practice today, noticing what arises in your mind and sitting with that intention, but including also the intention to simply take a break, to simply rest,

and invest in yourself and your well-being in this difficult time that we're experiencing. There's so much happening, so much thinking, so much doing, so much worrying. This practice is an invitation to set all of that aside, if only for a moment, and to indulge in some much-needed rest, relaxation, and in stillness.

So setting aside everything that has come before, anything that's on your to-do list, and anything that is yet to come, setting it all to the side and making the intention to be here and now for you because you deserve it. And so taking a deep breath in and letting it go. And now just tuning into the breath, feeling the breath as it comes in and feeling the breath as it goes out.

imagining with each in-breath and each out-breath, you're relaxing a little bit more into this moment, this being here, resting, rejuvenating, restoring. Each in-breath going a little bit deeper, relaxing a little bit more, not in any forced way, but just imagining yourself relaxing a little bit more each in-breath and each out-breath.

resting the awareness on the breath, wherever you notice the breath sensation most vividly in the body right now, perhaps at the belly or the chest, expanding and contracting, or perhaps at the nose or the mouth where the air is coming in and going out, wherever it is, resting your awareness there and observing with an open, kind, and curious attitude.

Whenever you notice that your mind is drifted off, no problem. The mind is just doing what it does, creating thoughts. And so whenever you notice that your mind is pulled away, just notice with an attitude of openness, curiosity, and kindness towards yourself and whatever you notice in your experience. And then just gently bring your attention back to the breath and begin again.

Over and over again, returning to the breath, letting go of any idea of doing it right or being good and meditating, simply resting in awareness with a kind, curious, and open attitude. This is your time. This is your moment to relax. And so each time the mind wanders, welcoming it with kindness,

and gently coming back to the breath and beginning fresh. Aware of this in-breath, aware of this out-breath, each one your life happening here and now, moment by moment by moment, and breath by breath by breath. And again, if you notice your mind drifting off, just bringing it back. Each in-breath is a new beginning.

Each out-breath is a chance to let go and relax a little bit more. And in these last moments of this practice together, I invite you to check in and bring to mind an intention for how you'd like to show up for yourself and for others that you interact with as you move into the rest of your day. Perhaps this is the same intention you said at the beginning of the practice, or perhaps it's something else.

but tuning in and seeing what is alive for you right now as you think about how you'd like to show up moving forward in your day. And let us finish this practice with three breaths together, breathing in and out again and letting it go. And once more, letting it go. And as you open your eyes and rejoin your space, take one final mindful breath in and out.

As a reminder that this sense of calm is available to you anywhere, anytime, and really just takes turning your attention inward to the sensations of breathing in your body. Thank you so much for practicing. May you be healthy. May you be safe. May you be happy.

Thanks for joining me for today's guided meditation. If you enjoyed today's episode, I invite you to hit subscribe wherever you're listening to this. This just lets the platforms know you're getting value from the episodes and you want to be here when I release additional content. If you're ready to start your mindful fire journey, go to mindfulfire.org slash start and download my free envisioning guide.

In just 10 minutes, this guide will help you craft a clear and inspiring vision for your life. Again, you can download it for free at mindfulfire.org. Thanks again, and I'll catch you next time on the Mindful Fire podcast.