This is a reading meditation. There’s nothing to do other than read, nowhere to go, and no audio version to listen to.
Do not read it all at once. Sit with each paragraph or sentence for a few moments. It will take only 5 minutes.
You don’t need to close your eyes at any point.
Start by taking a few deep breaths. With the in-breath, experience yourself filling with relaxation. With the out-breath, experience yourself releasing all tension.
Acknowledge nothing is required of you for these five minutes. Release all your responsibilities for the moment, confident that you will pick them back up after these five minutes.
For five minutes you are irrevocably free.
Now, slowly tune into the sounds around you.
Without fixing yourself to any particular sound, let all the sounds in. It is as if there is a bed of sound that has always been in background. Now you are gently laying your awareness on this bed of sound.
Let your awareness move up and down with your breath as it sits amidst these sounds. Just breathe and listen for a few moments.
Now, tune in to the thoughts and emotions that might already be in your mind. In addition to thinking or feeling as your ordinarily do, observe that you are having these thoughts.
Sometimes, it can help to turn your attention to your body. Observe how a thought or emotion feels, what the sensation is in your body.
Observe yourself reading this paragraph as you are reading this paragraph. You are watching from the backseat as your mind takes the wheel.
For this moment, be content to be watching. Feel the space between the watching and the driving-reading mind. Notice how you are able to observe your reading mind, almost from a distance.
Your wonderful mind has helped you so generously in following this reading meditation. Thanking your mind, let it be irrevocably free now—free even from the demands of this sentence. It can do anything it wants.
Finally, return to the bed of sounds and your breathing.
Return to the feeling of the present and experience how you feel now compared to when you started.
As you go into your day, notice how this observing awareness—the capacity for calm—is always within you. You can tune into to whenever you like.