Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. So there's a story about a Zen master who taught just one simple method for inner peace and awakening. Her name was Sono, and she advised everybody who came to her to adopt a particular affirmation. And this affirmation was to be said many times a day and under all conditions. So the affirmation was this: Thank you for everything.

I have no complaints whatsoever. So many people from all walks of life came to see Sono. They'd heard about this spiritual teaching that she did was transforming lives. So some of them came to see her and they were in physical pain. Others were really suffering emotionally.

Some had been through great loss. And some were seeking spiritual awakening. But no matter what their distress or their desire, she always gave them just that one, same practice, a mantra. Thank you for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever.

So some people, when they went to see Sona, they came away disappointed with such a simple teaching. But people who began to practice it found deep inner peace, healing and happiness. So what Sono knew was that in life we only ever experience present moments, just one after the other. So your relationship with the present moment is your relationship to life itself. So often in life, when the circumstances of the present moment don't show up the way we want them to, or they're a little unpleasant, and we psychologically struggle with what is.

We dislike it, we get angry with it, we think it shouldn't be this way or we go to outright war with it, raging against the way things are, and that creates so much of our stress and suffering. But when we stop being locked in battle with life and we wage peace with the way things are, we can arrive wholeheartedly in the here and now. So personal story. I recently got a cold sore on my face the day before I had to do a film shoot. And I was mortified.

These negative starts, thoughts started to roll through my head. I look disgusting. I can't do this. This is humiliating. And I had so much negativity and shame washing over me.

I felt really debilitated by it. And then I remembered this mantra, Thank you for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever and I just let it fill my mind over and over. And as I let go of thinking, things should be different and just let them be the way they are, all that constriction in my mind just opened. And suddenly I realized the beauty all around me, the aliveness all around me, and I was washed with gratitude.

You know, that I get to do these daily moments for you and connect with you in this way, that I have such an amazing team to work with and grateful for what make-up can do. So yeah, this week, I invite you to carry Sono's mantra with you, play with it. If you feel in resistance to what's happening or out of touch, simply repeat these words, thank you for everything. I have no complaints whatsoever.