A Mantra for Simplicity

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, I want to talk about a simple perspective shift that can help simplify the moment. So there's a, a phrase that tends to go around in the mindfulness space that is: wherever you go, there you are. You may have heard this yourself. It's even the title of a popular book by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are.

It came out in the nineties, really great book. And it's pointing to, in a very mindfulness way, that you are only where you are. So if I'm here right now, this is where I am. If I'm in my car, that's where I am then. When I'm at home in bed, I'm just in bed.

And the reason this is important is because we tend to over-complicate our life with everything that is still to come or even just a sense of our life and the span of our life, the years to come, all the spaces that we're traversing,being on a plane, the travel we have to do next week. All of these things that it's very unique to being human. This ability to, to imagine, to think about the span of your life, to have a sense of the orientation of your life in time and space, what's come before, where you are now, what is to come. And all the, it can be exciting, especially if the storyline of what's to come is exciting to you. But it can also come with a sense of, whoa, there's a lot here.

There's a lot going on. There's a lot to tackle. There's a lot to work on. There's a lot to do over the next week, year, 10 years, 30 years. And all of that can, can create sometimes a feeling of anxiety or even debilitation when it's just like, how can I possibly do all of this? That's where this perspective shift comes in.

And really you can just use it as a mantra. Wherever I go, there. I am. Wherever you go, there you are. And it's just this reminder that your life is only happening right here.

All of that sense of the future and the past, these are ideas that exist in your mind, but they're not what are in this present moment. The span of your life, everything to come, what has come, the felt sense of that, yeah, all there, but kind of in the mind, not what's here right now. And when you take the perspective of just, can I be wherever I am in this moment, it just simplifies it with the recognition of, oh, all I can do is just be in this moment. All I can do is respond appropriately to the input that is arising right now and trust that that's enough because what is to come I can't really control, what has already happened is no longer mine to influence. So where am I in this moment and what is the best response I can bring? Where am I now in this moment and what is the best response I can bring? So try this out as like a mantra throughout the day.

Wherever I go there, I am. See if it helps ground you and drop you into that more present mindfulness perspective. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.