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Become an Optimist

In this meditation, we'll practice the three core perspectives that change our pessimism into optimism.

Let's start by settling into a comfortable posture. This could be sitting, standing or lying down. If it feels okay, you can invite your eyes to close. And we'll start by taking a deep breath together. In through the nose.

Slowly out through the mouth. Inviting the jaw to relax. Letting the shoulders soften. And allowing the belly and hands to be at ease. The breath can return to its natural rhythm.

And we'll just take some time in silence to focus on the breath. And the mind wanders, just returning back to this breath, this moment. Nowhere to go, nothing to get done and no better version of yourself you need to become. Just allowing yourself to experience this breath fully, with presence and curiosity. So since we're talking about optimism in this meditation, we're going to do some visualization and reflection.

The first thing I'd like for you to do is to bring to mind a recent event that maybe didn't go that well. Something that caused distress or a sense of hopelessness, or even better would be something that created a bit of pessimism or worry about what the future might hold. Just take a moment to reflect on that and you can pause the audio if you need to. Okay. So if you remember, when we're caught in pessimism, we're stuck in the three Ps.

We view things as permanent, personal and pervasive. So as you reflect on this experience that just happened, reflect on what would you be thinking. What would be your thought pattern if you've viewed this as permanent? Take a moment to think about that. Okay. I imagine it's things like this is going to last forever.

How am I going to be able to get through this? Or even a feeling like this emotion is not going to go away. Okay. So that would be, if it's permanent. Now imagine the situation and what you would think about or reflect on if you knew that it was impermanent. Try that out.

Okay. So maybe a little different. Let's move on to the next P, personal. If this were to be personal, if you were to really take this personally, what would be your thought pattern. Reflect on that.

Okay. And now switch it to impersonal. If you knew that this wasn't your fault, this is not about you. What would that sound like? Reflect on that. Great job.

And lastly, pervasive. Right? This feeling like things always happen to me like this, my life always goes this way. If you were to think like that, what would that sound like in this context? Reflect on that for a moment. Good. And then if this weren't pervasive, if this was just an acute experience, one-time experience, what would that sound like? Good job.

When you're ready, you take a deep breath. And allow the eyes to open. Amazing. Okay. So you practice putting these three Ps into action.

I want you to continue to notice this throughout the day. You could go back through and play the meditation and work through different events and how you would view them if they were permanent, personal, pervasive, and then the opposite of that. But hopefully you got to see how it feels differently to think about things differently and how optimism can actually feel quite good. All right. Great job.

Enjoy your practice and take care.

Meditation

4.3

Become an Optimist

In this meditation, we'll practice the three core perspectives that change our pessimism into optimism.

Duration

Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.

Let's start by settling into a comfortable posture. This could be sitting, standing or lying down. If it feels okay, you can invite your eyes to close. And we'll start by taking a deep breath together. In through the nose.

Slowly out through the mouth. Inviting the jaw to relax. Letting the shoulders soften. And allowing the belly and hands to be at ease. The breath can return to its natural rhythm.

And we'll just take some time in silence to focus on the breath. And the mind wanders, just returning back to this breath, this moment. Nowhere to go, nothing to get done and no better version of yourself you need to become. Just allowing yourself to experience this breath fully, with presence and curiosity. So since we're talking about optimism in this meditation, we're going to do some visualization and reflection.

The first thing I'd like for you to do is to bring to mind a recent event that maybe didn't go that well. Something that caused distress or a sense of hopelessness, or even better would be something that created a bit of pessimism or worry about what the future might hold. Just take a moment to reflect on that and you can pause the audio if you need to. Okay. So if you remember, when we're caught in pessimism, we're stuck in the three Ps.

We view things as permanent, personal and pervasive. So as you reflect on this experience that just happened, reflect on what would you be thinking. What would be your thought pattern if you've viewed this as permanent? Take a moment to think about that. Okay. I imagine it's things like this is going to last forever.

How am I going to be able to get through this? Or even a feeling like this emotion is not going to go away. Okay. So that would be, if it's permanent. Now imagine the situation and what you would think about or reflect on if you knew that it was impermanent. Try that out.

Okay. So maybe a little different. Let's move on to the next P, personal. If this were to be personal, if you were to really take this personally, what would be your thought pattern. Reflect on that.

Okay. And now switch it to impersonal. If you knew that this wasn't your fault, this is not about you. What would that sound like? Reflect on that. Great job.

And lastly, pervasive. Right? This feeling like things always happen to me like this, my life always goes this way. If you were to think like that, what would that sound like in this context? Reflect on that for a moment. Good. And then if this weren't pervasive, if this was just an acute experience, one-time experience, what would that sound like? Good job.

When you're ready, you take a deep breath. And allow the eyes to open. Amazing. Okay. So you practice putting these three Ps into action.

I want you to continue to notice this throughout the day. You could go back through and play the meditation and work through different events and how you would view them if they were permanent, personal, pervasive, and then the opposite of that. But hopefully you got to see how it feels differently to think about things differently and how optimism can actually feel quite good. All right. Great job.

Enjoy your practice and take care.

Meditation

4.3

Duration

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