Why We Are Bad Predictors of Our Happiness

Let's start by settling into a comfortable posture. This could be sitting, standing or lying down. It feels okay to do so, you can close your eyes. And we'll settle in together by taking a deep breath. Breathing in through the nose.

And slowly out through the mouth. Inviting the jaw to relax. Letting the shoulders be at ease. And letting the hands and belly soften. In this moment there's no place else you need to be, nothing else you need to do and no problems you need to solve.

See if you can actually give yourself permission to be here. And as you start to settle in, your breathing can go back to its normal rhythm. And your body can settle into a posture that feels slightly more comfortable and grounded Since we're not the best predictors of what will make us happy in the future, in this meditation, we're going to practice cultivating a quality of happiness right now. And to do this we'll use a particular breathing pattern and mantra. As you breathe in, you say in your own mind: Breathing in, I feel joy.

Breathing out, I llet go of suffering. Breathing in, I feel joy. Breathing out, I let go of suffering. As always with these mantras and phrases, really see if you can feel the intention behind their words. I'll give you some time in silence to practice.

As we come to the end of our meditation, let's take one more deep breath together. In through the nose. And slowly out through the mouth. And when you're ready, you can start to reorient yourself back into the space. Inviting your eyes to open if they've been closed.

And give yourself a pat on the back. Good job. So as you go about your day, see, if you can come back to this idea of finding a little bit more joy and contentment right here, right now. I acknowledged that this won't always be possible, and it's not always the appropriate response to what you're going through, especially if it's very difficult. And I think there are a lot of moments where we're chasing some future vision of when we can finally be happy.

And that just puts us on a never ending treadmill. So as we try to build the life that we're excited to live into, can we simultaneously develop a quality of peace and contentment here and now? Thank you for your practice. And until we talk again, take care.