Tamara Levitt leads a ten-minute Daily Calm session on letting go, guiding listeners to follow the breath, observe arising thoughts and emotions without engaging their content, and practice not taking experience personally. The session closes with an intention to carry that non-reactive stance into daily life.
Transcript
Welcome to the daily calm. Let's begin by finding a comfortable position in a posture that feels relaxed yet alert. Close your eyes. Soften your forehead. Let there be a soft smile in the corners of your lips. Now take a few long deep breaths to relax the mind and body. Take a slow deep belly breath. Hold it for a moment. Then gently release that breath. And just repeat that pattern a couple of times. Taking slow, deep breaths, allowing any tension you're holding to melt away. Now naturally allow your breathing to become light and easy allowing the rise and fall of the breath to happen in its own time at its own pace. Just following the breath as it flows through you. Following it in, following it out. Breath by breath, moment by moment. You might notice thoughts arising as you sit. Thoughts about the past, thoughts about the future, thoughts about something you should have said or done, thoughts about what's for lunch. Don't make an effort to look for thoughts, but when they arise, simply notice them. In particular, notice if they have a charge. Pay attention to whether they trigger emotion of any kind. What we want to do is refrain from getting sucked into the content of our thoughts and emotions. Ideally, we want to view thoughts like water trickling down a stream. letting thoughts come. Letting thoughts go. Letting emotion come. Letting emotion go. Not getting caught up in them. Simply observing that thoughts are happening without taking them so seriously. Allow everything to come and go like the breath. Breath after breath after breath. Now rest your attention, taking a few deep breaths, noticing how it feels to pay attention to thoughts without clinging to them, without taking them personally. And since we're on the theme of relationships this week, see if you can practice not taking things personally in regards to your relationships with others. When we have to deal with difficult people, we sometimes feel attacked. Often other people's behavior isn't about you. it's about them. If we choose to take situations personally, we become offended and reactive because we feel the need to defend our beliefs and conflict intensifies. But if we refuse to take things personally, we can often deescalate our emotional response and any potential conflict. Through the day, as an experiment, try practicing not taking things personally whenever you can. And perhaps now make an intention to seal that effort. And as we approach the end of the session, just relax your attention. Come back to the room. Come into your body. Feel it alive. And when you're ready, open your eyes. I hope you enjoyed today's daily calm. Have a wonderful day and we'll see you back here tomorrow.