Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Morning Meditation - Living in Admiration | Find Happiness through Appreciation

Episode Date: May 16, 2023

This morning, enjoy a heart-warming meditation that will open your eyes to everything there is to admire about yourself and the world around you. Want to be more focused? Wish distractions would just melt away? Sign up for the WMU Focus Course! If you're interested in joining, all you need to do is sign up for the course here: https://wakemeuppod.gumroad.com/l/focus. Get ad-free access to the entire WMU catalog + bonus content + 25% discount on WMU courses by joining the WMU Premium Feed. Sign up and start your 7-day free trial at https://wakemeup.supercast.com/. Follow the show on Spotify - Apple Podcasts - Amazon - Podchaser Say hi or request an episode at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/contact. See visual guides for the yoga and stretches in WMU episodes at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/stretches. And find the podcast on Instagram and TikTok. **Only partake in the physical movements suggested in Wake Me Up episodes if you are physically able and in safe surroundings. All movements are done at the individual's own risk. Be safe, and always consult a doctor if you have any questions or concerns.** Have a wonderful day 😃 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wake Me Up is made possible thanks to the generous help of our advertisers and premium supporters. If you'd like to support Wake Me Up, listen ad-free, and get access to the entire catalog plus bonus episodes, then follow the link in the show notes to sign up for Wake Me Up Premium. Now before our episode begins, here's a quick word from our sponsors. Hey there, and welcome to Wake Me Up, and I'm so glad that you're here today. This week's episodes are all on the common theme of trying to live in a state of admiration, looking for things to appreciate in ourselves and the world around us.

This can be a life-changing perspective shift. When we simply choose to look through a lens of admiration, we find beauty everywhere around us. Today's meditation will leave you feeling so much more connected to that beauty around you. This is one of my favorite meditations to do, and I'm confident that you'll love it too. So, if you're in bed, use this moment to roll over and make your way up and out of bed. The people who are the happiest, the most successful, the most fulfilled, they are the ones who show up every day and live life in their own way.

So choose to be one of those people. Get your day started now. make the most of this opportunity and find a comfortable position that you would like to meditate in. As you probably know, I recommend that you meditate sitting up and that's simply so you don't fall asleep.

But I know we all have different preferences, different needs for our bodies and different spaces. So do what works best for you. And once you've found that comfortable position, just allow yourself to settle into it. Maybe you need to wiggle a little bit or adjust just to let any tense spots soften down. Now take a deep inhale, fill your lungs all the way up, hold at the top, and then exhale, release, and gently close your eyes. For this first moment of meditation, it can be really helpful to settle and soften the body.

The state of the mind will follow the state of the body. So a few things that can help relax your mind are softening your face, just relaxing all of those facial muscles, dropping your jaw and releasing your tongue from the roof of your mouth, and then softening your shoulders down. And simply follow the natural rise and fall of your own breath

at whatever pace feels comfortable to you. And as you do that, you'll find that you begin to sink deeper and deeper within. All right. Hopefully you're nice and settled in now. So bring up an image in your mind, an image of yourself. See yourself there in your mind's eye.

Though there are countless things, pick one thing that you admire about yourself, a personality trait, A skill you've honed. A funny joke you told one time. Anything works. Just something that you appreciate about you. And mentally say that to this image of you in your mind.

I admire this about you. Great. Now let that image go. Take a deep breath in to reset. Exhale. and in its place, bring to mind the image of someone in your life. It can be from work, personal, family, anyone. Someone you know really well or not.

It doesn't matter. See them there in your mind's eye. And though there are countless things to admire about them, select one. And again, it can be anything. a personality trait, a skill that they've honed, a funny joke they told one time, and mentally say to them,

I admire this about you. All right, great. Now you can let that image go. Take a deep breath to reset. Inhale and exhale. And one more time, bring to mind an image. This time, an image of whatever place you call home.

It may be a home you've had for a long time. It may be brand new. Maybe it's a home that you're away from currently. It doesn't matter how grand it is or how simple it is. But bring to mind something you admire about this place you call home. Maybe it has a comforting smell. Or you made a memory there that you love.

Anything about it works perfectly fine. And imagine yourself standing in that home, saying to it, I admire this about you. All right, great. Now you can let that image go and come back to the rise and fall of your breath. For just a moment or so before we wrap up. All right. It's time to wrap up our meditation now.

So begin to bring yourself back. Notice whatever's supporting your body. Notice the air on your skin. And any sounds going on around you. Take a deep breath in, the deepest one you've taken yet. Hold at the top and then exhale, release, and slowly open your eyes and collect yourself. Well, my friend, I hope you're feeling lighthearted and full of your heart. of gratitude. Practicing admiration like this makes it easy to see the beauty in others,

in situations, and in feelings. You can always choose to see the beauty in the world, even in things that feel flawed or painful. No matter the moment you're in, living in admiration will always be a practice, rather than something that can be mastered. And if you keep that intention, your practice of admiration will always be full, because there is an unlimited supply of things to admire. So remember this as you move through your day, keeping your eyes wide open, looking for things to admire, and with a heart full of gratitude. That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow for affirmations on this same theme, and I hope to see you there. Until then, go out, find something to admire in your day.

And if you do, I'm sure that you are going to have a fantastic day. Since you're a listener of Wake Me Up, I know you recognize how important it is to stay focused. It's the only way we can achieve our long-term goals in life. And that's why I wanted to let you know about a meditation and mindfulness-based course I made that will help improve your focus. It's a really simple but powerful training series for those of you who find yourself distracted or just want to deepen your meditation practice.

The course has 14 meditations and a workshop in which we dive deep into the ideas around focus and how to improve it in our lives. If you're interested, I'd love to see you in the course. You can find a link to sign up in the show notes.