Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Morning Meditation - Make the Most of Everything

Episode Date: December 13, 2021

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If you'd like to enjoy Wake Me Up completely ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content, check out the link in the show notes for the Wake Me Up premium feed. Hi there. Good morning and welcome to Wake Me Up. The podcast where morning people are made. And as usual, I'm your host, Tyler. Friends, life is full of great stuff. But it's also got plenty of things that are not so great.

and usually it's somewhere in between. Today's episode features a meditation that's designed to help you make the most of everything, whether it's good, bad, or somewhere in the middle. But before we get there, let's take a moment to rise and wake up a little. So whatever you're doing, just pause and take a big breath in. Feel the air fill all the way into your lung. expanding deep into your belly, hold it at the top, and then exhale,

letting it all go easily and freely. Let's do that once more just to get the oxygen flowing. So inhale, and again fill all the way up, hold it at the top, and then release. Fantastic. Now, before we all get up, why not think of one reason you are excited to be, be living today on this particular day. It can be as simple as a plan to have coffee with your

friend, or good weather, or perhaps it's a special day, like your birthday. Whatever it is for you, there's always plenty of reasons to be grateful, because you're alive, you're breathing, and you're on this epic adventure called life. So let's not waste you. another moment of it. Take one more deep breath in and as you exhale roll over in bed and make your way to standing up. Now that we're all out of bed, let's loosen up real quick and help get the blood flowing through the body before we sit back down for meditation. You can always feel free to do a different stretch or no stretch at all. This is your morning and you should do exactly what you want with it.

If you're going to come with me, then start by standing straight up, reach the crown of your head towards the ceiling, your feet nice and flat on the floor, feel yourself balanced, and just let your head fall over towards your right shoulder, having a nice stretch down the left side of your neck. Be very gentle,

it's still first thing in the morning, and we always want to be careful with our neck anyway. Slowly roll your head forward and then around to the left side. So the stretch is now down the right side of your neck. Again, nice and gentle. And make sure you keep breathing while we do this. All right. Bring your head back to center.

Shake it out a little bit if you'd like that. And we're going to do one final stretch. It's my favorite. So inhale and reach both hands to the sky. reach as far as you possibly can, and on your exhale, fold forward at your waist, and let everything hang towards the ground.

Again, nice and easy, there's no need to push yourself. And you can just hang out here, or sway side to side, bend one knee and then the other, experiment, and figure out what feels best for your body right now. Slowly roll back up to standing,

And when you get there, do one final roll of your shoulders up and down. Great. Now, it's time for our meditation. If you want to do more stretching, then be my guest. You can always press pause and come back and join us when you're ready. For everyone else, go ahead and find a comfortable seat in your home. It can be anywhere. Just don't sit in your bed.

We don't want to go back to sleep. And while you find your way there, feel free to grab a sip of, water, get yourself hydrated, or use the bathroom. Now, today's meditation will be really simple, and you know I like it that way if you've been here before. You'll simply follow my voice. I'll guide you into it and offer some simple inquiries, which your mind will naturally process, and by the end, hopefully you'll feel a bit more positive about everything that goes on in your

life, even the bad stuff. So by now, hopefully you're in a nice comfortable seat. And make sure you're upright, but allow yourself to relax. We don't want to hold on to any tension here. Now let's all take a deep breath in together, and as you exhale, gently close your eyes. First things first, make sure you're comfortable. We don't want the body to be a distraction. So let everything soften down. Let your face relax. Let your shoulders drop. Let your jaw relax.

Follow the rise and fall of your breath just for the first few minutes. It will help you draw into the meditation. And there's nothing special about this breath. The most important thing is that it feels natural to you. So breathe at a comfortable pace and a comfortable depth. It should feel velvety smooth. As you follow that breath, it will slowly take you deeper and deeper within.

Now that you're settled in, bring to mind something that happened recently in your life. In the past months or even year, something that felt like a negative experience at the time. A breakup, a bad grade in school, an unfortunate circumstance. Anything that you had some difficulty with, anything that felt negative.

As you sit here, recognize that you are separate from this specific experience you had. It doesn't define you. It's just a memory in your past. Consider what you can learn from this experience. How can you use, this hard moment to make your life better going forward.

Maybe you've learned to avoid similar situations in the future, or you'll prioritize things differently going forward. Maybe you just feel more grateful to be alive. There's always something to learn from every experience. There's always a positive twist. So try to find one for this experience. And maybe you'll find more than one. Now that we've found a positive lens

through which we can view this seemingly negative experience, take a moment to thank that experience. It happened to you so that you can learn, even if only in a small way. Now you can let that go, and we'll do the same thing again. But with a different experience, a different moment where something negative happened.

Again, consider a positive reframing of this event. What can you learn from this? How can you use this hard moment to improve your life? And again, thank that negative experience for having helped you in life, for having taught you something, even if it's relatively small. All right, you can let all of you.

that go now, and just come back to your breath for another moment or two. Allow your thoughts to come and go. There's no need to control them. Just accept them as they are. Little firings of your mind. And as you allow your brain this time, it will slowly unwind itself on its own. Okay, now you can slowly begin to bring yourself back to the room. Notice any sounds going on around you. And maybe you feel your feet on the floor. And give your toes a little wiggle. Maybe you feel your hands resting on your thighs or your lap. And you give them a little wiggle too.

Take a big breath in. And as you exhale, you can open your eyes and take this moment to gather yourself. Friends, life is full of ups and downs, good and bad, and a whole lot more of your eyes. in between. But so much of our experience is determined by our perception. Simple practices like this can help us to reframe our focus, literally rewire our brains to be more positive.

So I hope you're feeling a bit more positive now. The more you do this meditation, the more I think you'll find that even the bad things in life can be blessings. They just might be blessings in disguise. We can't control everything that happens in life, but we can do our best to make the most of them. That's all for today's episode. I really appreciate you tuning in and joining me here this morning. I'm planning something really exciting for the start of the new year. It's a seven-day challenge to get your mindset right so that you can be the best version of yourself in 2022. It will start January 1st, and it will be just like

all of the other Wake Me Up episodes you know and love, but tailored to help you start the new year on the right foot. I'm just letting you know in advance so that you can plan for it and grab a couple of friends who might enjoy it as well. I'm looking forward to seeing you there. I'll talk to you all next week, and until then, I hope you have a wonderful day. I really hope you enjoyed this episode. A good morning is such a gift, isn't it? It's the key to a happier and more productive day, and ultimately a better life. And that's why I make this show. So if you're enjoying it, why not send one of your favorite episodes to a friend? You never know. You might just make their day, and change their life.