This guided meditation invites a gentle widening of awareness. Instead of getting pulled into any one experience, the invitation is to include more, to notice what is here, and what else might also be here. It’s a meditation rooted in curiosity and permission, where nothing needs to be pushed away or held onto, and experience can unfold in a more open, connected way.

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Practice reflection:

In our daily life, it’s easy for the mind to narrow in on one thing—a thought, a reaction, a story—and take it as the whole truth. From there, we can get pulled into seeing things in a fixed or personal way.

View shapes so much of how we move through the world. It often starts as patterns, becomes norms and values, and over time can harden into fixed views or opinions.

When we cling to them (and when we’re not open to being called in, called out, or receiving feedback), the Buddha pointed to the friction this creates: “Those who grasp at perceptions and views go about butting their heads in the world.” (Bikkhu Thanissaro’s translation of the Magandiya Suta in the Sutta Nipata)

One way to recognize you are clinging to certain views or opinions is to notice whenever you feel a tension in your body, particularly when in relationship with others. Then quietly ask yourself “Am I clinging to a view right now? What view am I clinging to?”

Practices like what else is here? can gently open things up. Not so you lose your perspective, but so it’s held a little more lightly, making space for other viewpoints, and a more responsive, less reactive way of being with others.

N.B.: Just because there is a view being held doesn’t make it “wrong” or “bad.” If you are unsure if a certain view is skillful or not, you might take your reflection further as ask “Does it lead to a freedom from suffering for myself and others, now and in the future? If it causes harm, does it cause the least amount of harm possible?”

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