Fear of the Future

Hi, it's Eve here, and I'll be guiding you through this 10-day course on worrying about the future. So there's a good chance that you selected this course because you might find that you spend a lot of time uncertain and concerned about what lies ahead. If you are worried about a number of things in your life, firstly, I'm sorry. I know very well how hard and horrid it feels when we're caught up worrying about things that might impact us or the people we love, but secondly, you're here, and we're going to work through some tools and exercises together to help you develop a better understanding and relationship with your mind so that you can spend more time in the present instead of caught up in a future that hasn't happened yet. We're not trying to get rid of worrying. Sometimes it's helpful to worry, as it signals we might need to take some action, but, and you could probably tell a but was coming, we don't need to let worrying totally consume us. And it doesn't mean we can't plan for our future. Worrying and planning two very different things. So this course is going to be focused on slowing down the dialogue, the inner chatter in our minds. We're going to learn some ways to relate to our thoughts and feelings in a more constructive way, how we can learn to appreciate what we have in the present moment, and some skillful ways we can plan for our future instead of just worrying about it. First of all, I'd like you to set an intention that you'll make some time either every day, if you can, or every other day, that you'll come and join each session with me. I know it can be hard to find the time to meditate, but just 10 minutes can really make a big impact on the rest of your day. Just think how much time you might spend worrying in a day 10 minutes could really help to shift that. And it's helpful to pick the same time and place each time you meditate. For me, I prefer the mornings, but do what works best for you and your circumstances. For today's exercise, we're going to focus on stepping out of the mind and into the body. Often the two are really out of sync. So right now, just take a moment to get comfortable. You can sit in a chair or you can lie down for this, but just resting your gaze about two to three feet in front of you. And when you're ready, just start by taking some nice, big deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath, just gently closing the eyes and allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm, in and out through the nose, just becoming aware of those physical sensations, weight of the body pressing down, feet grounded on...