Brother Richard

And for a moment or two, you might like to bring to mind

moments, memories, connections, inspiration even, that the animal world has brought to you over the years.

To begin to dwell in gratitude, to open the door of your heart to the possibility of connection

to recognize at the very least the beauty of these beings and our responsibility to them as stewards of creation.

Breathing in, I touch the animal awareness of my own body.

Breathing out, I realize I am in connection with every other being that exists.

Breathing in, I choose to dwell in the present moment.

Breathing out, I choose to learn this skill from the animal teachers around me.

Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in.

Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out

all the while simply present to the present moment, to the breath, to the body, to the now.

And gently then, inwardly, we can make an inner resolution to be more aware of our animal teachers.

to observe them more deeply, to notice them more fully, to care for them with great compassion.

And with that resolution made, gently now we can begin to feel our connection to the ground beneath us, to the chair we are sitting on,

We take a moment to dwell in gratitude for this time of meditation together.

We begin to move fingers and toes and we allow the sound of the bell to draw us back to the activity of the day.

Thank you.

Welcome back.

In today's meditation, we come back to recovering the basic stillness form.

As we've said before, this recovery of the basic form allows us to begin to develop a facility to just drop into stillness, into deep awareness, no matter the distractions that are around us.