Continuing from where we left off last week.
In a comfortable position, ground and center.
Return to the image from the first exercise, the tree or bonfire or whatever it is. Select a part of it to focus on. For the tree, you can focus on keeping a single tree in your mind’s eye. Or you can zoom in and focus on a leaf.
Your task now is to stay with the leaf (or whatever you have selected) for the entire meditation. If you wander away, gently come back. If you feel yourself struggling, return to the ‘wandering about the tree’ imagery of the first exercise, and gradually ease yourself back to the single image.
Never blame yourself if your mind wanders. You aren’t wrong or a bad meditator. It is a natural part of meditation to occasionally “lose it.” Just as you can sometimes be driving and look away from the road for a moment, and then look back, you can sometimes look away from meditation for a moment. Gently return your inner gaze to your meditation object.
Stay with the leaf for the full meditation period, setting extraneous thoughts aside. When you finish meditating, take a deep breath and allow yourself to return to ordinary consciousness.
