And a welcome to you on Father's Day. And a welcome to those people accessing. Our meditations.

Via the recordings. So And just give people a few more moments and talk about what I've decided would be helpful tonight. So, I've just looked at it and I thought, right, well, while we're still in this place of difficulty and The threat is thank goodness seems to be becoming more manageable, but I think we are still at a time when we need to get our sense of pleasure and we need to be able to connect in with stuff that's going to make us feel good about ourselves.

It's going to anchor our attention. And one of those exercises that Really helps lots and lots of people I work with is the whole concept of the sweet spot. And the idea of the sweet spot is that It enables us when we're having a difficult time, when we're feeling angry, when we're feeling frustrated, when our work colleagues are beginning to wind us up, when stuff is happening at home that is difficult, and, and we just take ourselves aside for a moment and we use this mindfulness approach to reconnect with a very, very special time and place in our life.

And our first meditation is about helping us all to find that really, really special place in our lives. And It's not that long a meditation, but it's a really lovely one. And then the second meditation is a variation on leaves on a stream, but definitely not for sleep.

So whilst it is relaxed and let go, it does require us to sort of deliberately pick something out of the stream. Look at it for a while, explore it, make sense of it, and when we're done, put it back into the stream and let it go. So again at the moment rather than getting stuck with very, very difficult stuff, and I had a really lovely email from somebody this week who was saying that they were getting a bit stuck with something and feelings of sort of resentment and stuckness.

There's a lot of stuck around tonight. And they talked about how something Really needed to shift because they were finding it hard to let go and I thought, this might be a very useful meditation tonight and for other people as well to, perhaps, hone this ability to let go of stuff that sometimes Just stays around a little bit too long. So it's not unhooking, which is what we did last week, but it is a very lovely process of letting go.

So let's just very gently find the first one. And this is Jacques Cousteau's son, I think he's, he's, Fabian Cousteau. I don't know.

As a kid, I remember watching Jacques Cousteau on the telly all the time, and this image just struck me as being, goodness me, that, that looks like an incredible sweet spot. You know, just the person that was . In the sea in that picture there they had been able to stop and Just pause and look around at the light and the pictures and the peacefulness and the quiet, that that could be somebody's sweet spot.

And we use Sweetpot an awful lot of this concept of sweet spot in therapy when we start to touch upon difficult emotional stuff. So if I'm doing some psychological trauma work with somebody or we're reliving an old memory that somebody finds painful. And I noticed that they're beginning to become troubled and The face gives away what's going on in a second, I find, and at that point then it's just lovely if they have a sweet spot to say, Do you know why?

Why don't we just take a pause and I'll go find my sweet spot for 10 minutes or 2 minutes and you go find your sweet spot for 2 minutes, and the time you spend there is completely up to you, but it's very busy professionals in the veterinary profession. Finding your sweet spot for just a couple of minutes once a day could be enormously helpful, I think. So our first meditation tonight is a meditation aimed at helping you all to find your sweet spot.

So, I thought before we started, I would just share with you, when I had my own therapy, thank goodness, my, my therapist said, you know, Mike, I think. You know, we're gonna need a sweet spot here. And I kind of knew of the sweet spot that, but that was the first time that, I, I'd ever really sort of explored it for, for myself.

And I just thought, oh, this is, this is lovely. So my sweet spot is a memory of before my children. Had grown up.

They were very, very tiny, and we found ourselves. On a beach overlooking. Tenby, Tenby harbour, and there was nobody else there and we sort of climbed down precariously sort of.

I know you wouldn't even think about doing it now. Precariously sort of bringing these children into this really, slightly scary sweet spot. And, as we got to the beach and I looked up, I was just greeted by this most beautiful sight, and that stuck with me from that day.

And because I did the sweet spot exercise, and it really helps you to do this. It enables us just to find that sweet spot so, so easily. So as I've tried to do for a while now, I try and bring meditations that fit with where people are and with what's happening.

And it does feel like now is the time when we could all do with our sweet spot. So if I ask you to get into your seated position for the first meditation tonight, And just kind of make sure that you're comfortable, but not so comfortable that you might drop off because this is a very relaxing, enjoyable meditation. So let's begin.

So we just begin this exercise. By recognising that on this Sunday evening. In June We've taken the time.

To Like ourselves to love ourselves. To be compassionate towards ourselves. And we've taken this time to bring mindfulness into our lives.

In recognising that We can only ever find joy in this moment. That we're choosing to pay attention. Deliberately and on purpose with No judgement And to spend some time sitting.

Within this mindful stance. And we take our attention to our breath. And we sit And we breathe.

Without changing our breathing in any way. But following With curiosity. Our breath as we breathe in.

And as we let that go. Just breathing. Honing our ability.

To anchor ourselves. Noticing when we get disturbed or Our mind starts to Just Play dot to dot and starts going all over the place that we smile. We bring a curiosity to that, and we say, just breathe in now, please.

Just breathing. And we stay with our breath. And After a while, Just start to ask us now to bring to mind.

A memory. That conveys some of the sweetness. And the richness of life.

Allowing our brain to Just go on a forage. Back through our memory banks. Just looking and.

Exploring Perhaps finding a memory to do with love. Or affection Possibly a memory of achievement. A memory of connectedness maybe.

Perhaps a memory of love, affection. Achievement And connectedness. Or perhaps this is just one of life's.

Simple pleasures. And as we Gentle our attention. Looking for this sweet spot, this.

Memory. That conveys that sweetness and richness of life, we may notice a sadness or an urge to compare then with now. We let that go.

And we smile just saying not now. Not now. This is about sitting.

And engaging with this sweet, wonderful place. And we begin to make this memory more vivid. And we look for What it is that I can see.

In his memory. Look at the colours. And The vista The images And settle and smile.

Making room for all of the feelings that arise. And if sadness shows up as it often does, make room for it and. Let it in With everything else as well.

And then we just take our attention and get a sense of What can I Here In this incredible special memory. Of this wonderful place of this. Lovely memory.

This sweet spot. So we have a picture. And we have sound.

And was there texture? Let that in. And what's Taste And was there a smell?

And we take these senses. And we allow them all in. We find that wonderful sweet spot.

And we describe it Quietly to ourselves. So what I see Yes This is what I hear. And this is the texture that I recall.

I see if that smell is there. It so often is. Was that a test?

We just allow that. And we sit with it. And we lay allow ourselves to label.

How are we going to cure ourselves? Into this memory in the future. Let me just give it a name.

Just a name that will take you there in a millisecond. And we sit with it. In that picture.

In that memory And we ask ourselves, what does this memory reveal about what really matters? How was I treating myself at that time and The world around me. Would I be helped by spending more time?

Just stopping And spending time in this sweet spot. Just for a few more seconds towards the end of this first meditation. Just sit and dwell.

And hold the sweet spot close to your heart. And smile. And When you're ready, Very gently open your eyes.

And just with that sweet spot. I also sometimes use the sweet spot to help people, connect with what really matters because Nearly always, actually, if you stop afterwards and think about your sweet spot and that time and why that time is significant, what we find is that many of our values sit in that sweet spot. So for me, it would be, you know, family, it would be love, it would be closeness, it would be adventure.

It would be outside. It would be fresh air. It would be connectedness and love.

It would be beauty. And, and they are all things that really matter to me. And they are all components of that sweet spot.

So it's a very powerful thing to do to find one's sweet spot. And In the same way This next memory requires us to Really hone in. And explore in the same way that we explored our sweet spot.

But As I said at the start, the relax and let go. Meditation is very, very similar to it, it's a variation of leaves on the stream, but, it's not one to do. To help one sleep as leaves on a stream does so, so brilliantly because this really Doesn't usually help sleep at all, but it does help us to relax and to let go and to hone our curious muscle.

So Let's get ourselves, and this is a nice one actually to do lying down. And, but let's just get ourselves into. A comfortable position.

And for this one, you know, I think I can allow us to, if you want to, just soften even more and don't worry too much about looking dignified. Just make sure that your posture is relaxed and comfortable. And When we're ready, Relax.

And let go. So we just start this meditation. By taking our attention to our body.

And bringing that mindful curiosity to the very, very top of our head or scalp. I'm just starting from there. We begin to scan our attention down over the Forehead And we just let go of any tension that we find as we go.

If we get to the eyes and they're shut tight, soften them. And if they're open and moving and looking around, Cloud them. And relax.

And soften them. Check your posture. Of the way that you're holding your hand.

Is there any strain there? Or any tension. Just allow in your head.

To balance on your neck comfortably. And if your face doesn't look smiley and relaxed, soften it. And smile.

Just half mindful smile. And allow your shoulders to relax. Check out your hands.

And if they're clenched. Just uncurl them finger by finger. Check out your chest and your breath.

Are you breathing relaxedly? And calmly. And check your tummy.

That's good. And are your legs. And your torso relaxed.

Just keep just scanning down the left leg. And the right back. And noticing that your feet are supporting.

But soft and relaxed. And now we just allow our mind. To build a picture.

In our mind's eye of a stream. And it's the most beautiful gurgly. Gently Moving stream it doesn't rush.

It gurgles and it meanders and it moves from the top right hand corner of our consciousness. And it disappears. Somewhere off towards the left.

And as we look at our stream, And we relax. We just ask our minds. So What's happening in my life?

At the moment. What stuff is showing up? What thoughts, what?

Memories, what emotions. Pushing their way. Into my life at the moment.

And some of it Might be lovely stuff, and some of it may be difficult. But we just open our consciousness make space. And I just say so.

What's going on with me? In my life at the moment. And if we find something that's being frustrating, Or difficult.

We imagine it. Just gently now. Being carried Down the stream.

And we can see it Being carried by the current of the stream closer to us. And closer And closer to that moment that it's right there. And we reach into the stream.

And we take it out. Whatever this is, And if it's an episode in our lives that's frustrating. Or if it's a really lovely memory or something you've done today that.

It's just so lovely. We sit with it. And we explore it.

And we Look at it and we. Bring curiosity to it and. We hold it In the way that one holds a cactus.

Like. And we see it as just a lovely memory. Or just frustration.

Or Just annoyance. Oh Just people being people. And we sit for When we're ready, He gently leaned forward.

And we place it lovingly. Back into the stream of water. And we sit back and we distance ourselves from it.

And we watch it. As a stream Carries it Away. Oh, I feel that sense of.

Oh, do you know how lovely that was, and How nice to be able to watch, to relax into it. And to let go. I'm dependent on the time that we have.

We can sit here. And examine The stuff of our life. Safely and warmly.

So let's find something else that's happening. In our lives at the moment. Let me let that show up.

And We look at it. Whether it's something pleasant or difficult or Whatever it is, we place it upstream. And we watch it.

As the stream brings it closer. And closer Until we can easily reach into the stream. And take it out and look at it.

Yeah, just. Just something there. I don't really want to have to do that.

Maybe it's something. But I really want to do. Maybe it's something.

That's Go to occur later on in the week. And I reach in I take it, and I look at it. And I explore it.

And I see it as just Another thing. And as I sit with it, And I explore it, and I crucially just allow it. I notice my breath is calm.

And relax. I reach forward. And I gently and lovingly just pop it back into the stream.

It's enough for today. It's enough for tonight. And I let it Disappear.

And we can sit And we can watch. Be curious Let go And relax. For as long as we like with this one.

And sometimes I'll spend Just a couple of minutes. But sometimes. This is a really long meditation.

Because I choose to look at a lot of stuff. And let it go. Before we finish, just think about when next might be a really good time.

To do some Watching the leaves. Then watching the stuff of our mind float by. Noticing that we can either let it float by.

Or we can reach in. Gentle it out, explore it, put it back. And watch it disappear.

Relax and let go. So well done, everybody, . On this, Father's Day.

So, I really hope that you liked, those two. The sweet spot which you can have forever. And I've had mine probably now for about 1516 years with no need to change it, it's perfect.

And I use it a lot. Gently take myself there when I need to, and That meditation we just did, the relax and let go, is a A really important one, you know, because it stops us from trying not to have stuff. It allows us to look at it and then choose.

So I hope people enjoyed our meditations tonight. And I wish you all a lovely, lovely Sunday evening and a lovely Father's Day. For those of you We were dads and And we've all got dads or I've had that haven't we, so maybe a poignant day for many.

So thank you so much and see you all next week. Good night now.