**If you are viewing this on Sunday, January 26 or Monday 27...I want to update you. As a lifelong Lakers fan and native Los Angeleno, like so many millions, I'm devastated by the loss of Kobe Bryant. I created the following meditation very early on Sunday, before the tragic accident that claimed Kobe's life. So the next meditation, Day 8, will be dedicated to the life and legend of Kobe Bryant. 

Welcome to Day 7…

To conclude our first week…

…I think the best way to describe moving into a state of trust…is the feeling of catching a ride.

To trust the music, the grace, the love, the flow…

….we have to be willing to release what holds us back..and trust what wants to carry us forward.

Click PLAY above…

…to listen to Day 7 Now


Today's quote

“Grace will take you places hustling cannot." 
                                          -Anne LaMott

--Transcript of Today's Meditation--

to summarize this first week on defining trust, I think the best way to describe moving into a state of trust is the feeling of catching a ride. There's a meditation led by the late mystic Ram Dass. And he talks about his favorite mantra. "I am loving awareness."

and that would help him get out of his mind.

And he said, "I ride that mantra into my heart."

It's much like I tried to describe to you in a previous meditation about trusting the music...ad how I felt the guitarist Trey anastasio take over my mind, kick it into gear. He took everyone in that amphitheater for a ride. It's why we love live music. 

I have a teacher I study with. His name is dr B. He describes the same feeling, getting out of the matrix and letting the energy take hold of you. His meditations Describe this sense of rising up... that you're on a ride and it lifts you out of the mundane. 

For those of you who surf, it's the same idea to ride a wave, to catch the flow.

It's the same idea with grace. As Annie Lamott said, "grace will take you places Hustling cannot."

To catch a ride and trust the music, the grace, the love, the flow...We have to be willing to release what holds us back so that trust can carry us forward. 

To catch a ride, you got to strap in and say, "take me. I trust you."

Otherwise, it's not really a ride or not a ride we want to be on.

I think a lot of the time, and I know this is true for me, we come to life with the handbrake on. It's like doing one of these meditations while you're multitasking, that will not work. It'll just be going through the motions. Certainly not catching a ride.

throughout these six months. I will often come back to a word from a sacred text. It's a Hebrew word Hineni. It's what Abraham said to God when he walked to the top of the mountain, willing to sacrifice his son. Hineni means, "Here I am."  I am fully committed to trust. Let's see what this is all about. if I do it with all my heart and soul.

so this is a big challenge to come to these meditations with 100% of your mind and your attention. If you do it with 50% or even 90% it doesn't work. There's too many ways the matrix can grab you. Too many ways Doubt will weigh you down. too many ways that you just get distracted and the power of this practice gets diluted.

If you're going to trust, do it with 100% of your being. If you're going to catch a ride and let grace lift you, let love heal you, Let the flow move you...It requires 100% of your being. Anytime you see someone in life who's the best at something, sports, music, business, medicine, teaching, they're 100% committed.

Now, I can't say that I've always been 100% committed and I'm teaching what I'm learning here. So as we wind down week one and really get ready to launch into the rest of this journey...This is a shift I'm making and I invite you to do the same... 100% committed each time you meditate. Let's catch a ride and see what's possible.

Question for you. Is there some percentage of you, however small it might be, who is holding back from being fully committed to this meditation journey? A part of you who saying, "eh. I'll do this when I can. Nah, I don't really know about this teacher. Uh, I'm so busy. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this as often as I'd like."

Are you willing to show up each day with 100% of your heart and soul and mind? 

Take a moment to get a little more comfortable. Relax. Take a deep breath.

Sometimes you hear the expression, Spanish immersion, French immersion. It's the best way to learn a language...so it is with trust. Let's immerse ourselves fully and come to today's centering thought. 

Trust above me, trust below me. Trust around me. Trust within me.

trust above me, trust below me, trust around me, trust within me.

For a few minutes I will leave you to relax, to breathe, to meditate. If your attention wanders. Come back to those words to center yourself in the moment. 

Trust above, trust below, trust around, trust within. in just a few minutes, I'll be back.

-meditation begins-

-meditation ends-

coming back to the moment

today, we wind down the first week of this journey and the ways we define trust as faith, vision, love, music, grace, flow...

.... all about letting those feelings and ideas lift you and move you and change you.

to catch a ride means you can't hold back... gotta be all in... 100% willing To commit to the meditations.

100% willing to commit to trust...fully immersed.

trust above me, trust below me, trust around me, trust within me.

I'll see you tomorrow as we begin week 2.  

Peace.