Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to encourage you to recognize and really take in the many good intentions people have towards you each day. I think this is really valuable because we often overlook all the little ways in which people express good intentions towards us. For instance, someone turns up on time to a meeting or a lunch date out of courtesy, care, and respect for you. A friend calls or messages you with an intent to connect or check-in.

A checkout person makes an effort to be really friendly while they pack your groceries with care. A person in traffic lets you in. Someone listens to you properly when you speak what's on your mind. Good intentions don't need to always be really heroic. It could be the hug or kiss from your partner before you leave the house for work, the help with the housework, maybe making you a tea.

Just the efforts made by others not to cause conflict with you or hurt you in any way or an apology when someone does make a mistake. Many expressions of good intentions are small, but they still matter. Imagine how horrible life would be if people didn't express so much goodwill and care towards you on a pretty consistent basis. Even, you know, with all the strangers that we encounter in the streets and the shops and in traffic, you'll see lots of little acts of patience and courtesy, desires to do the right thing by others, and small acts of kindness and friendliness. Like the other day when I left my credit card in the shop and a man ran out to give it back to me or the driver that flashed his lights at me last week to indicate a hazard ahead on the road.

We can have such a strong tendency to overlook all the good intentions towards us. And instead we kind of zero in on the few times when people let us down. But personally, when I practice seeing these good intentions and really letting myself feel them, I really notice how much happier I feel, how much I'm aware of how supported and cared for I am. It gives me a stronger sense of connection with and belonging to my community and the world. So it's really powerful to practice, noticing good intentions with people who you also have a more difficult relationship with.

Now, of course, this doesn't mean excusing any kind of bad behavior, but rather it's about seeing that behind their challenging behavior, there are often good intentions underneath. Whether that's an intention to protect something they feel is important or an underlying intention to try and get their needs met for say, love, or certainty or security, or connection. So by actually seeing the good intentions underneath bad behavior, you're less likely to become upset or reactive to other people. And you feel naturally more compassionate and understanding. Now, of course, it is true that people's intentions are not always positive.

There are times when some people's intent is to harm, control, deceive, aggress, but for the majority of people in the world, the majority of the time, their intentions towards you and others are actually good and that's worth noticing. So today, I invite you to do so, to acknowledge the good intentions in others, really soak those moments in, let the care of others become a warm feeling in your body and mind and remind you of the goodness of human nature, yours and the people around you. As always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. And let's begin to settle in now for today's meditation.