Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, we're going to talk about the power of embracing your own agency and authority. So many of us are socialized to believe that there's a certain path that we should follow in life. And the expectations of the world around us can really end up governing and limiting all the possibilities for how we might want to live out lives. Sometimes those expectations might sound like, you know, you should get married and have kids.

Or they might sound like, if you don't do well in school, then you're not smart enough and you shouldn't bother trying to start a business or advance a career. Or maybe it sounds like, men shouldn't be the primary caregivers of children, that's a woman's job. But often our own hearts are calling us in an unconventional direction than what the status quo expects from us. We all share this common challenge as human beings. We humans are tribal creatures.

So the way our minds have evolved means we're always going to feel that strong pull to fit in, be part of the pack, be liked. So we feel drawn to conform rather than risk any kind of rejection, but that internal pressure to conform means that we can sometimes deny our own feelings and our heart's deepest desires instead of listening to them and living them. So it also means that we might hold off on challenging the status quo, even if something really truly does not feel right for us. Sometimes we might even go as far as to make a decision or take action in life with really little other reason than the fact that everyone else is doing it. So really a big part of the invitation of mindfulness is to cultivate much more self-trust and authenticity and agency.

In other words, it really helps us to get more in touch with ourselves and trust our own authority and our own direct experience, rather than always relying or defaulting back to the opinions and experiences of others. So it helps us, you could say, to act from our own integrity, even when it's challenging to do so. So I'm curious at this point, you've just heard me talking about this and I'm wondering what's alive in you right now? Like what's coming up for you as you're hearing me talk about embracing agency, embracing more authenticity. Are there ways perhaps in which in your own life you might be trying to fit in or be liked that are not really the true expression of what you want and who you really are? And if so, how can you choose to show up as more of your true self today? So that's the contemplation that I'm offering here. We can't control everything external to us and the expectations of our culture and our communities can really weigh down on us.

For example, we can't deny the realities of things like systematic oppression or structural inequality. And yet these kinds of expectations, don't have to define us. To create more positive change and live a more authentic life we need to embrace our own agency, challenge the status quo and take action guided by our own values and vision. As always, thank you for your practice. Thanks for being here in this community.

And inviting you now to settle in for today's meditation.