15-minute guided noting practice for appreciation — when you are at your limit

About this practice

For the times when you are at your limit when appreciation takes up more room than you would like — 15 minutes, noting. A guided session of about 15 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: appreciation

Appreciation deepens by staying, not by listing. A moment held for two breaths registers differently from a moment catalogued.

It tends to show up as:

• Rushing past small kindnesses
• Not noticing ordinary comforts
• Thank-yous left unsaid

Slowing down for a moment is what turns something pleasant into something that stays with you.

Doing this when you are overwhelmed

• Do not decide priorities during it
• Pick the shortest session available here
• When you finish, write down the first physical action on paper

The pile looks less like a pile once the alarm stops ringing. Sort it after, not during.

How noting works

Noting is a technique from insight practice: when something arises, you give it a single plain label — thinking, hearing, planning — and return to the anchor. The label creates a small distance between you and the content.

• Use one word, not a sentence — explaining means you have joined in
• Label and return; do not follow the thought to see where it goes
• Drop the labelling if it becomes effortful and just follow the breath

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Feel your ribs move. That is all the machinery you need to pay attention to right now.
2. 0:15We'll take this slowly, and there's no version of this where you get it wrong.
3. 0:29Everything that happens in the next few minutes is allowed to happen.
4. 0:42Notice whether your breathing is high in your chest or low in your belly. Just notice. No fixing.
5. 0:58Notice the breath you're taking right now. That's the only one that exists.
6. 1:11Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
7. 1:24Feel the parts of you that have gone quiet.
8. 1:35Now feel both feet at once. That's a lot of contact with the world.
9. 1:49Notice your pelvis resting on the surface below you.
10. 2:00Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
11. 2:11Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
12. 2:25Each time your mind hands you the ordinary moments worth savoring, treat it like a leaf on a stream. Present for a moment, then carried on.
13. 2:44You do not have to win against the thank-you waiting to be said. You only have to breathe until the next moment arrives.
14. 3:02Feel the air move past your upper lip. It's the coolest spot on the way in.
15. 3:17Nothing about the overlooked kindnesses has to be explained or justified in this room.
16. 3:31Let the ordinary moments worth savoring be exactly as big as it is, and let your breath be exactly as slow as it is. They can coexist.
17. 3:51Start at the top of your head. Notice the scalp, which you almost never notice.
18. 4:05Remain here for a few more breaths.
19. 4:15Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
20. 4:28Notice your heels making contact with the floor or the bed.
21. 4:40No need to open your eyes yet.
22. 4:50Notice that you don't have to start a breath. It arrives by itself.
23. 5:03Let the whole of your left foot be heavy.
24. 5:14Stay a moment longer than is comfortable.
25. 5:24Let your ribs widen on the in-breath instead of your shoulders lifting.
26. 5:37Let your throat soften. There's nothing to swallow right now.
27. 5:49Let the pause stretch out.
28. 5:58Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
29. 6:11Feel the front of your chest. Notice it rise and fall once.
30. 6:24Stay with it.
31. 6:32Feel the slight stretch at the very bottom of the exhale.
32. 6:44Notice where your body is still holding something. Leave it alone.
33. 6:56Let it be this simple.
34. 7:05Let your belly rise first, then your chest, then the tops of your lungs.
35. 7:19Let me stop talking. Follow the breath instead.
36. 7:30You can be as unimpressive as you like for the next few minutes.
37. 7:43If you're sleepy, sit up a little. Or let the sleepiness be there.
38. 7:56A gap. Don't rush to fill it with thinking.
39. 8:07There's no need to try harder than this.
40. 8:18Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
41. 8:29A few quiet breaths. That's all this is.
42. 8:40We'll keep it quiet and unhurried.
43. 8:50If your body wants to move, let it move, then come back.
44. 9:03Let's pause. Just the breathing for a while.
45. 9:14Nothing here needs to be efficient.
46. 9:24If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
47. 9:35Quiet now. The next part will wait for you.
48. 9:46Small efforts are the whole method.
49. 9:56Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
50. 10:09Let's rest here in silence. It's short.
51. 10:19If you only manage half of it, that's half more than nothing.
52. 10:32Notice if you're being hard on yourself about any of this.
53. 10:44Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
54. 11:00A few seconds of nothing now. That's on purpose.
55. 11:11Feel the weight of the thank-you waiting to be said somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
56. 11:28You do not have to solve the overlooked kindnesses in these few minutes. Your only job is to keep breathing while it is here.
57. 11:47Count down from ten, one number per exhale.
58. 11:58the ordinary moments worth savoring may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
59. 12:16If the thank-you waiting to be said starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
60. 12:33Feel the last part of the exhale, where it turns into nothing.
61. 12:46If you feel numb, that's a valid thing to feel. Nothing to fix.
62. 12:59Notice the pull to make this mean something. It doesn't have to.
63. 13:12Notice the difference between a thought and the space around it.
64. 13:24No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
65. 13:35Let this be easy, if easy is available.
66. 13:46Keep following the air.
67. 13:55Let your jaw, shoulders and hands be loose as you finish.
68. 14:07Let the last of the stillness stay with you for a few more seconds.
69. 14:21Let this one be unhurried.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.