Settle in. Let your body rest into gravity. There’s nothing to hold up, nothing to carry. Just let yourself arrive, breath by breath. Allow your jaw to soften, your shoulders to lower, your breath to lengthen naturally.

With your eyes closed, begin to feel the quietness underneath the noise. Not silence as an absence, but silence as a presence. A soft field in which everything settles.

Now, picture yourself somewhere warm and open. Somewhere in South America. Not a city, not a destination on a map, but a feeling. A space where life feels unhurried. Where time breathes more slowly. Where the air carries no pressure. There’s sunlight. The distant rhythm of waves or the rustling of trees. Somewhere, laughter. Not loud, just light and free.

From this atmosphere, a way of being begins to emerge. In Costa Rica, they call it Pura Vida. A phrase that doesn’t quite translate, but can be felt. It’s not about doing more or having more. It’s about tasting life fully, as it is, without decoration or demand.

Pura Vida is the quiet breath of life accepted as it is—unhurried, unpossessive. It’s the gesture of greeting the morning without expecting anything but the day itself. It’s smiling for no reason. And discovering wealth in simplicity. Like a river that doesn’t resist its current, Pura Vida teaches peace in the present moment, joy without condition, and the quiet elegance of living without excess. It’s an art of being—soft, complete—where what is essential is already enough.

The Stoics had a word for this kind of fullness: eudaimonia. Not the fleeting kind of happiness that comes and goes with luck, but a deeper flourishing. A joy that comes not from circumstances, but from within. From living in harmony with your nature. From choosing to be just, wise, courageous, and balanced. Not perfectly — but sincerely.

And what better expression of that than this gentle way of living? Pura Vida is eudaimonia without effort. It’s when your actions match your values, your breath matches the moment, and your soul feels no need to be elsewhere.

Take a slow breath in. Feel the spaciousness of that truth. And let it out slowly, like an exhale of tension you didn’t know you were holding.

You don’t need more to be happy. You need less pretending. Less rushing. More presence. More honesty. More stillness.

Say quietly to yourself,
“Happiness is here.”
“Not in the next thing, but in this one.”
“This is enough.”

Let your breath be slow and steady. Let your thoughts pass like birds across a wide sky. You don’t need to follow them. Just stay.

Each time you return to this breath, this moment, you return to yourself. And to the possibility of living well — not later, but now.

If you wish, stay here a little longer. Let this stillness take root. Let it move through your body like a quiet current.

And when you’re ready, begin to return. Feel the support beneath you. Wiggle your fingers. Invite the world back in, slowly.

You may open your eyes when it feels right. Not to end the meditation, but to carry it with you.

So… I’ll let the music go for another few minutes. Take your time. Let the feeling linger, if it serves you.

Take care, my friend.
And may Pura Vida — this gentle joy of living in accord with nature and yourself — guide your every step.