Hello,
This meditation is called Let Go of Overthinking.
In this meditation,
There is nothing to achieve,
Just the quiet recognition that you are not your thoughts.
Now,
Before we begin,
Take a few moments to settle,
Allow the body to fully relax,
And when you are comfortable,
Just quietly close your eyes.
Now,
Take a long,
Slow,
Relaxed,
Deep breath in,
And at the top of the breath,
Pause for a moment.
Then a long,
Slow,
Relaxed exhalation,
And allow the outgoing breath to be slightly longer than your incoming breath.
Then,
At the bottom of the outgoing breath,
Pause before breathing in once more.
Follow this natural rhythm of your breathing.
Now,
Very quietly begin to notice the arrival,
The movements of your thinking,
Your thoughts.
You are not trying to stop your thoughts,
You are not trying to control them,
You are simply noticing their presence.
Thoughts arrive,
Some quieter than others,
Some fleeting,
Some familiar,
Some remaining longer than others.
They come,
And they go.
And,
Instead of becoming involved in the content of their story,
The history,
The narrative,
You remain open,
Unattached,
Spacious,
Still,
Aware,
And relaxed.
You could liken thoughts to passing clouds leaving the sky,
Undisturbed as they fade,
Or a leaf on its journey down a mountain stream,
Appearing briefly,
Then flowing on effortlessly.
Now,
As you are aware of these thought movements,
Quietly step back for a moment and notice this.
A thought is momentarily seen,
It is known,
You are aware of it.
So,
If it is seen,
If it is known,
Can a thought be what you essentially are?
Now,
Holding this question,
Something deeper begins to reveal itself.
The thoughts are spontaneously appearing,
They are uninvited,
They are not being created,
They are not being controlled,
They simply arise,
Randomly,
And then they pass,
They come,
And they go.
So if a thought is briefly appearing and being noticed by your awareness,
Is there actually a thinker behind these thoughts?
A thinker making thoughts appear,
Or is there only the knowing of the thoughts,
An awareness of these thoughts as they arrive,
As they leave?
There is no need to answer this question,
This is not a mental exercise,
This is simply a quiet noticing,
A witnessing of what is present in the moment,
At all times.
Could there be a natural,
Unattached awareness,
Quietly present,
Aware of all of these thought movements?
Thoughts come and go,
But silent awareness remains undisturbed,
Untouched,
Unmoved by thought movements.
There is no need to push thoughts away,
No need to claim or to hold them,
No need to engage with or try to understand,
They come freely and they go on their own,
When left as they are.
And the quiet awareness,
The witness to these movements,
Remains still and whole.
When the mind is busy,
Thinking is happening,
But here,
Now,
With this deeper understanding,
Noticing remains the quiet,
Unmoving background in which these thought movements appear.
So now,
Just for a moment,
Watch as a thought appears and then fades.
Notice you remains present,
Unattached,
And in this quiet seeing,
This deeper knowing,
Something begins to let go,
As the grip of the belief in our thoughts loosens,
Less attention is given to these surface movements.
An open,
Spacious stillness,
Behind all these movements,
Begins to reveal itself,
Free and uncaused.
Here,
There is stillness and peace present,
And ease,
A quiet,
Indefinable vastness.
Even if thoughts continue,
Beneath it all there is known,
A grounded,
Imperturbable stillness.
Rest here for a few moments,
As this quiet,
Open stillness.
Now,
As this meditation comes to a close,
There is nothing you need do,
Nothing to hold on to.
There is now a quiet,
Clear seeing,
A deeper knowing,
The thoughts come and go,
But they are not what you are.
And with this clarity,
It can be seen that as thoughts arise,
There is simply a thought appearing,
With no thinker behind them,
Only a formless,
Eternal,
Silent,
Awareness presence.
Now,
To finish this meditation,
Gently bring your attention back to your breath,
Flowing back into the body,
And feel where you are sitting.
You may gently roll your shoulders,
Move your hands and feet,
And remain as this quiet embodiment of this spacious awareness.
And when you are ready,
You can gently open your eyes,
Resting in this quiet recognition of your essential nature,
Which is that beyond thought,
Beyond the finite nature of thinking.
Blessings to you.
