This is a short practice for noticing thoughts without getting pulled into them.
If anything here ever feels like too much,
You can open your eyes,
Feel your feet on the floor,
Or stop at any time.
This works best when you're not at your most worked up.
Think of it as a practice for the days that you'll actually need it.
So find a comfortable position,
Close your eyes,
Or let your gaze rest softly on the space in front of you.
Take a slow breath in through your nose.
And a longer breath out through your mouth.
Again,
Breathe in through your nose.
And out through your mouth.
Now let your breathing find its own pace.
And pay attention to where your body meets the chair or the floor.
I want you to bring to attention your mind.
Imagine that there's a little space around you,
Like a clear bubble or an open sky.
Thoughts will show up in that space.
That's what thoughts do.
They arrive,
And then they pass.
For the next few minutes,
Your only job is to be the one who notices.
You don't need to fix anything to argue with anything.
Or follow anything.
Let's begin.
Whenever a thought shows up,
Quietly note it as thought.
And then just watch.
See if you can see it arrive.
And then leave.
Passing out of the bubble.
Or floating away on the sky.
If it's a thought in words,
Maybe you can hear it.
If it's an image,
Maybe you can see it.
Either way,
Notice that you're watching the thought,
Not standing inside of it.
And attaching to it.
Just watching it from a little far away.
Each thought gets a hello and a goodbye.
You don't have to hold on to it.
You don't have to push it away.
If a thought lingers,
That's fine.
Just say,
I see you.
And then let it keep moving.
The way a slow cloud still moves.
Notice if you get caught on a thought and carry it off for a while.
That's completely normal and it isn't doing it wrong.
The moment you realize,
Oh,
I got caught on that thought.
That's the practice working.
You just noticed the process of thinking.
And that's the skill.
Now just come back.
Gently,
With no judgment.
And return to letting those thoughts float on by.
Let's try one more way to create a little space.
The next time a thought shows up.
I want you to add four words in front of it.
I'm having the thought that.
.
.
So instead of,
I'm going to mess this up,
It becomes,
I'm having the thought that I'm going to mess this up.
Notice what that does.
The thought is still going to be there.
You're just standing one step back from it.
Now,
Let's bring this to a close.
Take one deeper breath in through your nose.
And out through the mouth slowly.
Notice the sounds around you in the room.
Feel your hands resting on the surface that they're on.
Something to take with you for today is that a thought is something that your mind does.
Isn't an order,
It isn't a fact about you.
You can say hello,
Say goodbye,
And then get back to what matters.
The more you practice this when things are calm.
The easier that it gets when they're not.
Thank you for joining me today.
Namaste.
