Day 3: Observing Your Thoughts | 21-Day Meditation Challenge

This is Day 3 of the 21-Day Meditation Challenge.
When you observe your thoughts coming in, without really paying attention to them, they dissipate after a few seconds. And sometimes, we keep having the same thought and we can't get rid of it. I will teach you a very simple technique so you can acknowledge this thought, name it and let it go.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to day 3 of our free 21 day meditation challenge. I'm Andrew and I hope that you enjoyed day 1 and day 2. So let's start right away with day 3. Find a place where you feel safe and where you won't be disturbed. As I said in day 2, If you have your own meditation space, That's great. If not, That's okay. Just find a comfortable position where your spine is straight, Your back is nice and tall, And where you can sit for some time without feeling any discomfort. You can be seated on a chair, On your sofa, On a cushion or on a blanket. And then you can rest your hands on your lap, On your legs or wherever it feels comfortable. And when you are ready, You can close your eyes. So let's slow down our minds and become aware of our presence by taking a deep inhale for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. And a slow exhale for 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. Exhale and exhale. One more time, A deep inhale and a long exhale. Okay, So now let your breath go back to natural rhythm. The goal of today's session is to observe our minds and the thoughts coming in. So let's take a moment to observe what's happening in our heads. So here you don't have to do anything, Just simply observe your thoughts or what's happening in your mind. So when the thoughts come in, Don't fight with them, Don't overthink them, Just simply be an observer. When you observe your thoughts coming in without really paying attention to them, They tend to dissipate after a while and you might be surprised to hear that observing your thoughts be a witness or be an observer of what's happening in your head, It's a meditation practice. You observe what's happening in the present moment. You are aware that your mind is thinking, So that means that you are already in the now, So keep observing. And sometimes we keep having the same thoughts coming in and we cannot get rid of it. We start to overthink it, We start to feel an emotion such as guilt or sadness, Revenge or fear and most of the time, Let's be honest, The thoughts that come back are the ones that we don't want to think about. If it's a happy memory, We enjoy its presence but we don't feel any bad emotions or feelings about it. The bad ones are usually the ones that stick in your head and you will start to either overthink it, Analyze it and sometimes let this thought take over you and that's exactly what we don't want to. So I would like to help you with this kind of situation. For the next 10 seconds also, I want you to continue observing your thoughts. And now stop right there. So catch that thought, What is it? What is it about? How does it make you feel? Is there an emotion behind that thought? When we let our minds think freely, Sometimes it can be overwhelming and I'm going to give you just a little trick for that. You would choose two words that you can use as a traffic light. Let me give you an example, You can choose good and bad or love and pain or green and red, Just choose two opposite words that resonate with you. Okay, So now that you have your two words, Just take the thought that you've just had and ask yourself this question, Does this thought make me feel good or bad? Do I feel love or pain regarding that thought? If that thought brings you joy or love or makes you feel good, Then that's okay, Just allow yourself to stay longer with that thought and then let it go. But on the other end, If that thought brings you sadness, Tears, Fear or a painful feeling, Then that's okay, Just acknowledge that thought, Name it as good or bad. If it's bad, Then tell to that thought, Okay, I'm aware of that thought but it's not good for me, So I can let it go. Once you told that thought to go, You need to promise yourself to not let that thought take any more space in your head. You don't need bad thoughts, You don't need negativity, Okay? So just replace this thought with something positive, Something that brings you happiness or joy or pleasure, Something that makes you feel good. Okay, So let's do another round and observe your thoughts again. And stop right there and question that thought with the opposite world just as we did before and then you let that thought go. Alright, So now let's clear the mind and take a deep inhale for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and a slow exhale for 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1, Inhale and exhale. Alright, So you can now open your eyes and take some time to reconnect with your surroundings. I hope you have enjoyed today's meditation and I will see you tomorrow for day 4. Namaste.