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And if you get distracted during the meditation,
If the focus on the sounds or the thoughts is a bit too much,
Then you can always drop deep down into the body and come back to an awareness of the breath.
But for now,
Bring the focus of your attention to hearing.
Opening to sounds.
Inside the room.
Outside the room.
Maybe you are outside.
Using all of the sounds as they arise.
From near,
From far.
From the front.
From the side of you.
Behind or above.
Maybe below.
Just letting the sounds come to you.
Noticing the tendency we have to label sounds or judge them,
Decide whether we like or don't like them.
Just noticing them and trying to let go of that judgement and just let the sounds come to you.
Noticing too how they can cause such a distraction.
How they can create a story.
Take your attention off there.
When that happens,
Just come back to the sounds.
The raw sensation of the sounds,
Just allow them to be just as they are.
As if you are hearing the sounds for the very first time.
The pitch and the loudness,
The rhythm.
Maybe there are layers of sounds.
Some quiet space between the sounds.
Being aware of the space out of which the sounds arise.
Now let the sound fade away into the background.
Bring your awareness now to your thoughts.
Thoughts about what you are doing now.
Thoughts about what you are going to be doing.
Maybe thoughts about the past.
Worries or anxieties.
Happy,
Sad,
Neutral or banal thoughts.
Is it possible just to absorb and observe them all as they come,
Stay a while and then go?
Can you notice when a thought first comes into your mind?
Is it possible to notice it and watch it go?
We are not trying to change or control the thoughts and we are not trying to stop the thoughts.
It can feel a bit odd and difficult.
All we are doing is practicing.
Noticing them,
Letting them go.
As the thoughts arise,
Just seeing them coming and going.
Just as you did with the sounds.
Can you think of them maybe like clouds?
Your mind is the sky.
The thoughts are the clouds in the sky.
Sometimes light and small and fluffy.
Sometimes dark and heavy.
Filling the whole sky.
But whatever the thoughts,
Whatever the clouds,
The sky remains.
So whatever thoughts are arising,
Is it possible to see them as events in the mind?
Staying a while,
Then dispersing.
Can you look at the thoughts rather than from the thoughts?
Just events in the mind.
And if you get carried away on the train of thought,
You get taken off.
Just gently,
Gently coming back to the breath.
If the thoughts are too distracting,
Maybe too dark and difficult.
Just guiding your attention back to the breath or sensations in the body.
If it feels okay to start again,
To start the practice again.
Just noticing when a thought enters the mind.
Watching it arrive.
Letting it go gently and kindly.
And while we're focusing on the thoughts,
Can always use the breath to anchor us or tether us back in the present moment.
Maybe the same thoughts are coming back over and over again.
It might be a sticky,
Difficult thought.
Whatever you find,
Just be kind.
If it's okay,
Stay with the thoughts.
If it's too much,
Come back to the breath.
Come back to the breath in the body.
For the last few moments now,
Dropping all attention on the thoughts,
Drop all that focus.
And just come back to the breath in the body.
Or come back to sensations in the feet and the hands.
And feeling the sensations now in the whole body.
Bring in the meditation to a close.
Starting to gently move your fingers and toes.
Opening your eyes if you've had them closed.
Starting to move.
And moving on.
Back to the rest of your day.
Amen.
