Hi,
It's Brooks.
Thanks for joining me.
Today we're going to take a look at thoughts.
I find it very valuable to look at my thoughts.
There's something,
You know,
Something quite wonderful about noticing the thoughts.
Because thoughts are always going on.
Rolling through our head.
Sometimes they're very practical,
What we need to do in the moment.
Sometimes they're like bursts of nostalgia,
Remembrances of things long,
Long,
Long time ago.
And commentaries about what we're doing in the moment or thoughts about the future,
They kind of flip from one to another.
And there's something really quite wonderful about being curious about our thoughts.
Because they have quite a big effect on us.
And so today that's what we're going to do.
We're going to take a look at our thoughts.
So I'd like you to find a comfortable place to sit or to lie down.
And then close your eyes.
Feel your breath come in.
And your breath go out.
Breath comes in.
Breath goes out.
It's a very natural process.
The flow of the breath.
So using your awareness.
In our awareness,
There's something incredible about our awareness.
They're like microscopes that we get to use to look at things.
To take really deeper looks at things.
So we're going to use the microscope of our awareness.
The microscope of our awareness to look at our thoughts.
So notice the thoughts that are coming up.
Whatever they may be.
Notice them if they last.
Or if they disappear and something else takes its place.
Another thought rapidly takes that place.
So again with a curious eye.
With that awareness microscope.
You're looking at your thoughts.
Maybe you even have thoughts about the thoughts that you have.
Like,
Oh that was interesting.
Or I'm uncomfortable with that thought.
You know.
Thoughts sometimes ricochet off each other.
Maybe sometimes you have a thought that's so strong.
That you aren't even aware.
That you're looking at it.
You're involved in it.
It overtakes you.
You get lost in it.
You know.
You know.
You get lost in it.
Maybe you can notice along with the thoughts a physiological reaction.
Emotional reaction to some of these thoughts.
You can feel it in your body.
I think thoughts have a wave-like quality.
If you're looking at the ocean.
You know.
You can feel it in your body.
You can feel it in your body.
You can feel it in your body.
You can feel it in your body.
If you're looking at the ocean.
Some of the waves are really big.
And then they collapse and then there's little waves.
That come up.
Sometimes there's just a ripple.
Sometimes one wave will crash into another wave.
Sending it out into the air.
The same with thoughts.
Maybe you can notice the intensity or the rhythm.
Like a wave-like rhythm to the thoughts.
What I find really interesting about thoughts is they come out of nowhere.
Suddenly there's thought.
We certainly didn't create that thought.
You know,
Like,
I'm going to have a thought about this.
I'm going to create it and then boom.
There it is.
The experience is it's a spontaneous arising.
We know about it when we experience it.
Kind of like listening to the radio.
You don't know what the next song is going to be.
Then suddenly the next song is playing.
Those thoughts are very mysterious.
Where do they come from?
See if you can notice that spontaneous uprising.
Uprising.
Then once a thought is over,
See if you can notice where it goes.
If it goes anywhere.
You can feel like we're a radio tower,
Receiving signals.
Receiving the thoughts.
One of the nice things about consciously using your awareness to look at your thoughts,
Using that microscope of your awareness,
You can create a space between you and your thoughts.
So they become less overwhelming the more space we have between us.
And what we're observing,
You can create a peace within us.
Space itself has a very peaceful quality.
So we can notice some thoughts that previously might have been disturbing or too much to even consider.
Or made us feel even neurotic.
With the space,
The presence of the space.
From our awareness,
From our conscious looking at our thoughts.
There's a peacefulness that's created by that space.
And perhaps some things that might be disturbing,
There can be a healing effect from that space,
From that noticing,
From that awareness.
It can also help with that feeling of guilt that we sometimes might have about a thought.
I feel bad,
I feel guilty about thinking about that.
But then we realize that was a spontaneous thought that came out of nowhere.
I certainly didn't create it.
And why would I create that thought?
I'm aware of that thought,
That's for sure.
I experienced that thought.
But I certainly didn't create it.
I bet I didn't create it,
And then I can't feel badly about it.
It wasn't my doing.
And there's a peace that comes from that.
And guilt drops away.
We can start to have a fascination about the thoughts that come to us,
That are delivered to us.
A fascination about life itself.
Life is giving me these thoughts,
Just like it gives me my breath,
Just like it beats my heart.
Just like it moves the blood through my veins.
It can make you feel in awe of life itself.
And the thought comes,
Just like the heartbeat,
It's like a pulse of life.
And life itself is vast,
It has many,
Many layers.
So of course we're going to have many,
Many different thoughts.
Thought comes out of nowhere,
We're aware of it.
And then it goes back into nothingness.
In the same way a wave rises up out of the ocean,
And goes back into the ocean.
And we notice this whole process with a fascination,
With wonderment.
The vastness of life as it flows through us.
It's a real gift from our awareness that we can do this.
And again that space that's created from this observing,
From this knowing,
Gives us peace of mind.
So you can do this kind of looking whenever you feel like it,
In a spontaneous way.
Just like the way thoughts work.
You have this feeling,
This thought arises out of nowhere.
I'm going to take a look at my thoughts,
See what I can see.
And then you get to behold the wonder of it.
So we're going to end our meditation now.
You can open your eyes,
Stretch,
Look around.
And congratulations for taking this intimate look at thoughts and the flow of life.
I wish you the best.
Take care.
