If we can start to see our thoughts as mental events rather than as absolute facts,
Things to hold on to,
To chase,
Things that influence how we feel and how we behave,
We can maintain a sense of neutrality in life's more challenging moments.
This practice is designed to help you build the skill of cognitive diffusion,
So the ability to separate yourself from your thoughts.
To begin,
Take a comfortable seated posture with your back straight,
Your shoulders relaxed.
And just notice the sensations of your feet planted firmly on the floor or your body against a chair.
Allow these sensations to help you enter the present moment.
Now gently close your eyes and for the next few breaths just follow the movement of air coming in,
Flowing through your nostrils,
Down your lungs,
Down into your stomach and on the exhale just feel the release of the air and any tension.
So just repeat that for a few cycles,
So breathing in consciously,
Noticing the space in between the inhale and exhale and breathing out consciously.
Let your breath be an anchor to the here and the now.
Just gently let go of any thoughts that might be holding your attention.
Now imagine that you're sitting by the side of a gently flowing stream.
It could be a stream that you know or it might be something that you make up in your head.
You might be able to see the stream vividly or maybe it's a little blurry and fragmented and that's okay.
Just imagine that as you're sitting by the stream,
Soft green grass beneath you,
Sunlight glistening on the water.
Imagine that there are leaves floating on the surface of this stream and they're gently flowing past you.
For the next few minutes I want you to just see if you can take every thought that arises in your mind and in your imagination just take that thought and place it on the leaf.
It doesn't matter how your thoughts show up,
It might be in the form of words,
Pictures or something else.
Whatever arises,
Just simply place it on a leaf and allow it to float past you.
You can do this regardless of whether the thoughts are positive or whether they're negative.
Regardless of the content of your thoughts,
Simply place them on a leaf and let them float away.
You might notice as what sometimes happens during mindfulness practice that the thoughts become shy when you start to shine a light on them.
So if you find that your thoughts are nowhere to be found,
That's fine,
Just continue to watch the stream.
A thought will arise in time.
So remember by placing all thoughts on a leaf regardless of the content.
It could be a thought about any sounds that you can hear or any other aspect of your current experience.
It could be a thought about this practice or something to do with where you were before you started this practice.
Every thought,
No matter the content,
Simply place it on a leaf and let it float away.
If a difficult feeling arises,
Maybe boredom,
Impatience or anxiety,
Fear,
Simply acknowledge it.
You can do this by noting this is boredom.
This is impatience.
This is stress.
And as you note them,
Place each word,
Each thought,
Each feeling on a leaf.
If you find that a particular thought is getting stuck and you're not able to let it go,
That's okay.
It's completely normal for our attention to wander.
But as soon as you realize that this has happened,
Simply unhook yourself from the thought,
Place the thought on a leaf and watch it float by.
Again,
If your attention has wandered,
Simply come back to the stream as soon as you notice.
And as this exercise comes to an end,
Start to just let go of the stream in your mind and bring your attention back to your body,
Noticing the physical sensations of breathing,
Following that inhale and exhale and noticing how you feel in this posture.
And before we finish,
Just take a moment to set an intention to bring the sense of spaciousness from your thoughts into the next part of your day.
.
