The practice of mindfulness can be considered as one of objectification.
Moving from the subjective to the objective.
Said differently,
Moving from judgment to observation.
Becoming less judgmental and more observational.
Less filtered by my past experiences and my future desires.
Of course the filter will still remain and it is what makes you unique.
But the practice of mindfulness allows your filter to become more like a prism and less like a prison.
When the filter of your mind is more like a prism,
You allow the light of awareness to shine through you.
When it's like a prison you keep the light hidden inside or you block yourself from it.
So here let's engage in a few simple practices to soften the filter,
Move from the subjective to the objective,
The judgmental to the observational.
So we can begin here by just kind of settling in,
Making any movements in the body,
Any adjustments,
Maybe a few deep breaths.
And before we close our eyes in a moment,
I'd like us to first keep them open and just become aware of what you see.
You can look around,
Noticing this space.
Allow your awareness to land on one object,
Something that you can see and label.
And now you might shift from calling this a thing to calling it this thing.
So as opposed to a hand,
For example,
This hand.
And now shifting a step further to release the label and seeing this thing just for what it is.
Indescribable.
And here you might just allow the eyes to close,
If that feels right.
Allowing the eyes to close and maybe allowing this area to rest and relax.
Allowing this resting and relaxing to move out to the rest of your face and down throughout your whole body.
And now let's shift this awareness to something that you hear.
I'll stop talking for a moment,
But see if you can allow yourself to hear something,
Allow the sense of hearing to land on some object of hearing or listening.
And then move into this practice of objectification,
Letting go of the label and just allowing yourself to experience hearing directly,
The raw sense of hearing.
And now let's shift this one more time to the sense of feeling,
A physical touch.
And see if you can allow yourself to experience feeling directly.
And you might just drop into the feeling of breathing,
Following the breath like an anchor,
Dropping further and further into this present moment.
Not a moment,
But this moment.
And maybe letting go of the label breathing or breath,
And just experiencing whatever it is that we call breathing.
Not the word breathing or the idea of breathing,
But feeling whatever it is that we call breathing for the first time.
What is it really?
You breathe in the space,
You recycle it through your body,
And offer it back out to the space around you.
And now very gradually,
If your eyes were closed,
You can allow them to reopen whenever they want to.
Again,
Becoming aware of vision,
Maybe as if for the first time.
Waking up for the first time.
So in any moment today,
Tomorrow,
I invite you to move from the subjective to the objective,
Out of judgment and into observation.
It will always change what you're experiencing,
And it will allow you to experience it from here as opposed to from then or there.
And in this way,
You can allow the light of awareness to shine through you,
As opposed to keeping it hidden or blocked.
So thank you for your time and your attention and for practicing alongside me.
And maybe I'll see you next time.
