Research shows that meditation is profoundly beneficial for improving your health and elevating the power of your brain,
In large part because it is an antidote to the incessant negative thinking that stresses the brain.
This incessant negativity has also been called the negative ego,
And the American writer Annie Lamont describes it as a bad neighborhood we shouldn't venture into alone.
We couldn't agree more.
The negative ego is quick to complain,
To judge,
Blame,
Defend.
It insults other people,
And the one it insults the most is you.
It all takes place covertly inside our heads.
If some tech company invented a device that could broadcast our inner monologue to the world around us,
Nobody would buy one.
So we're going to listen to a recording of what it sounds like when our brain locks into incessant negative thinking,
And then we'll do something very simple that takes no time at all,
That breaks free from it.
Okay,
Here it comes,
The negative ego.
I need to prepare for George.
I don't get his agenda.
And what about that tie he wore last week?
Is he colorblind?
Oh,
Oh,
Oh,
Gotta call Linda about lunch.
She'll probably make me pay again.
She just sits there when the check comes.
I hate that.
So what do I need to do to prepare for George?
I should finish that report.
And the brown shoes with the black suit,
Does he even look in the mirror in the morning?
And he needs to lose weight.
Oh,
Oh,
Oh,
No,
I didn't bring my gym bag.
Not again.
Oh,
Oh,
There it is.
Thank goodness.
I gotta work out today.
I'm putting on weight.
It's so hopeless.
Weight off,
Weight back.
Sound familiar?
As humorous as that recording is,
It's no joke.
Research has found that chronically negative thinking damages our DNA,
Producing abnormal cells that cause cancer and accelerate the aging process.
It is serious.
So we're going to do a very short process to see if there is a quieter,
More peaceful experience within us that is blocked by all that noise in our head.
Begin by allowing your brain and your mind to relax for a moment,
Simply by becoming quiet.
Feel your mind expand as you relax into it.
Now bring your attention to your breath.
And on the next breath,
Be present right here,
Right now.
Notice how beautiful and kind reality becomes when your mind is quiet and fully present.
Eckhart Tolle states,
Who you are is the very sense of being or presence that is there when you become conscious of the present moment.
You and what we call the present moment are one.
Experience this right now.
When we practice meditation in whatever form,
We observe how much irritation,
Anxiety,
Anger and worry are there,
Operating outside of our awareness.
But as we practice observing this content without getting caught in it,
The chatter begins to calm down.
And what begins to emerge is the realization of how much peace and happiness is also there in us.
We see the conditions for inner peace are already present in us.
The basic condition for being at peace is our awareness.
By just sitting quietly,
Breathing in and out,
Observing thoughts that come and go,
We gradually become quiet within.
And in that state of quiet,
We become more alive,
More concentrated,
More intelligent,
Which is the experience of inner peace.
And as we become more aware in this way,
Our self-understanding deepens.
We see that sustaining peace and happiness means finding peace in the present moment.
I want to close this session with a short poem from the great Sufi poet Rumi.
Rumi wrote,
Out beyond ideas of right and wrong there is a field.
I will meet you there.
The right and wrong his poem alludes to is not morality,
But all the unhealthy judgments our negative ego makes.
The field is the kinder,
Quieter,
Wider place within us that we locate through meditation.
