Thoughts are a natural part of our human experience.
In fact,
An active,
Thinking mind is necessary in order to survive and thrive.
In order to practice mindfulness,
In order to meditate,
It is not necessary to push down and sweep away these thoughts,
To create some mystical empty plane where no thought ever arises.
Instead,
Learning to patiently and compassionately bring your mind back home from its wandering thoughts is the practice.
Let's begin this practice now.
The practice of unhooking ourselves from our thoughts and simply letting them be as they are.
Without pushing the thoughts away or denying their presence,
You can remain aware of the thinking mind without becoming attached to particular thoughts.
Settle into a comfortable seat and allow your eyes to close or your gaze to soften.
Notice the energy of your mind and body in this moment.
As you come to stillness,
You might notice the energy and motion of your day keeps coursing through your mind and body.
Your mind may feel active or scattered,
Or you might notice some lingering tension or anxious energy in your body.
Take a moment to draw your palms together,
Rubbing your hands lightly back and forth against each other,
Allowing the friction and motion to dissipate some of this extra energy.
When you are satisfied,
Allow your hands to come to rest on your thighs.
You can begin to think of your mind and body like a snow globe that has been shaken up,
Tipped upside down and then right side up.
All those flakes swirling around,
Making it difficult to see the contents of the globe clearly.
Think of yourself as this snow globe and each thought as a snowflake.
As you take this time to rest,
To be still,
The little flakes of snow start to settle,
Sinking gently toward the ground.
With your mind's eye,
Watch as every snowflake slowly falls to the ground.
There is no need to force the flakes to settle,
To try to gather them up or press them down.
Simply by stopping and observing,
You notice that the snowflakes settle all on their own.
As the last snowflakes begin to settle,
Bring your attention to your breath.
See if you can notice a place in your body where you can feel your breath most easily.
Maybe this is the centre of your chest,
Or your belly,
Or your shoulders,
Your nostrils.
Rest your attention here and start to notice the physical sensation of your body breathing.
This rhythm of your breath has carried on without fail all day.
Perhaps this is the first time today that you've been able to really tune in to its cycle.
Allow your attention to remain on your breath,
Noticing how each inhale and exhale brings gentle expansion and contraction to your body,
Like gentle ripples across the surface.
As thoughts begin to rise up,
Recall the snowflakes in the snow globe and watch as the thoughts slowly settle back down.
No need to chase or agitate them,
Just let them be.
Drawing your awareness outward from your breath,
Notice how you feel now in your body and your mind.
Perhaps there is less swirling energy,
More space and ease.
If your mind begins to wander,
Notice what it is doing.
When you recognize a thought,
What happens?
Try not to explore the thought,
But no need to push it away either.
Allow it to be,
To arise,
And also allow it to depart on its own.
See if you can observe the passing of the thought as it floats out of the mind and sinks back down.
Return to the sensation of your breath and patiently wait until another thought arises.
Notice it,
Acknowledge it,
And watch as it falls back like a flake of snow,
Settling onto the deep,
Rich ground of your mind.
When you are ready,
Release this image of the snow globe.
With small movements of your fingers and your toes,
Draw your awareness back to your body,
Back to this room,
Back to this present moment.
Take a deep breath and flutter your eyes open,
Noticing if anything has shifted in the sensations of your mind and your energy.
Throughout the day,
Whenever you feel your thoughts swirling or you encounter a sense of mental or emotional overwhelm,
Recall this vision of a snow globe and how a momentary pause allowed each little flake to slow and settle back to the earth.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
