Taming The Busy Mind Through Mindfulness

This is a meditation to develop skills to work wisely and compassionately with our thoughts—meeting them with acceptance and kindness and without judgment. We can return to our breath anytime we become aware that our attention has moved into planning, rumination, worrying or daydreaming. Thoughts cease to be a ‘problem’ and can be seen as just another thing to be aware of.

Transcript

This is a meditation for taming the busy mind through mindfulness.

This meditation begins with some reflections on how to bring mindfulness to our habits of thinking that can often cause us stress and suffering.

And it continues with a guided meditation to calm and pacify the mind through mindfulness.

Some forms of meditation have as a goal to clear the mind of thoughts.

In contrast,

The goal of mindfulness meditation is not to rid the mind of thoughts,

But rather to develop a wise and kind relationship with our thinking.

If we're not in a struggle with our thoughts,

Either being swept away by them or feeling we have to get rid of them,

Then thoughts can simply be seen in a kind and non-judging way.

And through practice,

They become less intrusive and less of a problem.

We can observe them and let them come and go in the same way that we can bring awareness to sounds or to bodily sensations.

We often experience our thinking as a problem.

We're caught up in stressful or anxious thinking,

For example.

Or we keep ruminating on a past event.

The Tibetan Buddhist teacher,

Chogyam Trungpa,

Said,

The epitome of the human realm is to be stuck in a huge traffic jam of discursive thought.

Our capacity to think,

To plan,

To prepare,

To think,

To think,

To plan,

To prepare,

To envision the future,

To learn from the past,

To think about what we want to say to someone.

These are all great gifts that come from thousands,

Millions of years of evolution.

But as we know,

This capacity can work against us.

For example,

When we imagine scary future scenarios and feel anxious and worried about what might happen.

As Mark Twain said,

My life has been filled with terrible misfortunes,

Most of which never happened.

We can develop habits of thinking that cause us stress and suffering.

By repeating thought patterns,

They become habitual,

They become automatic.

So the more we have anxious or worried thoughts about the future,

For example,

And don't bring awareness to our thinking,

The more we strengthen those thoughts,

And over time they become our default,

Whether it's worried thinking,

Rumination,

Fantasizing,

Excessive planning,

Or other forms of discursive thought.

The good news is that we can change these patterns through mindfulness.

We simply bring awareness to our thinking as we meditate,

And keep coming back kindly and gently to the present moment,

To our breath or to another focus of attention.

We choose not to fuel discursive thought,

But to focus on the present moment.

We choose not to fuel discursive thought,

But simply to be aware of our thoughts as they arise,

And then consciously choose where we place our attention,

On the breath or the body,

For example.

As we train our minds in this way,

We strengthen the capacity to be present rather than lost in thought.

So rather than discursive thinking being our default,

Being present becomes more the default mode of the mind.

If we think of it in terms of pathways in the brain,

Neural pathways,

What we're doing is choosing not to strengthen pathways that lead to more stress,

Difficulty and suffering,

And to develop and deepen pathways that lead to greater well-being and peace.

The key is to not treat thinking as a problem,

But to meet our thoughts with kindness and without judgment.

Let's practice now working mindfully with our thoughts.

Begin by taking a few moments to relax your body and mind,

Letting your awareness come into your body,

Sitting with the back straight,

Shoulders relaxed,

Your chest open,

So you can breathe easily.

You might take a few full deep breaths,

And on each out-breath,

Relax and let go of the stresses and cares of your day.

You might invite a smile to the corners of your mouth and your eyes,

And visualize meeting everything you experience with the welcoming expression of a smile.

Sit in a way that's both relaxed and alert,

With your eyes closed if this is comfortable for you,

Or with your eyes open and your gaze soft and unfocused.

And you might bring your attention to the sensations of breathing,

The feeling of breathing in and breathing out.

As you breathe in,

Know that you're breathing in,

And as you breathe out,

Know that you're breathing out.

Allow your breath to be just as it is,

Without trying to deepen it or change it in any way.

Allow your breath to be just as it is,

Without trying to deepen it or change it in any way.

If it's helpful,

You can mentally note in as you breathe in and out as you breathe out.

Or you can silently say to yourself rise and fall as your chest and belly rise and fall.

And you can establish a home base wherever your breath is most noticeable or feels most relaxed.

It might be at your chest or belly or at your nostrils where the cool air enters and the warm breath is released.

Let your attention rest in the direct experience of your body breathing.

Anytime you become aware that your attention is no longer on your breath,

Simply notice that your awareness has moved into thought and gently and kindly bring your attention back to your breathing.

In breath,

Out breath.

If it's helpful,

You can silently label or note whatever mental activity it was that drew your attention.

If you were planning your day or remembering a conversation or daydreaming,

You could note planning or remembering or daydreaming or just thinking and gently bring your attention back to your in breath and out breath without judging or criticizing yourself.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

In breath,

Out breath.

Experiencing the body breathing.

Noticing when the mind has moved into thought and gently coming back.

Even if it happens many times,

See if that can be okay.

Can you see it as part of the meditation rather than failing at meditation or doing something wrong?

Seeing it as a natural or habitual tendency of the mind to go off into thinking.

Something that we tend to cultivate if we're worrying about things or doing a lot of planning or thinking about the past.

We fuel these processes of thinking.

So it's not surprising when we meditate that we get pulled into thought.

So the practice is simply to notice and gently come back.

Retraining the mind,

Creating new pathways in the brain or strengthening existing helpful pathways.

Being here now.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

Notice your attitude when you become aware that your mind has moved into thinking.

Is there resistance or judgment or frustration?

And if there is some reactivity to the mind moving into thought,

Getting annoyed at yourself or your mind,

See if you can meet that response with kindness and acceptance.

See if it's possible just to be aware of the mind's tendency to get caught up in thinking.

See if you can just see that in a more impersonal way.

Oh,

The mind's moved into thought.

My attention has moved into planning or thinking about the past and just gently and kindly coming back.

Coming back to the body.

Coming back to the breath.

Coming back to this moment without judgment.

In the words of the poet Dorothy Hunt,

Peace is this moment without judgment.

This moment in the heart space where everything that is,

Is welcome.

Peace is this moment without judgment.

This moment in the heart space where everything that is,

Is welcome.

So in a moment you'll hear a bell,

But if you feel inclined you might just continue this practice for five or ten or fifteen minutes.

Just bringing awareness to the breath and noticing when the mind has moved into thinking and then just gently coming back.

Training the mind in this way to be present,

To be here now.

Knowing that you can begin again in any moment.

Reviews

Thank you Hugh, all your meditations are very comforting.

Very enlightening. I had trouble even catching a thought.

Beautiful flow. Was able to label my thoughts. Felt so light by the end of it.

Exactly what I needed to better help me understand how to deal with discursive thinking.

Of the many meditations I've tried over the past year this approach along with Hugh's gentle guidance, remsins one of the best for my monkey Monday.

Hugh is an excellent mindfulness meditation facilitator.

It’s one of the best I’ve found here at Insight Timer. Everything was perfect: his words, pace, authenticity, even the soft chime at the end. The only thing (but that’s me) I have problems with is when they say “welcoming everything that is”. I have a very strong resistance to that. Because some things even when we can’t change are too bad to welcome.

Thank you, Hugh, for the reminder that awareness of the present moment is just one breath away. Your guidance invites a sense of calm 🙏🏼

This was really fantastic, will be my go-to recommendation for someone new to mindfulness!

very helpful approach to be kinder to myself when i get lost on thought - whether meditating or at other times. thank you.

Grounding, deeply calming, gentle voice. Thank you 🙏

Hugh is a kind and compassionate teacher. I always love listening to him.

The poetry from Dorothy Hunt at the end seals this off beautifully 😌 Thank you Hugh

Long intro but very welcome as it was extremely informative

This was exactly the advice that I needed to lessen my rumination.

Thank you Hugh. I appreciate the loving kindness that comes through every time 🙏🏼

Really enjoyed that Hugh thankyou.
Namasté🕉☮️🙏💜

This will be my favorite for some time. I absolutely love this! Thank you so very much!

Thank you this was so helpful and comfortable.
Namaste 🙏🏽

Hugh is right on as why I need to practice mindfulness