Working With An Overactive Mind - 20 Min Daily Insight

Do you feel overwhelmed by the chatter in your mind at times? Practicing quieting the mind is not difficult to begin. Find a quiet place to sit and listen to this guided commentary. In a matter of minutes, you will notice the speed of your thoughts slow down. You will dissociate from your thoughts and look at it with mindfulness. The principle leveraged here is, that which is aware of an overactive mind is not overwhelmed.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to The Daily Insight.

My name is J.

Chodhagam.

In today's meditation,

We will be focusing on working with an overactive mind.

Let me start with a story.

The Buddha was once traveling through a forest.

He was thirsty and asked his disciple to fetch him some water.

The disciple went to the river and noticed that a bullock cart had been just crossed the river.

He came back and said that the water is dirty.

Thirty minutes later,

The Buddha asked him to go back.

He went back to the river and noticed the water is still dirty.

Then after half an hour,

The Buddha told him to go back yet again.

This time he sees the water is clear.

He fills it in his urn and brings it back to the Buddha.

Through this simple lesson,

The Buddha taught that all you need to do is give it time and the mud will settle naturally.

Then you can see clearly the mind works in the same way.

You don't need to do anything.

Give it time.

Be still.

And your mind will become clear.

Practicing quietening the mind is not difficult to begin.

Find a quiet place to sit.

Turn off all sources of distraction as much as possible.

And give yourself a chance for thoughts to calm down.

Focus your attention on a chosen object.

Breath is a simple choice available anytime,

Anywhere.

Watch your breath.

Watch the rising and falling of your stomach.

Inevitably your mind will wander as you do this.

Each time it does,

Gently bring it back to the object of concentration.

Like a butterfly that returns again and again to the flower.

In the freshness of the present moment,

Past is gone.

The future is not yet born.

And if one remains in pure mindfulness and freedom,

Disturbing thoughts arise and go without leaving a trace.

This is a simple exercise to quiet the mind.

When you give a tree to a monkey,

The monkey goes up and down till he becomes tired.

Then he finally rests.

And in that resting,

Insight awakens.

Notice the speed of your thoughts have already slowed down.

Watch your breath.

Watch the rising and falling of your stomach.

Each time your mind is in a state of calm,

Each time your mind wanders,

Gently bring it back to the object of concentration.

Like a butterfly that returns again and again to the flower.

Notice your headspace is beginning to clear.

This is a first step towards experiencing pure consciousness without content.

You are beginning to realize it's not just some sort of a spiritual theory.

Anyone who takes the trouble to stabilize and clarify their mind will be able to experience it too.

It is through this unconditioned aspect of consciousness that we can transform the content of the mind.

Gentle practice,

A little each day.

Bring the butterfly back to the flower.

Avoid letting your mind jump again and again to the trigger of overthinking.

You are beginning to conserve precious energy.

Your mental landscape is becoming peaceful by letting go of any projections of distorted reality on people or events.

You don't allow yourself to enter the vicious circle of getting carried away by the stories projected by the mind.

You are getting relief from the addiction of this disease.

Now you can dissociate from your thoughts and look at it with mindfulness.

That which is aware of overactive mind is not overwhelmed.

You can see that overthinking is just a bunch of thoughts.

It is nothing more than a product of your mind.

Instead of being the overthinker,

You understand that you are not the overactive mind in the same way that clouds are not the sky.

Keep your attention upon it.

If you stop adding wood to a fire and just watch,

The fire will die out.

Likewise,

Overthinking will vanish away without being forcibly repressed or allowed to explode.

There is no question of not experiencing emotions.

It is a question of not being enslaved by them.

Let emotions arise,

But become free from their afflictive components such as distortion of reality,

Mental confusion,

Clinging,

And suffering for oneself and others.

During this meditation,

You are also cultivating basic human qualities.

Such as attention and compassion and new ways of experiencing the world.

What really matters is that you give yourself time to gradually change.

Little by little,

You will become less impatient,

Less prone to anger,

Less torn between hopes and fears.

It becomes inconceivable to willingly harm another person.

You are developing a propensity towards altruistic behavior and better deal with the ups and downs of life.

There is great virtue in resting from time to time in pure awareness of the present moment.

Then you are able to go back and refer to the state when afflictive emotions arise so that you do not identify with them and are not swayed by them.

This gets easier with practice until it becomes quite natural.

Whenever the mind goes into overthinking,

You learn to recognize it right away.

If you know someone to be a pickpocket,

Even if he mingles in a crowd,

You will spot him right away and keep a careful eye on him.

Children and adults on secure services murderer victim Watching self-respose Ignorance Continue to watch your breath.

Watch the rising and falling of your stomach.

And each time your mind wanders,

Gently bring it back.

Like a butterfly that returns again and again to the flower.

Avoid letting your mind wander.

Avoid letting your mind jump to any triggers,

External or internal.

That which is aware of an overactive mind is not overwhelmed.

You understand that you are not the overactive mind.

There is great virtue in resting from time to time in pure awareness of the present moment.

Notice how you feel right now.

Thank you for joining me in this practice.

Thank you for watching.

Reviews

Jay - Thank you for your gift of this beautiful meditation! I appreciate you 🌸

This is a lovely practice when time allows. Some mornings it takes more time to settle and clear the mind. Thank you

Merci beaucoup. Great Meditation session to cultivate awareness

Don’t really usually like the Buddhist stuff being a Jesus gal & all. But this one really worked for me.

This is very very good. I feel so much better. Thank you 🙏🏽

So warm, so gentle... yet so powerful...🦋🌻 Very grateful for these meditations. Thanks once again! 🙏

I always turn to this meditation when I am overwhelmed. Jay you have a way of teaching that reaches my inner soul. I thank you 🙏

A beautiful meditation I will come back to time and time again . Just as the butterfly returns to the flower 🌺

Thank you so much. I fell into my first meditative sleep/nap listenting to this. I have the most overactive mind (due to trauma) and this quieted my thoughts so seamlessly, I didn’t realize I had dozed off because I was so at peace. Wow. What an experience!

Yes you are right. I have listened a few times in my wakeful night. This morning I listened without dropping off. There are reason obviously for doing this meditation. It brought tears, we live in tricky times. Some people sail through it. I generally do and have. Today I’m not. Will work on that . I need a friend to walk and talk with. Probably millions out there feel like that. Anyway will keep my eyes peeled and breathe. Thank you 🙏🏼❤️

Probably one of the best meditation sessions I had a chance to experience. Namaste 🙏

Hello my friend Jay, your voice is a welcomeness that I needed this morning. My mind has been filled with deep silent anxiety around what’s going on in the world. This beautiful soothing “return to breath” meditation helped bring a calmness to my mind and bring me back to my center. Sending much love 💕 and gratitude to you, as always Thank you 🙏🏻 so much. 💫✨🌟💖✨💫🌟

What an incredibly soothing and calming experience. Exactly what I needed in a tumultuous week. Gratitude 🙏

Thank you. This meditation helped me profoundly. Resting in awareness has become a reality.

As the butterfly is grateful for the flower, I am grateful for your peaceful meditation🙏🦋🙏

Liked the narration and background music very much, will bookmark this one.

Thank you for powerful meditation. I really enjoyed it. 🙏🙏🙏

Just what I needed. Hoping to practice your suggestion in this great meditation. Thanks 🙏 Pam

Very helpful in calming a racing mind 🙏

Such a comforting voice. I was able to quickly settle in with the guided breath and enjoyed a meditation of stillness and a quiet mind. Loved the muddy water story, thanks for sharing 🙏🧡💗🧡
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