Hi,
This is J.
G.
Larochette over here at Mindful Life Project.
Thanks for joining.
Today we're going to practice our mindful skill number six,
Mindful thinking.
Seven skills total in what we teach at Mindful Life Project as the main skills,
And they're all to get us back to the what?
To the here and now.
And I don't know about you,
But my thoughts like to be all over the place,
Not necessarily about the here and now.
It can be in the future,
Thinking about what's next,
What's happening next week,
What's happening a month from now.
It can be in the past,
Thinking about what happened last year,
Last week,
Years ago.
The mind likes to wander into thoughts,
Past and future.
One way we can remember what mindful thinking is,
Is through this tagline.
So go ahead and repeat after me out loud.
Not focus on the future or past.
Try to make each moment last.
Mindful thoughts keep me on task.
That's right.
So yes,
We have future,
Past and present thoughts.
And it's okay to have any kind of thought.
But when we have one thought,
Then another thought and another thought,
And we've totally lost what's happening in the here and now,
Well,
That can be a little challenging,
Hard for us.
So when we practice mindful thinking,
Then we can train our mind to be aware of the thoughts and welcome them,
But then come back to what we're doing.
So when we're doing our schoolwork,
We can do our schoolwork.
When we're eating dinner,
We can eat dinner.
When we're playing with our friends,
We can play with our friends.
When we're doing chores,
We can do our chores,
Right?
When we're doing one thing at a time,
We're doing mindfulness.
So let's go ahead and practice our mindful thinking practice today.
Get in your mindful position and repeat after me.
I've got my feet on the floor.
I've got my spine in a line.
I've got my hands in my lap and my heart to the sky.
Now gently,
We can close our eyes so we can really work on our mindfulness practice without too many distractions from outside.
I'll ring the bell as I always do.
Try to keep your attention on the sound of the bell and see if the sound changes.
Awesome,
And just check in first as we always do.
How's the body?
With heartfulness,
We can check in.
How's the mind?
Lots of thoughts,
Little thoughts in between.
How's the heart?
Lots of strong emotions or maybe more soft emotions.
And we welcome them all without judgment.
So let's go ahead and start noticing what thoughts are coming up.
Are they future thoughts?
Are they past thoughts?
Are they present thoughts?
So without having to do anything,
Just allow a thought to pop into your attention.
And the moment you notice what thought came up,
You can give it a label or a mental note.
If it was a future thought,
You can just say in your mind,
Future thinking,
Future thinking.
If it was a thought about something that happened before,
You can say past thinking,
Past thinking.
Or if it's a thought about something right now,
A sound,
An emotion,
A physical sensation,
Anything that's happening here and now,
You can say present thought,
Present thought.
And let's continue doing that with thoughts as they come up and just notice what kind of thought they are and give them their little label.
So you might notice that there's a lot of thoughts that happen.
It's hard to remember they're coming and get lost.
No need.
Just notice what was that last thought you had?
What kind of thought was it?
Past,
Present,
Or future,
And then let the next thought come up,
Kind of like popcorn in a popcorn maker.
One pop at a time,
One thought at a time.
When you start noticing patterns,
Maybe our mind is thinking of the future a lot more.
Maybe it's thinking about the past a lot more,
Or maybe it's in the present a lot more.
The beautiful thing about mindful thinking is that it helps us get us back here now,
So we get lost in thoughts or have so many thoughts that we forget what we're doing.
We can gently just notice that thoughts are happening,
What kind of thoughts they are,
And come back to the here and now with heartfulness.
So just another 20 or 30 seconds and just notice maybe there's less thoughts.
You're paying attention,
You're like,
Where's the next thought?
That can happen too.
When we bring attention,
It can create space.
So focusing on what thought comes next or the space between thoughts.
As we come to the end of our practice,
See if those thoughts connect to emotions.
So if you had thoughts of the future,
Maybe it was thoughts that were exciting,
Maybe it was worrying you.
Maybe thoughts of the past,
Maybe they brought some joy and love or some worry,
Concern,
Some sadness.
What we learn is the more we practice mindful thinking,
Mindful emotions,
All seven skills,
The more we can not get lost and we can be fully present.
And less of the downstairs brain is happening and more of the upstairs brain is happening.
So just notice one thought,
One moment,
What's here?
And then we can come back.
We'll finish with the sound of the bell.
And whenever you're ready,
As always,
It's your practice,
You can stay in longer,
You can move slowly,
You can slowly stretch or stretch really big.
You can open your eyes and see all the colors and light.
And guess what?
You did it again.
You made your mental muscle,
Your heart muscle bigger and stronger because you practice mindfulness.
Focus on what thoughts are happening so you don't get lost in thoughts.
And when your thoughts are about the future and you start feeling worried,
Remember the future hasn't happened yet.
Your thoughts about the past,
Things that happened,
Remember they're gone and there are no more around us.
Every time is a new present moment.
See you next time.
Happy practicing.
