Open Sky Of The Mind

Open to strong emotions, feel them, and learn to let them go without identifying with them, like watching clouds come and go in the sky. From 10% Happier.

Transcript

There's one area of experience that we most habitually personalize and identify with,

And that is with different emotions that are arising.

For example,

Sadness might arise,

Or happiness,

Or fear,

Or anger,

Or joy.

And very commonly,

As these emotions arise,

We take them to be who we are.

I'm angry,

I'm happy,

I'm sad,

I'm afraid.

But the I is extra.

We're adding that to the simple experience of the emotion itself.

In mindfulness practice,

We begin to open to the emotions and feel them in all their nuances.

We feel them as they manifest in the body,

As they manifest in the mind,

As they manifest through our thoughts.

And through mindfulness,

We're seeing the arising and passing away of all these emotions with all their components,

Without identifying with them,

Without taking them to be self,

Without personalizing them.

Somewhat like seeing how cloud formations appear in the sky.

The clouds appear,

Form due to certain conditions.

The conditions change,

The clouds pass away.

In meditation practice,

We can learn to have that open sky of the mind be open to the feeling of the various emotions that arise,

Not excluding any of them,

But relating to them in a way that allows them to simply appear,

To be there,

To be experienced,

And to dissolve as the conditions change.

We'll begin this meditation by again sitting in an upright posture,

Gently closing the eyes.

You can consciously relax the eyes,

Soften them.

Sending the jaw and the shoulders,

Softening the belly.

Settling into the awareness of the body and the body posture to sit and to know that we're sitting.

You can gradually become aware of the sensations of your body breathing.

Become mindful of the sensations of your body breathing in,

The sensations of your body breathing out.

If different sensations in the body become predominant and call your attention away from the breath,

Open to the feeling of those sensations,

They become the object of your mindfulness.

You might be noticing pressure or tightness or tension or vibration.

Simply become aware of the sensations.

Observe what happens to them as you're aware of them.

Do they get stronger or weaker,

Disappear,

Stay the same?

And when they're no longer predominant,

You can settle back into the awareness of the body and the breath.

You may find at different times that thoughts or emotions arise in the mind.

Often a particular thought will trigger an emotion.

If you become aware of a strong emotion arising in the mind,

It might be anger,

It might be sadness,

It might be happiness,

It might be joy.

Open to the feeling of that emotion,

That becomes the object of your meditation.

Joy feels like this,

Anger feels like this.

Open to how it feels in the body.

Is there a specific place in the body that you feel the emotion most clearly?

Is there a tightness in the chest?

Is there a tension in the jaw?

Is there a lightness in the torso?

When an emotion is strong,

You can check out how you're feeling it in the body.

If the emotion persists,

You can investigate further as it's manifesting in the mind.

What kind of thoughts are being generated by the emotion?

It is sometimes helpful to make the soft mental note of what the emotion is.

Sadness,

Joy,

Anger.

You become aware of the emotion as it's manifesting in both the body and the mind,

Making a soft mental note of it,

Noticing how it arises out of conditions,

How it will pass away as the conditions change.

When the emotion is no longer predominant,

We simply come back again to the feeling of the body,

Feeling of the body breathing.

And right after that,

It will fall away again.

Thank you.

And when you're ready,

You can slowly open your eyes and reconnect with the world.

And reconnect with the world around you.

As an image that might help you remember how to relate in a skillful way,

Particularly with difficult emotions,

But also with more wholesome ones,

Imagine how you would be with a young child who was feeling that particular emotion.

But with a child who was feeling fear,

What would your response be?

It probably wouldn't be to judge the child or to say he or she was bad for having it.

The instinctive response would simply be to be there for the child,

To hold the space with a certain kind of tenderness and a lot of acceptance.

We can apply the same understanding to the emotions we have within ourselves.

We want to hold them in a space of openness,

In a space of tenderness.

It is okay to feel them.

I look forward to continuing with you tomorrow.

Reviews

Becoming more mindful is my goal and this meditation was helpful toward that goal.

I appreciate the simple clear instructions and space for silence.

Nothing to say except that Mr. Goldstein has, in my experience, always been an extremely helpful source of wisdom and guidance.

Concise and easy to follow. Thank you. On how to be with my own felt emotions, I especially like your suggestion and analogy to consider how I would respond to a child in the throes of a challenging emotion. ‘Being present’ without judgment seems the most helpful way forward.

Feeling so held by this lovely practice. Thank you so much.

Excellent, highly useful practice, thank you Joseph and happy 80th birthday.

Excellent guidance, practical and effective. Thank you

Thank you, Joseph. It is always a privilege to share your company.

beautiful , and guidance i needed today , grateful 🙏

Joseph Goldstein is a deeply skilled and studied teacher, from a rich lineage, who remains humble, accessible, and inspiring.

A fantastic meditation, and reminder of open sky practice.

Very helpful, thank you. A meditation I can return to. 🙏

Been reading and listening to JG my entire adult life . Golden

An insightful meditation on working with emotions- thank you Joseph.

Thank you for this helpful meditation and all you share.
I love the reminder of tenderness, as with a child.

I love Joseph’s contrast between self-treatment and how we would treat a child experiencing emotions. There’s no need for harsh judgement.

Thank you for this guidance. Not taking emotions so personally lifts sn necessary burden from my heart. 🙏

Love Joseph Goldstein. Perfectly simple guidance.

I love to do it tks a lot and your voice is very tonal tks again

Just what I needed to hear and practice when I was feeling a situational resentment.