Your Daily Pause | Day 10

As we explore mindfulness of thoughts, we are getting better at recognising that some thoughts are useless, others are repetitive. We learn to not associate ourselves with them. Thoughts are just thoughts – they come and go, and they don't have to Affect us. We protect ourselves from negative and anxious thoughts, we are more likely to choose to be present with what we are focusing on in the given moments. But first, we have to learn to notice them. There is no need in resisting them.

Transcript

Hello everyone and welcome to the practice. Today we are learning, We keep learning, To see our thoughts. Not only we are learning to see our thoughts, We are also learning to not believe our thoughts, To let go of those useless repetitive thoughts and come back to something that's more real, More present. We are developing this skill so that in your daily life when you are doing something important and all of a sudden a thought comes that it's not gonna work out or what if I'm not good enough, What if I'm not ready yet. So that you can notice this thought and at least be aware that it's a thought that is trying to distract you and is trying to sometimes sabotage you. Once you notice a thought, You have a choice and a freedom to let it go and return your attention to something that's more real. In our practice we return our attention to the sense of our body, The experiencing of the present moment and in your daily life you may be returning your attention to something that you were doing and maybe working on your presentation or speech or book or talking to someone and giving that person all your attention. So I find, I invite you, I invite you to find your seat where you'll spend a few minutes. Take a breath or two, Close your eyes and settle in. See if you can recognize your body, Notice the posture, Feeling the weight of your body on the chair. See if you can notice what your body feels like this morning. Is there any tension? Is there any discomfort? Is there restlessness and this desire to do something, To get going? And you give yourself permission to be with what it is, To stay with your body and to acknowledge, To notice its presence and its state, Its expression and experience today. And see if you can notice your breath, The flow of your breath in and out. Everything is just like it's always usual. The breath is present, Your body is alive and your heart is beating. And you set intention for the next few minutes to pay attention to the experience of your body inside out. By this time you might notice that there are also thoughts. Thoughts are part of this experience. We are learning and training our capacity to notice them. So every time you get distracted with the thought and you find yourself thinking about the next thing you will be doing, About the movie you were watching, You name the thought, Oh this is me thinking, This is me planning. And then you bring your attention back to sensing, To experiencing your body in the present moment. And you do it over and over again. This is your practice. Ok. You may also notice what are the quality of your thoughts today. Are they anxious? Are they exciting? Are they completely random? Simply noticing, Ah, Today I'm anxious, My thoughts are anxious. May help you to recognize, To see more clearly what is it this morning. And then perhaps again you're making the choice to bring your attention back to feeling, Experiencing your body breathing, Vibrating, Sensing, Inside out. There is no resistance, There is no effort, There is no effort not to think about something or not to feel anything in particular. We're only watching and noticing, We are allowing things to come and go and we do notice that things do come and go. The thoughts come and go and without effort you sort of let it go further and it does go further, It does leave you while you come back to the present moment. And some thoughts do come back and you keep thinking about the same stuff, This is normal. So you let it go as many times as it comes back. And just for a few next seconds still sensing your body, Feeling your body breathing, And noticing those thoughts that come and go. In your own time I invite you to open your eyes, Sense the space around you, Perhaps stretch. And in this moment, The moment of calmness, I invite you to set your intention, Your next intention for the day ahead, For the evening ahead, Wherever you are in your life. What do you want this time, This next time to be? How do you want to be? Thank you and see you next time.