Welcome to another mindful moment.
If you joined for our last mindful moment,
You learned that mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment,
On purpose,
Without judgment.
I also talked about Jon Kabat-Zinn's attitudes of mindfulness,
Things to keep in mind when you're learning or just practicing mindfulness.
And then we engaged in a mindfulness activity surrounding an object.
Hopefully you had a chance to practice that.
Today we're going to talk about meditative mind versus reactive mind.
So probably when you were engaging in mindfulness to the object previously,
You found yourself thinking about the object,
Probably describing it in your mind.
When you were feeling it in your hands,
If you were able to do that,
Your mind probably had something to say about that,
Which is perfectly normal.
That's what minds do.
Our minds react to our environment,
What we're noticing,
What we're observing,
And our minds begin to think.
For instance,
If you were bringing that mindful awareness to the object of a rose,
You might begin to smell the rose and that fragrance might remind you of something.
You might have a memory or you might have a thought that,
Wow,
My partner would really like this rose.
I should take it home to them.
Our minds are always thinking and reacting and responding.
So one of the aims of mindfulness is to actually begin to pay attention to that particular way that our mind operates and to begin to just observe instead of being more reactive.
Now this isn't something that we want to make a goal to do 24-7 because we really can't.
Our minds do need to respond and react many times.
And many times our minds are thinking and reacting to things that really don't matter and that they don't have to.
It just clutters us up and sometimes creates some stress and anxiety.
So today's mindful moment is practicing the meditative mind,
Observing,
Allowing,
Accepting,
And allowing the experience to wash over us and not become attached to whatever it is we're experiencing.
So today I'd like you to get into a comfortable position in a place where you won't be bothered for a few moments.
Closing down your eyes just signifies to yourself that you're going inward a little bit,
Bringing some mindful awareness to what's happening for you right now.
Noticing your breath,
How you're breathing,
What parts of your body are involved in the breathing.
Perhaps noticing your body as it sits in the chair,
The way the chair just supports you.
These are mindful moments too.
If you've found that your mind drifted away already,
That's okay.
Just notice where it went and come on back.
So a good way to practice allowing without getting attached is to experiment with mindfulness to sounds.
So right now,
Bring your attention to the sound of my voice,
The music playing in the background,
Or any sounds that are in your environment around you.
Take a moment to tune in and as you're tuning in,
Notice what happens.
Notice the activity or the reactivity of your mind and your thoughts.
Making a note of what the reactions of the mind are,
Where you find yourself going,
And now making this subtle shift to seeing if with gentle curiosity,
You can begin to just allow the sounds to wash over you,
Move through you,
Without grasping a hold of them or figuring them out or evaluating or thinking about them.
Again,
This concept is simple,
But not easy.
Each time you find your mind shifting to reactivity or analyzing,
See if you can just step back and allow the sounds to wash over you.
Practicing mindfulness in this way over and over again can help your mind to become less reactive.
Slowing things down and helping you to be able to live in the now because things are happening in the now.
Mindful awareness to the present moment has many benefits.
Thank you for joining me on this mindful moment,
Allowing yourself to open your eyes and re-engage with your environment.
I'm Kelly Dennis.
I hope you'll join me for another mindful moment very soon.
Namaste.
