Welcome to this special time of mindfulness that you have carved out for yourself right here right now.
Perhaps inviting a sense of groundedness and stability in your body,
Whether that's firmly planting your feet on the floor or sitting upright and dignified or aligning your whole body as it's lying down or standing.
So we come to this word mindfulness.
And at its root,
It has the word mind.
And so we might have something that comes up with that word mind.
Just notice whatever thoughts or feelings or sensations arise when you hear mind.
Perhaps there's some judgment on how much we might be using our minds.
Or how much we're not.
Whether we have a brilliant mind or not.
But just for this time together,
We're going to see if we can think of our minds as a friend,
As a tool.
What do our minds do for us?
How have they helped us in the past?
So the mind is a set of faculties that house things like thought,
Which includes processing information and learning,
Problem solving,
Reasoning,
Making decisions.
Also,
Our mind is comprised of memories.
Long term and short term.
And how about imagination?
What are all wonderful thought and mind processes that can even be pleasant and supportive in our lives?
Maybe you can even think of a time when you relied on your mind to feel good about something,
Or to get you through a challenge,
Or to solve a problem.
Perhaps your mind has helped you achieve certain goals in your life.
So for all of those things,
For all of those reasons,
For all of those wonderful capabilities that the mind has,
We can be appreciative of its purpose.
Thinking of the mind as a tool.
We can use it when we need to.
Perhaps letting our perspective shift a little bit into not identifying with the mind to solve everything.
Sometimes,
The felt sense of an emotion helps us understand a way forward.
Sometimes,
Body sensations give us the awareness we need to reason through something.
We don't just live in our minds.
And our minds can help us with important things.
So just notice how much you might be identifying just with thoughts and memories and imagination.
And without judgment,
Acknowledging how important the mind is to let it do what it needs to do.
And just use it when you need to.
