Hi,
This is Carolyn Ziehl.
Thank you so much for joining me today to meditate,
To journal,
To get a little curious about mindfulness.
Pema Chodron says,
We could just go forward with curiosity,
Wondering where this experiment will lead.
This kind of open-ended inquisitiveness captures the spirit of enthusiasm or heroic perseverance.
Curiosity.
It is an essential quality for human development and learning,
And it is an important aspect of mindfulness.
According to Merriam-Webster,
Curiosity is marked by a desire to investigate and learn.
If you're curious,
You're inquisitive.
You're inclined to ask questions,
To investigate.
When we ask questions,
We open up possibilities.
We don't assume we have the answers,
And we don't assume something is as it appears necessarily.
Being curious allows you to turn toward the entirety of an experience,
Moving you from avoidance into a more openness,
Even towards something or situation that you might not like or might not be as pleasing as you wish.
You could look at curiosity as one of the antidotes to judgment and other harsh evaluations we may direct at ourselves and others.
Kindness and compassion are two other antidotes to judgment,
And it is through curiosity,
The asking of questions,
The looking at the world with curious eyes or looking at a situation with curious eyes that could bring us to kindness and compassion.
Curiosity is a quality,
A quality that can be developed over time.
It is a tool.
It's a way of looking at the world.
It is a way of inquiring into an experience,
Whether joyful or painful,
That can allow you to begin to smooth over some of the ups and the downs that you may be facing now or any time in your life.
And mindfulness begins with awareness,
The noticing,
The recognition,
The acknowledgement that something is up,
Something is here,
Something is rising to the surface.
It is up and it is present,
And being mindful means that you're willing to allow and be with that which is revealing itself to you,
Allowing yourself to fully experience what is arising as it arises without trying to change it.
And curiosity,
Inquiring into that without trying to change what is coming up for you,
Allows you to stay in the present moment.
And this is the practice of mindfulness,
Allowing,
Allowing yourself to be present with whatever it is that is with you in that moment,
And you accept without judgment.
And just because you're accepting doesn't mean you're complacent.
Instead you're just turning toward the experience.
You're not trying to change it in this moment.
But that doesn't mean you're not trying to make change in your life.
It just means that if something doesn't go your way,
You don't charge at it like a bull.
You don't throw a temper tantrum.
But instead you turn toward that thing,
That situation,
That emotion with curious eyes,
And you ask yourself some questions.
And when you're asking yourself these questions,
You don't want to ask why questions like,
Why is this happening to me?
Because that can border on tantrum territory,
As we know,
We've all railed at a situation asking why.
But instead,
We want to ask more exploratory questions,
Questions that won't lead us to analytical answers,
But instead maybe lead us to a little bit of magic.
Because really in the end,
We're looking to create space.
And from a more spacious,
Accepting place,
Look toward the answers that might come to us when we ask more open-ended,
Curious questions.
So let's practice and get curious together.
Ideally in a seated position with your journal by your side,
Get really comfortable.
If you need to shake your body a little bit,
Shaking your arms,
Your hands,
Wiggling your toes,
Gently rolling your neck to the right and to the left,
Lifting and lowering your shoulders.
Get really comfortable in your body.
And when you feel ready,
Close your eyes and let's get curious.
Notice what you hear,
The sounds around you,
What you hear in the silence around you.
Notice the sounds your body makes as your stomach growling.
Can you hear your heartbeat?
Can you hear your breath?
Just notice and get really curious in this moment.
Take in a deep breath through your nose.
Hold it at the top and sigh it out.
And again,
Deep breath in through your nose,
Holding it at the top even longer this time.
And sigh it out.
Notice your body as you begin to settle in to yourself.
I invite you now to either answer these questions in your journal or you can just keep your eyes closed and get curious that way.
And notice and ask yourself,
Where is my attention in this moment?
Is it immersed in thinking and or emotions?
Is it in the body?
Is it in the mind?
And in this moment,
Your attention might be just in this moment.
Either way,
Let's take it a little bit deeper.
Get a little bit more curious.
Think of a situation,
Something that might be bothering you currently,
Something you have to deal with in the future,
Something that might make you nervous or anxious.
Turn your attention toward that and write some of the details of this situation.
You could feel judgmental toward the situation and that's okay.
In this moment,
Just write whatever comes up about this maybe difficult situation or experience without trying to change the words that come to the journal.
Just write about it.
Let it be what it is and write.
I'll give you a little bit of time.
I'll see you in the next one.
Namaste.
Namaste.
You you I'm going to offer a series of journal problems in regard to this particular situation Knowing that there is no wrong or right way to do this exercise Knowing that it can change every time you come back to this meditation with a different problem or situation or experience So turning toward your journal ask yourself How is this familiar?
The situation or experience or this emotion you might be avoiding.
How is this familiar?
You you How might I look at the situation emotion event experience differently?
You you how might I look at this differently?
You you What might change if I were to look at this differently or come at it from another angle?
You what might change if I were to look at this differently or come at it from another angle?
You you you Is there one small thing I can do to view this situation differently?
You Is this situation something I have to address right now?
Do I even need to address this right now?
And if this isn't something you need to address right now,
Or even if it is,
Ask yourself,
How could I make a change regarding this situation without exerting a lot of effort?
In other words,
What might make this easier for me?
How could I make a change regarding this situation without exerting a lot of effort?
In other words,
How can I make this easier for me?
How could I make a change regarding this situation without exerting a lot of effort?
How could I make a change regarding this situation without exerting a lot of effort?
How could I make a change regarding this situation without exerting a lot of effort?
When you feel complete,
I invite you to turn back.
Turn back toward your body,
Closing your eyes,
And notice how you feel in this moment after exploring a situation,
After turning toward something that might be difficult with curious eyes.
And get curious about how you feel in this moment.
And just notice there's no wrong or right way to feel right now.
You're just getting curious.
This is a tool,
Curiosity and journaling,
That you can come back to at any time.
And if you don't have your journal with you,
It's okay because you can get curious without writing it down.
You can just turn toward a situation and ask yourself some open-ended questions.
I want to thank you so much.
I so appreciate your joining me today to do a little journaling,
To get curious.
I wish you much curiosity and fun and joy in your life,
In your day.
Thank you so much.
Namaste.
