Hi,
And welcome to this mind management meditation on focus.
Thousands of thoughts go through our mind every day.
Learning to filter out extra or unhelpful thoughts is a great skill.
This meditation explores a technique to help you sift through your thoughts and to manage your mind so you can focus on what's important right now.
Start by sitting comfortably,
Ideally in a place where you won't be disturbed.
Feel your feet flat on the floor.
Rest your hands in your lap and close your eyes.
Relax your shoulders and your jaw and take three deep breaths.
With each exhale,
Let go of your breath completely.
Now continue to notice your breathing as it comes in and out of your body.
Notice the way your chest expands and contracts as you breathe in and out.
You may find your mind is already full of thoughts and it's difficult to focus purely on your breathing.
But anytime a thought comes into your mind,
Acknowledge the thought and try not to follow the dialogue or process the thought.
Simply redirect your attention to your inhale and your exhale.
Now instead of simply acknowledging any thoughts that come up,
Let yourself pause with a particular thought and imagine placing it in a folder and filing it away.
We all have different ways of filing information,
So you can choose to file thoughts alphabetically or by categories.
If your thought is work-related,
You can imagine placing it in a folder with a W on it,
Or you can categorize it into a folder that's more work-specific to you.
Once you've filed that thought,
Bring your attention back to your breathing.
Naturally,
Because we're human and we're engineered to think,
Another thought will come into your mind.
Place that thought in a folder,
Label it,
And file it away.
You don't need to chase your thoughts,
They'll come freely.
Simply label them and file them.
Continue to do this and then simply redirect your attention back to your breathing.
By filing our thoughts away,
We allow ourselves to see what thoughts tend to overrun our mind and where much of our attention is focused.
By reminding ourselves that we have the choice to filter our thoughts,
We can become clear on which areas we want to concentrate our mental energy.
Now take five more breaths and let your focus go.
Now bring your attention back into the room.
Maybe move your hands and feet a little.
Feel free to stretch a bit.
Take a moment to notice if your mind feels clearer or less cluttered.
When we begin to see patterns in our thoughts,
We're able to train our mind to either focus attention on certain lines of thinking,
Or we can choose to spend less time on specific topics.
This doesn't mean we're avoiding topics or situations,
We're just being specific and focused on where our mental energy should be invested.
Now open your eyes.
Thanks for meditating with us.
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow.
