19 | Noting Thoughts 1 (With Mini-Class)

Learn about disentangling yourself from thoughts with a mini-class (3 minutes) before the practice & a quick de-brief after. Practice the "noting" technique for observing thoughts & use this to get more choice over which thoughts drive you. This practice is particularly suited to those wanting detailed instructions, provided at regular intervals, to help master the fundamentals of the "noting" technique to defuse from thoughts. Note: This practice supports Week 5 of my 8-Week mindfulness program.

Transcript

G'day,

This is Rachel Grace.

Thanks for joining me for this practice entitled Noting Thoughts.

This session starts with a mini class for a few minutes before we get into a practice that runs for about 12 minutes.

In mindfulness practice,

We quickly become aware of the unrelenting nature of thoughts.

We start to notice how many thoughts are on repeat and we notice how many of our thoughts are actually not all that helpful.

But thoughts are a natural occurrence.

Thoughts are not a mistake and they're not a problem.

But the fact is that when we remain unaware of our thoughts,

The influence they exert can be problematic.

We can get caught up in them and distracted in our heads,

Which means we can miss important moments in our life or act on thoughts unknowingly,

Producing unwanted consequences.

But we can't make thoughts stop.

Secreting thoughts is what the brain does.

So what can we do to respond to thoughts more consciously and skillfully,

Both within our mind and through our behaviour?

The mindfulness move for letting thoughts be the servant,

Not the master,

Is to simply become aware of them and to relate to them with an attitude of acceptance and kindness,

Allowing them to pass on by acting only on the ones that we consciously choose to.

We can become more aware of thoughts by making them the object of our attention,

Both within and beyond our mindfulness practice.

And one way we can make thoughts the object of attention is to use a tactical tool called noting.

Noting is a technique that we can use to help diminish the grip of obsessive thinking and it's a way of working with thoughts that gives us greater freedom in our lives in relationship to them.

So in this practice we're going to use the technique of noting thoughts.

As you will experience,

Noting a thought is based on the simple process of generating a word in the mind to acknowledge the thought that's arising so that we respond to thoughts with more awareness and less reactivity.

So let's prepare for our practice.

I invite you to gently roll your shoulders up towards your ears as you breathe in and then relaxing your shoulders back and down again as you breathe out.

Now taking a moment to find a relaxed and alert posture.

Let your awareness take in the space around you,

Gently seeing the environment you're in,

Noticing the sounds around you.

If during this practice an overwhelming emotional state or physical pain arises or you just find yourself incredibly sleepy or agitated,

The invitation is to support yourself to rebalance before deciding whether to rejoin or set aside the practice for today.

Some skillful ways to rebalance energy is to move your body and change your posture or you can shift your attention either to your anchor of choice or by opening your eyes to look around the environment around you or you can take a big breath.

In particular you can take a big in-breath to boost your energy or a big extended out-breath to rebalance any sense of agitation.

I now invite you to join me in taking a deep breath in filling your lungs and then as you let go with a long out-breath allowing your eyes to gently close or softening your gaze down to the floor if that feels right for you.

If you would like to you can now set an intention for how you want to approach this valuable practice time.

We'll start the practice with the ring of a gong.

I invite you to settle into this practice by bringing a relaxed and focused attention to your preferred anchor.

Whether that's paying attention to the sensations of the flow of the breath,

Awareness of sounds arising and passing or feeling the different kinds of physical sensations in your feet and hands right now.

Whatever your preferred primary anchor is I invite you to settle your attention there now and establish a sense of concentration to support the next phase of your practice.

I invite you now to start noticing your thoughts.

Thoughts may arise as words or images or pictures in the mind.

Noticing your thoughts right now however they arise.

Noting a thought involves generating a word in the mind to acknowledge the thought that's arising.

To start out you can simply use the note thinking.

As soon as you become aware of a thought arising in your mind acknowledge it in that moment gently noting it as thinking.

We're not trying to figure thoughts out,

We're just practicing getting familiar with them.

We're not practicing in order to think positive thoughts or get an experience that we want.

We are simply learning to observe experiences just as they are with a balanced mind.

Noting your thinking right now.

As soon as you become aware that you're thinking make a soft mental note acknowledging that experience as thinking.

You may begin to notice some thoughts have a recurring theme over and over.

If you notice persistent types of thought patterns in the mind it can be helpful to use a more precise label for that pattern.

For example judging,

Planning,

Remembering,

Fantasizing.

Feel free to experiment with notes for your own thoughts that reflect their quality or their pattern.

If you don't recognize any particular quality or pattern the simple note of thinking is just fine.

Stay alert for the appearance of thoughts arising in the mind.

As soon as you become aware of a thought make a soft mental note of it whatever it might be.

Judging,

Criticizing,

Planning,

Doubting,

Remembering,

Obsessing,

Questioning,

Fantasizing,

Commenting,

Thinking.

When you become aware of a thought and note it also notice what happens to the thought.

Does it continue?

Does it change?

Does it disappear quickly?

Does it fade away over time?

It's not just the noting that matters but the tone of the note.

Pay attention to if frustration or annoyance is coloring the tone of your noting.

See if you can let the tone for each note be infused with a quality of non-reactivity,

Acceptance and non-judging.

Being gentle and kind in your noting this will positively impact the quality of the mind.

Judging,

Remembering,

Fantasizing,

Thinking.

Noting thoughts is a little bit like watching clouds.

Just like how if you're lying in the park watching the clouds move across the sky you would see all different kinds of clouds drifting by coming and going.

Some clouds might be more grey than others,

Some are big and some are small.

Just like there are different types of clouds we can watch float by there are many different types of thoughts with different qualities and energies and content in them.

All we're doing here in this practice is treating each thought like another cloud passing by in the sky.

You don't have to say oh I don't like that cloud or jeez I want that cloud.

Just know each thought is just a thought and you can note it as such.

Thinking,

Planning,

Judging or doubting.

Here we are building the skills for watching these thoughts moving through the sky of the mind without taking them so seriously without having to get caught by them so deeply and we build this capacity to observe them.

We are less controlled by them.

Noting your thoughts.

As we approach the end of our practice now I invite you to join me in taking a deep breath in filling the lungs right up and then relaxing your body and your mind as you breathe out letting it all go.

Allow the corners of the mouth to rise ever so slightly into a gentle half smile just savouring this moment.

And to conclude I will ring the gong three times.

In your own timing allow your eyes to open gently bringing your attention back up into the environment around you.

Take a moment to stretch or sit back and notice how you feel.

Do you feel the same as you did before this practice or has something changed?

You can use this noting technique anytime even just for a moment and it will strengthen the neural networks in your brain that are responsible for awareness and self-regulation.

Each time you practice noting thoughts it offers both an immediate and long-term benefit not just to the state of your mind but to the quality of your actions.

Ultimately being more aware of our thoughts gives us more freedom for psychological and behavioural flexibility in our lives so we are less likely to get stuck in habit patterns of mind or behaviour that no longer service.

So use this tool of noting and it will serve you well.

Take a moment as we finish just to appreciate yourself for the dedication to your own well-being that you've demonstrated today.

Each time you practice you are changing your brain for the better and building your capacity to handle life more skillfully so well done.

May mindfulness positively impact you,

What you do and all of those around you.

Thank you for practicing with me.

I hope you will join me again.

Reviews

Very well done and explained
Than you so much
I look forward to hearing this again

The Grace magic strikes again! 😉
I've done noting before, two options, thinking or feeling. I like the extra options here, but I think it does boil down to the two. Perhaps for advanced noters, more options here you go deeper. 😘

A really helpful practice. Soothing and grounding. Thank you. 💙🙏🏻💙

Such an incredible meditation with the instant results. I will definitely be listening to this one many times per week. Much thanks!

Wow amazing meditation Rachel! I will definitely come back to this meditation! This would be so useful to keep note of my thoughts during the day ahead! Thanks Rachel!