I think 99 times and find nothing.
I stop thinking,
Swim in silence,
And the truth comes to me.
Such wise words from Albert Einstein to help set us up for our practice together today.
I'm Stephanie Delfonso and today I'm going to share a very simple,
Simple strategy to easily and quickly quiet the monkey mind,
The chattering mind,
The busy mind,
The racing thoughts,
Whatever you want to call it.
And so for this practice I'm actually going to ask you to keep your eyes open and not lie down.
And just find something to focus on with your eyes,
Somewhere in front of you,
Preferably something that's not moving.
And begin to stare at it,
Whatever that focal point is,
And without moving your head or moving your eyeballs,
Keep staring at that one spot and begin to expand your awareness out.
Again,
Keep focusing on that one spot and begin to expand your awareness,
Kind of like when you're blowing up a balloon.
With each breath the balloon gets bigger.
With each breath you can expand your awareness to the left,
To the right,
More and more.
Perhaps all the way out to the left wall,
And the right wall.
And breathe.
Expanding that awareness even more now.
So perhaps you can become aware of the space behind you.
Still staring at that one spot.
Floating in this expanded awareness.
And notice what you notice.
And then come back,
Blink your eyes,
Wiggle your body a little bit,
And notice how you feel.
If we were together,
Live,
I would ask you,
How was that?
And some of you would be like,
Unable to answer it,
Because that first time,
I remember the first time I experienced this,
It was like,
Wait,
What?
What just happened?
I don't know about you,
But my mind can spin off into a million different stories,
A million different directions.
And when I expand my awareness like that,
The quiet is astounding.
And like all the techniques that I teach and share,
This is not a one and done.
The more you practice this,
The quicker you can quiet that shattering mind.
The less your mind will be chattering.
It can become a wonderful,
New,
Healthy habit that will allow you to have less of those racing thoughts,
Less of the chattering mind.
Now we're going to do this again,
And before we do,
I want you to think about something that you had your racing mind thinking about thoughts,
Maybe earlier,
Or in the past few days.
Just bring that to mind,
And then let that go.
And find that focal point again.
Simply staring at that one spot,
Perhaps noticing your eyes,
Going a little out of focus,
And expanding your awareness.
Again,
Without moving your head,
Without moving your eyeballs.
Simply expanding your awareness all around you,
The left,
The right,
Behind you,
In front of you,
Above,
Below.
And now ask yourself,
As you think about whatever that was you were thinking a moment ago,
What's everything about that,
That you're not noticing,
That's not that?
Wait,
What?
I'll repeat it for you.
What's everything about that,
That I am not noticing,
That's not that?
And remember to breathe.
And then start to come back,
Blinking your eyes,
Twinkling your fingers and toes,
Maybe stretching your body a little bit.
And that was a little weird,
Wasn't it?
What's everything about that,
That I'm not noticing,
That's not that?
It's confusing at first.
So say I was thinking about an argument that I had earlier with my husband.
And so,
Like a broken record,
My mind was just going over and over and over again.
And then I asked myself that question of,
What's everything about that,
That I am not noticing,
That's not that?
It's infinite.
Everything that I'm not noticing,
That's not that?
Well,
I wasn't noticing how sweet it is that my husband brings me coffee every morning.
That while it's blazing hot outside,
Here I am sitting in comfortable air conditioning.
You see where I'm going with that.
It gives us the opportunity to,
Again,
Quiet the chattering mind,
To swim in that silence and allow the truth to come to us.
And like all these practices I share,
This is not a one and done.
The more you practice this,
The quieter your mind will be,
The calmer you will be.
Play with this,
Have fun,
And thank you for practicing today.
