Welcome to the Know Your Mind series.
I'm Shalini Behl-Mellm and today we are going to return to our capacity to know and act on what's important to us.
Research shows that we are most energized when we find purpose and meaning in what we're doing.
And on the other hand,
We can feel depleted when we don't take our time to do activities that are inspiring or important to us.
So today's practice,
We're going to create some space and time to reconnect with ourselves and ask ourselves the question,
What's most important to me?
So coming to a comfortable posture,
Lowering or closing your eyes,
Taking a moment to return to yourself,
To your breath.
Before we begin today,
Receiving this invitation from the poet Rumi from his poem,
The Great Wagon,
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing,
There is a field.
I'll meet you there.
So finding that field within you,
That place of spaciousness,
Non-judging awareness.
We're just for these few minutes,
We're going to let go of any ideas of shoulds and I must,
And this is right and wrong.
Just allowing ourselves to be with ourselves in this spacious space.
No agendas,
Nothing to fix.
Just space in and around us.
And taking this time to meet ourselves just the way we are.
And if you find that your mind is really busy today,
Try placing your hand on the region of your heart,
Your chest,
And feeling the warmth of the hand,
The connection with your body,
Your breath moving naturally in and out.
Just for these few cycles of your breathing,
Giving your full care and attention to the natural rhythm of your breath,
Rising and falling in your body.
With each inhale,
Creating a little more space in your mind,
In your chest,
In your abdomen,
In your whole body.
And with each exhale,
Letting go of what you don't need to hold on to for the time being.
So in letting go of what's not helpful,
What's not serving us,
We're also creating more space for what we want to invite into this space.
And if none of this is making any sense,
That's okay.
Just finding your own way to return to your field of non-judging awareness.
Maybe it's your breath,
Maybe it's your body,
Or any other way.
And when you find that your mind is stabilized,
Your body is here,
Present,
Relaxed,
Alert,
Inviting that question,
What is most important to me in my life?
Before you go out searching for answers,
Looking for something special,
Just return back to the field where we don't have to search or strive.
Just staying here,
Open,
Spacious,
Curious.
Staying with the question,
What is most important to me?
And allowing the thoughts to naturally surface,
To emerge.
Maybe it's just a silent whisper,
What is important to you?
Listening in.
Just this stopping to make this space to meet yourself,
That in itself is enough.
So even if you don't find any deep insights,
Some fancy answers,
Just this being with your breath,
With your body,
This willingness to be with yourself in silence,
That itself is enough.
In that silence,
Asking yourself,
What is most important to me?
Listening to the thoughts arising related to this question,
Maybe the answers in the form of relationships that are important to you.
Making space for that.
Maybe what's important to you is the work you do,
So making space to be with that.
Maybe it's completely unrelated to your work.
What's deeply moving,
Inspiring to you might be any other activity,
Like writing poetry,
Creating music,
Just being out in nature.
So being in that spacious field where anything is possible,
Being open to listening to the unexpected.
What is most important to me?
Just staying with that question.
And if this practice is feeling awkward,
Maybe it's boring,
That's okay.
Just noting that with kindness,
Realizing that being in silence can sometimes be hard.
In fact,
There was a study that showed that people would rather give themselves a shock than be in silence with themselves.
So it's okay if you're finding this hard.
If it's easier and perhaps more helpful,
You can even open your eyes and try some journaling,
Some freestyle journaling.
Whatever is coming up for you when you ask the question,
What is most important to me?
Allowing yourself to write whatever comes through.
Don't worry about editing.
Don't worry about learning grammar.
Just writing honestly.
This is just for you,
For no one else to see.
Maybe it's just a list of activities,
People,
Places that feel important to you.
Taking a note of that.
And as we end this practice today,
Just reminding yourself to take out time,
Even if it's only for a few minutes every day,
To reconnect,
To return to that field within.
And ask yourself,
What's important now?
And making our time to do these activities that bring joy,
That make you feel come alive.
So before we end today,
I want us to return back to Rumi's poem,
The Great Wagon.
And he says,
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you want.
Don't go back to sleep.
Thank you for your practice today.
