Hi friends,
Welcome.
We are doing a meditation today on releasing thoughts that don't belong to you.
And before we get started,
I just want to talk a little bit about the concept of overthinking.
If you are what you might consider to be a very sensitive person,
You have a stream of consciousness going through your mind at all times.
It could be that a lot of these thoughts aren't even your own.
You're just more of a satellite receiver for a lot of thoughts and ideas and feelings that are just floating through the universe.
And indeed it is just,
You know,
An exchange of energy,
These things that come through us that your brain may then rationalize and turn into problems that don't actually exist.
And that tends to be the main issue with overthinking is that it leads to an anxiety response.
And so today we're going to do a practice that allows you to really just kind of put down those thoughts.
And so we're going to get into a comfortable position.
Allow your body to soften.
Drop your shoulders and gently close your eyes.
Allow yourself to arrive.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and then hold it where it feels really full.
Now through your nose,
Slowly exhale.
Hold it at the bottom just for a beat or two and we'll inhale in again through your nose.
Pause at the top.
Through your nose,
Exhale and allow the weight of your day to fall away.
Now you'll keep your breath going just naturally in and out through your nose and bring your attention to the space behind your eyes.
Imagine the space as wide open sky.
Thoughts may be moving through like clouds.
Some small,
Some heavy,
Some strange or familiar.
Notice them like you would notice the clouds in the sky but don't grab on to them.
Just observe.
These thoughts are not you.
They do not belong to you.
They are not your fault.
They are not your identity.
They are not your burden.
Now begin to visualize a shoreline.
Imagine yourself standing barefoot in the sand with waves gently lapping at your feet.
For every thought that arises during the next few minutes of silence,
Watch it form a small stone in your hand and transfer the thought into that stone.
Feel its shape,
Its weight and acknowledge it.
Oh a worry or oh a memory or oh a plan for the future.
And when you're ready,
Throw it into the ocean.
Watch it sink,
Becoming a part of the water,
No longer yours to carry.
Come back to the sensation of breathing.
And we'll take a few more moments here in silence and you can use one of the visualizations that we've discussed or you could simply notice when a thought arises.
You can file it as a thought for the future,
A worry of something that might happen,
A plan,
A to-do list,
A task.
You can file those thoughts as future or you can file it as something from the past,
A memory,
A conversation you wish had gone differently,
A feeling you wanted to hold on to,
A place you want to return to.
And file those memories under past.
That's all you have to do.
Every time a thought arises,
Think to yourself,
What's a thought about the future?
Or that's a thought about the past?
And that is the meditation practice.
It's not ignoring these thoughts.
It's learning how to witness them and learning how to see which ones,
If any,
Are your own.
