Welcome to this mindful reflection by me,
Stephen Scattini.
When you sit down to meditate,
You need to know what is a distraction and what isn't.
What do you let go of?
It's not at all obvious.
People say that you should empty your mind of thoughts.
But that just doesn't happen.
The mind thinks.
What makes those thoughts distracting is if they pull you away from the awareness of yourself.
Sitting,
Hear,
Breathing,
Feeling,
Thinking.
The task in mindfulness is to be aware of all the information that is presented to you right now.
Including your thoughts.
The distracting thoughts are the ones that pull you off into conversations with yourself,
Into memories,
Into projections of the future and anxieties,
Stories.
Any patterns that make you oblivious to the present moment.
To be mindful is to remember.
And what to remember is to pay attention to what's happening in your field of awareness.
You're remembering to be present.
To care about this actual experience.
And when you're in the present moment,
Instead of struggling with distraction,
You simply know it for what it is.
You let it go.
Because the present moment,
It's much more interesting,
It's much more real,
It's much more fun.
And it's absolutely the most effective place from which to learn about yourself.
Of course it's not a place.
And the present moment isn't a time either,
Is it?
The present moment is finite and immortal.
Extraordinary,
Eh?
And then there's the question of what should it be?
Which is certainly another distraction.
But we don't just shake off the distraction,
We look at it and understand it.
So that I look at that question,
What should I be?
And instead of following it,
Looking for an answer,
I recognize it for what it is.
It's a distraction.
It keeps me away from the present moment,
From the reality of my life.
So I let it go.
But I know what I'm letting go of.
Then letting go is easy.
The problem is that I want to follow these thoughts.
I want to know who I should be.
I want to figure out how to make myself who I should be.
These are intriguing projects that seem very important.
So when you sit down to meditate,
Be comfortable.
Don't struggle.
Keep your eye out for struggle.
Feel it.
That's why we start with the breath,
Because it brings you into the body,
Which enables you to feel and know how you feel.
And any tension is a reflection of some sort of mental activity,
Or is reflected in mental activity.
So you check out how you feel,
And what thoughts are working their way through your mind,
Or trying to.
And so you know your present moment state.
You know how you are.
You see,
Clearly,
This is the present moment.
And those thoughts are pulling me into distraction.
Well,
That emotion is triggering a reactive cycle,
Which takes me away from the present moment.
It's not complicated,
But you've got to keep your eyes wide open.
And sometimes you don't.
You're not paying attention.
You're not there.
And the present moment is not apparent to you.
And in those moments it's tempting to get frustrated or angry,
Start blaming yourself even.
But that's just another distraction.
So when you fail,
You lose your attention.
You allow distraction in.
There comes a point where you notice that,
You realize.
And instead of getting angry,
That's especially the time to befriend yourself.
And say,
Oh,
I came back.
I remember the present moment.
That's a good thing.
Pat yourself on the back.
Keep going.
That's all for now.
I'll see you later.
You can get me at www.
Skatini.
Com.
