Let The World Replace You

Most of our attention is hijacked by what I call the 'little me'. That voice in the head comments on almost everything and robs you of joy and presence. Here we look at how to come alive to the real world, the sound of a bird, the image of a tree, or the feeling of joy or even sadness. get out of your head and into your life!

Transcript

So,

Hello.

In a little while I want to guide you through a meditation.

But I just want to say a few words about this theme.

Let the world replace you.

Because as we go about our daily activities,

We're living our lives.

What is it that captures our attention?

Where are we living most of the time?

Let me put it another way.

What are we listening to most of the time?

We can call it the mind.

I'm going to call it the little me.

This seemingly little character or the voice in the head.

Let's alternate between those two.

But the little me,

The voice in the head,

That commentates on almost everything.

It judges almost everything.

It worries about things that we don't need to worry about.

It just chatters.

It criticizes.

It's just constantly evaluating,

Looking at life.

Basically,

It's just an inner commentary.

But that grabs our attention.

Which means our attention isn't on real life.

It isn't in the present.

It's in this,

What I call a virtual reality.

We're too busy,

Or rather the little me is too busy thinking about life.

Rather than allowing us to experience life.

It's a thief of joy.

It takes the joy and the delight out of life.

Because it wants to constantly think about myself.

Think about me and my future,

My past.

It's just constantly thinking.

Don't get me wrong.

It's a wonderful tool.

Some thoughts that pop up are useful.

I need to pop to the grocery store or the supermarket to get X,

Y and Z.

Great.

But you see,

Or you realize,

Once you start to pay attention to this,

That most of the time,

That's not what is happening.

It's a storyteller.

A voice in the head,

Just telling stories.

And that's where we live.

So what do I mean by let the world replace you?

Well,

Instead of listening to the voice in the head,

I wanted to shift our attention to what's really happening.

Let the sound of the bird replace you,

Or this little me.

Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha,

Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha,

Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha.

Even if it's the sound of the traffic,

Or the sad feeling in the chest,

Or the feeling of joy when you see a bird across the sky,

Or a sunset,

Or looking into the eyes of a child,

Or with your child or with our gorgeous dog.

Banky means 10,

000 blessings.

Just being there,

The simple things of life.

And not allowing the mind,

The little me,

The voice in the head,

To take you away into worry and fantasy.

I've used this scenario before,

This metaphor previously,

But it's almost like there's a piece of string,

Let's say it's coming out of somewhere around the face or the head,

Heading into the future.

And our attention is almost constantly looking along this string.

And this string is time.

Because the mind,

The little me,

Is locked in time.

Which means we can be very anxious.

And we're looking.

And at some point we can't see where the string is.

We can just imagine it.

And we worry about what we can't imagine,

What we can't control.

Fear of the unknown is the primary fear.

So I'm going to guide us through a meditation,

Where we come back to this,

Come back to ourselves,

Come back to the senses.

Let the world replace your anxiety.

But first of all,

And I have read this out previously,

I'm going to do it again because I think it's a really,

Really lovely poem.

It's by William Wordsworth.

And are up gathered now like sleeping flowers.

For this,

For everything,

We are out of tune.

It moves us not.

Great God,

I'd rather be pagan suckled in a creed outworn.

So might I,

Standing on this pleasant land,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn,

Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea,

Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

The world is too much with us.

Getting and spending,

We lay waste our powers.

Beautiful lines,

Very powerful.

We have given our hearts away.

And we give our heart away,

Not just to buying things and getting things and being noticed and wanting approval.

But we give our heart away to what we listen to.

We listen to too much fantasy and the stories and dramas of the mind.

The little me.

So sit quietly.

Just for about 10 minutes,

We're going to listen to life.

We're going to allow the world to replace us.

Just taking a few deep breaths.

And breathe down into the hara,

Down into the belly.

Allow that to ground you.

Now I'd just like you to sit with feeling the breath.

See what happens.

Just for a minute or two.

Just feeling the breath.

So at some point,

You may have realised that you were lost somewhere else.

Your attention wasn't on the breath.

But it was listening to the voice in the head,

That little me.

So instead of listening to that,

We're going to come back.

I want you to listen to the sounds that are around you.

Even if it's air conditioning or the refrigerator or distant traffic.

Listen to what's really happening.

Even if it's silence,

Listen to that.

Don't give your heart away to the worries and the troubles,

The dramas.

Listen.

Let those sounds replace you.

Replace that voice.

And it's okay if you find yourself listening to the voice in the head,

The little me.

Just a habit.

Just say to yourself,

That's thinking.

Return back.

Now shift your attention to feeling the breath.

And particularly the end of the out-breath.

Give yourself,

Give your heart to the end of the out-breath.

There are no dramas there.

No judgements.

Only the little me,

The voice in the head,

Judges.

That's it.

Now take your attention and feel around the face.

Let the sensations of the face replace you.

Replace the narrative about you and life.

Feel around the eyes.

Around the lips.

Then back to the breath again.

The breath.

Just breathing itself.

You don't have to try.

There's no effort.

Notice where the dramas are.

The anxieties.

We can almost spend our time anticipating the anxieties.

And finally to sounds again.

Even if it's silence.

Or very quiet.

Listen.

It's not complicated.

There's nothing to work out.

It's beautiful.

Just listen.

The sounds are.

The sounds at least are really happening.

Maybe there's the sound of a bird.

Tweeting.

The wind through the trees.

Maybe creaky floorboards.

Somebody walking around above.

Whatever.

It doesn't matter.

Okay,

You can carry on if you wish.

I'm just going to say a few words to bring it to an end.

The point isn't to listen to something particular.

It's just the purpose of these meditations.

Or the purpose of meditation is to come out of the false mind.

It keeps making things up.

70-80% of what the mind creates is made up.

It's a wonderful tool.

Don't get me wrong.

I've said before.

We just spend our days listening to that.

It just makes up troubles.

It makes up anxieties.

And you know this.

You instinctively,

Intuitively know it.

It's crazy.

And what we're doing here is cultivating it as it were.

A simple mind.

A simple life.

I don't mean to say we stop doing lots of things.

But when we're there doing something.

We're there with the whole of our being.

Rather than doing it physically and mentally and psychologically.

We're somewhere else.

Come back to here.

Come back to the senses.

The senses don't create trouble.

They don't create anxieties.

They're not worried about the future.

Because when are the senses functioning?

Always.

Now.

The senses can't function later.

Tomorrow.

Two minutes.

Two seconds.

The mind can't even function in two seconds time.

It imagines what two seconds would be like.

And that's a great tool when we need it.

But we take that.

We take the content of the mind to be our life.

The narrative in the head.

We call my life.

And it isn't.

Your life happens through the senses.

That's where the joy is.

That's where the wonder is.

That's why animals are just here.

They don't worry about the meaning of life.

They don't worry about the future.

A dog might hide a bone.

So it can eat it in a few days time.

But that's just functional.

Functional is wonderful.

So when you go through your day.

Bring yourself back to your senses.

Let the feeling of the footsteps replace you.

Replace the little me.

The fantasies and the troubles.

Just gently,

Gently,

Gently.

Thank you.

Bye bye.

Reviews

Good, clear and a fresh take on keeping the mind in the moment.

This is one of the truest, purest meditations I’ve ever done on IT. I love everything about it. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience, and it left me feeling grounded & completely centered - tho before it began I was a bundle of nerves & worries. I really appreciate your slow-paced delivery, & the frequent pauses. This is a gem that is now at the top of my playlist. Thank you ❤️

i truly appreciate you as a teacher 🙏✨🩵🙏✨🩵🙏✨🩵🙏

Hi Surya. Love this track. Thank you so much. I will listen to your other tracks and courses. Wishing you infinite silence🙏💜

Incredible entry into the eternal now by just listening. Absolutely brilliant and such a loving trust worthy voice. Why this self concept gets to steal time for its own. Do you want to give it all away to the worries?

‘Don’t give your heart away’ just that line alone ‘stopped me in my tracks’ very powerful meditation bringing me back to the now and serenity. Thank you 🧡

The meditation is great, but unfortunately (for me) it is nestled in a talk so it's very short. I have done two courses with this teacher so didn't really need the explanation. But I understand it can be useful for others.

I adore this meditation. It’s so simple! Getting quieter/easier to remember the breath the more I practice 🙏🕊✨

So peaceful and calming. Thank you Suryacitta.💖🙏🕊

Thank you for your kind words, gentle guidance and simple explanations. I will visit this meditation often. So simple, yet so powerful. 🙏