Morning,
Afternoon,
Evening.
I was reading Gioco back a while ago.
I think I was reading Togena.
And.
.
.
He said something like,
99% of the time and talking to us here and her students.
We're not in danger.
It feels like some often feels like someone's attacking us.
The only thing that's attacking us are our own thoughts.
That's what she's pointing to.
Our own thoughts are the only thing really that attacks us.
We beat ourselves up with them.
And I think it's very common.
So how do we stop?
This is the whole point of these sessions.
We start to see how the beating up happens.
Not just in the session but during daily life.
See,
Meditation isn't about reaching some state.
By having experiences,
They come and go.
That won't really change anything.
What changes something is when we actually start to see it.
Vipassana,
Seeing clearly.
The Buddha's message was how to bring an end to suffering.
So you look at the cause.
It's common sense,
Like,
Well,
Why else would you look?
And the cause is our belief thoughts.
A case of mistaken identity.
That voice in my head is me and it's talking to me and or it's talking to me.
Of just going to the habit of.
.
.
Believing that.
Then it becomes an identity once we believe it,
Certain amount of times becomes an identity.
So all of the practice was,
Don't pick up the thoughts.
Or if you didn't pick them up,
Then what?
What if we remained as presence or as the senses or whatever we're engaged with?
If we do pick them up,
Which we will for a while.
Or at least some of them.
Then won't we notice?
Why don't we just cut them down?
And just drop them.
And then come back.
To reality.
Let real life replace the false life.
The made-up one.
And juice watch out for Well,
It's the second dagger.
Beating yourself up about beating yourself up.
There I go again.
I'll never get this right.
Off we go.
Just having a thought.
Very useful phrase just to use just to clarify what's actually happening because that's what we need to see.
What's actually happening is you're having a thought.
Everything else is made up.
I'm not talking about functional thoughts.
I'm never talking about those there,
Over there.
And come back to that which isn't a thought.
It's not difficult.
We just don't do it.
I just want the thoughts to stop.
To change.
To blank out.
So we have to start putting energy into them.
And come back to that which is aware of the thoughts.
That's your essential nature,
Not the thoughts.
They just tell stories.
They're in disguise.
They disguise themselves as you.
I'm going to say a lot more about that,
But let's.
.
.
Settle into a meditation on is dropping the thoughts.
Drop down into the body.
When you pick up a thought,
It's okay.
Just put it down.
Having a thought.
Come back to the sound of the traffic or the feeling of the breath.
Allow yourself to relax.
Where is your attention right now?
All he do is notice.
And don't comment on it.
What's happening.
Is checking that you're not tense.
Trying to get somewhere.
Here I just take a deep breath and relax.
It's more about relaxing.
No matter what the story.
Just a thought,
Just having a thought.
And come back to the richness.
.
.
A feast of the senses.
What's going on right now?
And just let the mind dominate.
Just take your attention away.
I'm going to listen to you And listen to the birds.
The silence.
I'm going to feel the body.
Okay,
That brings us to the end of the session.
And your little stretch or your little wiggle
