This meditation will focus on cultivating a healthy relationship with our thoughts.
I'll talk for a couple of minutes about thoughts and meditation and then we'll ease into the meditation itself.
It's a common misconception that the aim of meditation is to stop thoughts,
But we can't stop thoughts.
Our hearts beat,
Our lungs breathe,
And our brains think.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
The problem comes with our relationship to those thoughts,
Our getting swept away by them,
So that we begin to live in the virtual reality of the thoughts and not in the here and now of our present moment.
Neuroscience tells us that we have as many as 6,
000 thoughts a day,
90% of which are subconscious and 95% of which are repetitive,
Usually rehearsing things or replaying things in our minds.
And we know that thoughts are what create emotions.
And emotions take about 90 seconds or so to cycle through us.
So when we feel something like chronic stress or anxiety,
That can only be sustained by re-upping our thoughts.
Our thoughts are triggering the emotions.
And thinking,
As neuroscience tells us,
Is mostly involuntary.
It's happening to us.
We're mostly at the mercy of our thoughts when we're not aware of them,
Which for most human beings is all the time.
The irony is that when we can let our minds rest,
When we can find the space between thoughts,
That's often when our insights come.
That's often when the solutions that we're seeking arise in that space between the thoughts.
So we can see how thoughts are a good servant and a poor master.
We have expressions like monkey brain to explain how we feel when our thoughts run away with us.
James Joyce wrote,
Mr.
Duffy lived a short distance from his body.
And we can often feel this way when we're moving through our day that our awareness is not quite with us in the moment.
We're out ahead of ourselves or we're out behind ourselves not being present to what's going on.
The way back to the present moment is through grounding in the five senses.
And the goal of meditation always is not for its own sake what happens on the meditation pillow,
But for what happens in our lives,
How it bleeds through to our lives.
So whether meditating helps you find a breath or two in the middle of a busy day or some other sensory vehicle for bringing yourself back to the here and now,
Then meditation is doing its job.
For me sometimes simply unloading the dishwasher in the morning,
Which is a time when my mind is usually racing about the day ahead,
Is an opportunity to just listen to the sounds of the glasses as I'm putting them away to the sound of my footsteps,
To the sound of the drawers opening and closing as if I'm listening to a screenplay.
And all of these sounds are here for me to notice.
And that little exercise gives me some relief,
Gives me some space between my thoughts to be present to what's happening in the moment.
When I'm out walking,
Just noticing clouds being present to a breeze moving my hair,
That can bring me back.
So for each of us,
It's important to find our own way,
Our own moments of opening,
Opening to grace,
Opening to the present moment of our lives.
And meditation is our practice for doing that.
So let's begin by settling into a posture that's comfortable.
It helps to be upright,
To sit with a sense of dignity,
Mobility,
As if you're taking a throne,
Feeling solid in your seat,
Feeling your connection to the earth.
With your chest open,
Your heart area soft and receptive,
Just tune yourself like a musical string,
Not too tight,
Not too loose.
And if you're comfortable,
Gently close your eyes.
So our three commitments for this meditation are simply to be still,
To rest our awareness in the breath,
In our tummy,
And when our mind wanders,
To gently return to the breath.
Very simple.
The river of thought will continue,
Just let it flow,
But gently stay present with the breath.
Feeling the sensation of the breath filling your tummy.
Thoughts may come and go like white water rapids or in a slow trickle,
It doesn't matter.
Just each time your awareness drifts away from your breath,
Just name what's happening.
You might say thinking,
Thinking,
And gently without judgment,
Bring your awareness to the next breath.
The moment you name the thought,
You're no longer caught inside it.
The thought loses power over you.
Just treating the mind like a distracted puppy.
Each time it wanders off,
You just gently and lovingly bring it back.
No scolding,
No judgment,
Just invitation to come back.
The moment we realize we've been swept away in a thought stream is the sweet spot.
It's the moment of pure presence,
The moment of noticing.
The noticing is our freedom.
We gently bring our minds back to our awareness,
To our five senses.
We can begin to sense the silence,
The stillness behind the thoughts,
The space around the thoughts,
The vast sky through which the thoughts flow like clouds.
Each moment that we gently bring ourselves back to our awareness,
We can begin to sense the silence.
The moment we can notice the natural silence deep in the substrate of our being,
That quiet,
Undisturbed place where your still small voice can speak to you.
You'll be silent now for a couple of minutes to give you room to just ride the waves of your breath,
However you're experiencing it.
When your mind wanders,
Gently acknowledge thinking,
Then bring yourself back.
Inviting yourself to feel the stillness,
The peace at the depth of your being.
This is what our consciousness center is about.
You you And in the days and hours to come inviting yourself To bring this awareness Into your moments into especially the challenging moments of Your day when your mind your thoughts Get swept away in a storeline Rehearsing replaying Rehearsing replaying Reaching forward in time to yourself at that moment and inviting yourself to notice To see what's happening To bring yourself back to center with a single breath With noticing sounds a breeze Anything to anchor you back into the moment at hand Gently and non-judgmentally Bring yourself back to center Touching into the peace The stability deep in your core May all beings be safe and free and protected from inner and outer harm May they be happy and contented May they be healthy and whole to whatever degree possible May they experience ease of well-being May all beings be happy,
May all beings be at peace,
May all beings be free May all beings be happy,
May all beings be at peace,
May all beings be free May all beings be happy,
May all beings be at peace,
May all beings be free
