Hello everyone.
Today we will explore what trust is in the context of mindfulness.
Ralph Waldo Emerson says,
Trust your instinct to the end,
Though you can render no reason.
So developing a basic trust in yourself and your feelings is really an integral part of meditation training.
Jon Kabat-Zinn says,
It is far better to trust in your intuition and your own authority,
Even if you make some mistakes along the way,
Rather than always looking outside yourself for guidance.
So if at any time something doesn't feel right to you,
Why not honor your feelings?
Why should you discount them or write them off as invalid because some other authority or some group of people or some other person think or say differently?
This attitude of trusting yourself and your own basic wisdom and goodness is very important in all aspects of the meditation practice,
But also in life.
Having trust in yourself means being your own person and understanding what it means to be yourself.
Anybody who is striving to be like somebody else,
No matter who it is,
Is heading in the wrong direction because it's impossible to become somebody else or become like somebody else.
Your only hope is to become more fully yourself.
And that's really one of the reasons for practicing meditation in the first place.
Oscar Wilde says,
Or said,
Be yourself,
Everyone else is already taken.
Be yourself,
Everyone else is already taken.
I love that.
In practicing mindfulness,
You are practicing taking responsibility for being yourself and learning to listen and trust your own being.
The more you cultivate this trust in your own being,
The easier you will find it to also trust other people more and to see their basic goodness as well.
Developing a basic trust in ourselves is really about tapping into our own innate wisdom,
Which is always available to us,
But quite often overlooked or dismissed when we remain so caught up in the thinking mind.
The intentionality of turning towards ourselves and honoring our feelings begins to promote an equanimity between the mind and the body.
It also allows us to tap into an intelligence that is quite likely greater than the thinking mind.
That brings us to the important connection between the mind and the body that we try and strengthen through mindfulness practices.
By fully inhabiting our physical being,
We begin to invite the experiential to inform our experience through the intelligence of the body and its connection to the greater world around us.
Establishing a trust in our intrinsic wisdom really is crucial to embodied living and wholeness.
Our emotional intelligence is often discounted as not having as much merit as the thoughts we have,
But the truth is,
If you are ever having a thought that doesn't match an emotion or physical sensation,
You can generally be sure the feeling is accurate,
But the thought isn't.
If you're ever having a thought that doesn't match how you're feeling or physical sensations that you're having,
You can generally be sure that the feeling is accurate,
But the thought isn't.
That's really important.
We have to remember that our thoughts are not facts.
Likewise,
Often our bodies know well before it registers cognitively that we're about to go into the fight or flight mode.
As we become more in tune with our bodies,
We can recognize signals that may allow us to interrupt and even stop the fight or flight response or simply recover more quickly.
Another important factor in trusting our own wisdom is trusting the information that we receive from our bodies and trusting in our emotional intelligence.
I'm not going to delve too deeply into physiology,
But there are two interesting things to note.
If you have ever gone with your gut to make a decision or felt butterflies in your stomach when nervous,
You're likely getting signals from an unexpected source,
Your second brain.
Yes,
Your second brain,
Also known as the enteric nervous system.
Hidden in the walls of the digestive system,
This brain in your gut is really revolutionizing medicine's understanding of the links between digestion,
Mood,
Health,
And even the way you think.
Then secondly,
It's also important to know that the heart plays an important role in all of this too.
Years of research has shown that the heart is a highly complex information processing center with its own functional brain,
Which is referred to as the heart brain.
It has a sophisticated collection of neurons that are organized into a small but complex nervous system,
Which communicates with and influences the cranial brain in a two-way exchange.
Science has identified heart intelligence as the flow of awareness,
Understanding,
And intuition that we experience when the mind and emotions are brought into coherent alignment with the heart.
Pardon me,
I'm so sorry.
This dynamic interaction of the heart and gut with our brain is critical in explaining why we should trust our instincts for important information that is registered in the body through physical sensations,
Feelings,
And gut reactions that come from these other places of intelligence.
It's easy to dismiss these signals when so many of us live much of our lives from the neck up and believe that the contents of our thoughts to be the ultimate truth.
In practicing mindfulness,
We begin to see that it's not true,
And we begin to have the awareness that allows us to question the thoughts that we have and recognize that they are not facts.
This begins to strengthen our trust in our own intrinsic wisdom.
If you trust your intuition,
Nothing can go wrong.
Worst case,
You learn a lesson.
Best case,
You find magic.
Sarah Lewis.
Let's begin our meditation.
If you would,
Find a comfortable seat,
An upright posture that is supportive.
If it feels comfortable,
Closing your eyes.
And now just gently beginning to turn the gaze inward,
Maybe feeling the support of your own body,
Of the chair you're sitting in,
Of the earth below.
And now perhaps taking a moment to observe the quality of the mind right now.
Maybe there's a sense of inertia.
Thoughts seem to be continuing ahead,
And that's okay because that's what minds do.
But maybe just observing the activity of the mind,
If your mind is active in this moment and hasn't settled yet.
Maybe labeling the thoughts as they arise,
Planning the to-do list,
A worry,
The next meal.
And so just staying with the thought,
Witnessing the rise and fall,
Just like the breath rises and falls.
And now perhaps tuning into the breath and gently guiding the mind to pay attention to the breath.
Just beginning to follow the rhythm of your own breath cycle.
Just feeling the breath coming in and out of the body,
One breath at a time.
That's just noticing how naturally the in-breath turns into an out-breath.
And how one breath turns into the next.
And just following each breath all the way to the end.
Maybe noticing that tiny moment,
That pause where the in-breath turns to the out-breath.
So just riding the waves of your own breath.
Allowing the breath to breathe you.
Breath by breath and moment by moment.
And if the mind does wander off,
Which it surely will if it hasn't already,
Then just gently but firmly guiding it back to the breath.
Allowing the breath to anchor you into this moment.
Allowing the breath to anchor you into this remarkable body with its own intelligence.
And as you're following along with the breath,
Maybe also noticing how is the breath in this moment.
Is it easy or is it labored?
Has it shifted since we began in meditation?
So just investigating your own experience moment to moment.
Breath by breath.
And perhaps broadening your awareness to include the whole body.
The whole body breathing and maybe taking a moment also to notice if there are any areas of tension.
And if any areas of tension have made themselves known,
Perhaps inviting some ease or inviting a softening,
Whether it's in the shoulders or the neck,
The jaw or the facial muscles,
The temples or the forehead.
Simply bringing an awareness to any areas of tension and allowing them to be just as they are or inviting a softening.
And now I'd like you to think,
Think about the word trust and say it to yourself silently or even out loud.
Trust.
Maybe just notice how the word lands.
What comes to mind when you say it?
Maybe images of a trusted friend,
A loved one,
Or even a pet come to mind.
We often think of others when we think of trust.
Simply just holding the word and noticing whatever arises.
Maybe what comes up are feelings of safety,
Protection,
Or simply a knowing that you can depend on someone no matter what.
They've got your back.
They would never do anything to harm you mentally or physically.
Their motives are pure and they have your best interest at heart.
So continuing to hold this concept of trust,
The word,
As it's making itself known to you.
Tuning in to the meaning of trust.
The strength of trust.
Maybe even the felt sense of trust.
What does it feel like?
And just being with whatever arises.
So just taking a moment now to observe any feelings or sensations in the body that you might be becoming aware of as you sense into the meaning of trust.
And maybe it's a softness in the belly,
A warmth all over,
A lightness in the chest,
Or maybe even a slight bubbling of something resembling joy.
So whatever you're feeling,
Just taking a moment to tune into that.
Allowing yourself to become familiar with the feeling of trust.
Maybe even enjoying the feeling of trust.
And now perhaps turning more deeply inward,
Moving towards that part of you that remains still amidst turmoil.
This is the birthplace of your own internal guidance system.
It's the birthplace of a strength that we all have,
Of a wisdom that is as unique to us as our DNA.
And this is a place of trust.
And so now staying with the notion that you are the source of that trust.
That you have your back.
Your motives for yourself are pure.
You have your best interest at heart.
And that you have all the answers you ever need deep inside yourself.
Try it on for size.
Maybe it feels familiar.
Maybe it feels new.
Maybe it feels a bit out of reach in this moment.
And that's okay too.
Just honoring how it is in this moment.
If we can touch this place,
We can begin to listen to our own internal wisdom and trust what it is telling us.
We can begin to hear our own internal voice as it makes itself heard through the subtle and sometimes not so subtle signals to follow your own instincts.
To follow your heart.
What might it be like to rely on these internal cues as steadily as we may have relied on some other authority?
What might that be like?
By developing this deep sense of trust in ourselves and honoring our internal wisdom,
We become the best stewards of our own ship.
And as trust in our own authority builds,
We begin to hear the signals more loudly.
And so now just releasing that and just allowing the concept of trust to recede into the background of your awareness and letting it go.
Returning to the breath,
Your steady companion.
Just following the breath for another couple of cycles.
Shel Silverstein says,
There is a voice inside of you that whispers all day long.
I feel that this is right for me.
I know that this is wrong.
No teacher,
Preacher,
Parent,
Friend,
Or wise man can decide what's right for you.
Just listen to the voice that speaks inside.
So just gently opening the eyes if they've been closed.
And then bringing your awareness back,
Maybe even wiggling your fingers and toes or stretching your neck.
Thank you for your practice today.
The invitation that I'm going to leave you with is this week to pay attention to the physical signs of your inner voice.
So that means paying attention to the varying sensations in the gut or feelings in the chest or heart as you're faced with decisions or situations where you need to have some guidance.
Listen for the whispers of your own internal voice.
The more we listen,
The more we can trust our intuition and our own authority.
So once again,
Thank you so much for joining us this evening and enjoy the rest of your evening.
I hope to see you soon.
Bye everyone.
