Just making sure that you're comfortable and relaxed in a place where you won't be disturbed.
Just making sure there are any gadgets or any distractions around that you remove them from your space of meditation.
Either internally disconnecting from the mundane-ness of the everyday aspects of life or just simply turning things off.
As you come back into this wonderful state of relaxed receptivity,
Just making sure that you appreciate that you're giving yourself this moment of nurture,
This moment of creative exploration.
And there is no goal,
There is no specific place that you need to be exact,
Just honoring that which is right now in this moment.
There's no need to be somewhere else.
And if this aspect of the mind that is addicted to checking out or going to explore that which is out there,
If the mundane has become so addictive that it is very natural to follow some aspect out there rather than come back here to this wonderful place,
Home,
The essence of who you are and being mindful of this space,
Being connected to this space.
If the addictive nature of the mind pulls you out from this present moment into the next moment,
Then that's okay too.
It's okay to allow yourself to observe that this form of addiction,
This form of need of entertainment or fulfillment is just another aspect of the mind that can be observed through being present to the activity rather than trying to change the activity rather than getting reactive because the mind is distracting you or thinking of getting caught up in something that isn't really nurturing you in this moment,
Rather than get reactive or upset with yourself.
Just be mindful that the mind has so many layers,
So many interesting layers that once we come back to this state of awareness,
This state of just observing what is going on,
Then those layers become meaningful.
We understand that the mind is not really trying to create difficulties for us,
The stress or the anxiety or the reactive states that the mind can very often get caught within is not really a way to pull us out of happiness.
It's not a way that the mind creates,
The mind creates through these various thought activities to pull us out of this state of happiness.
It's rather just that the mind doesn't understand itself.
And so when we come back to awareness,
We're coming back to the natural wisdom that is within this space and the communication of this wisdom to the mind directly without having to filter through the many layers of learnings or belief systems that the mind has encompassed as part of its structure.
So it's almost as if by coming back to a state of awareness,
We are making the space more conscious simply because we are in alignment with some wisdom that has been forgotten,
Some aspect of wisdom that has been forgotten in the mundaneness of activities that take up our time and take up our energy.
Not that those activities need to be judged as good or bad,
But they just take up so much time and so much space and so take up so much of the space and so much of the energy within that space that there is very little left to come back to just being oneself and being in alignment with this natural wisdom that is part of the space that is here,
Present within you.
The wisdom is not out there even though the mind will always try to find it somewhere outside simply because the mind doesn't comprehend how to come back into the space of presence.
The mind being present means the mind has to dissolve into something that it can't control and that is too complex for it to comprehend within the limited structure of the mind.
So the mind always resists coming back to this beautiful moment and dissolving into this beautiful moment.
Because it is possible to encourage it,
To encourage the mind to not be so caught up and not be so obsessed with the addiction that is so very common in all aspects of our lives.
For every human being,
Not just you,
Every human being has to understand this dilemma where the mind is just so addicted to the situation that it can't let go.
There is something that you can do to help the mind and that is to connect it,
To create an alignment within the way that you are thinking,
Within the way that the mind is conceptualizing the experience so that this present moment creates a sense of movement within the mind,
Sense of energy within the mind that leads to excitement or sense of wow,
There is more to understand than just creating a picture of understanding.
I can understand my experience directly.
Just like there is more to feel than just talk about one's feelings,
One can come back to being so connected to what the energy is communicating within feelings that it's obvious.
If you are happy,
Your body smiles,
The energy around is light and it's just clear,
There is a clear communication of happiness.
There is no need to conceptualize happiness,
But it's possible because once you are connected to happiness in this way,
Directly,
Without having to filter the experience through thinking,
Then thinking naturally arises out of the directness and profoundness of the experience.
So you could be very happy and just say,
I am so happy.
Or you could be very blissful and I am just so content.
That's very different from conceptualizing and saying,
I am happy,
I am content.
That's almost like you will be happy,
You will be content.
The mind says,
Yes,
You will be and very soon we just have to investigate this little corner here that is the key,
The secret that will bring that happiness that I know you are experiencing well and almost,
Almost,
You will almost experience it.
Just bear with me for a moment here as I explore that secret corner and then the mind of course gets lost in its own structure and the directness of connection,
The alignment to the space becomes more restricted to the focus of the mind.
And so the movement of happiness isn't really communicated in the thoughts in that same way or in the thinking in that same way simply because the energy is no longer connected to happiness,
The energy is connected to a thought about happiness.
And so we need to justify the thought and we need to think about it and begin to search for the feeling that corresponds to that thought that we are having about happiness.
Am I really feeling happy?
Is this the happiness that I am talking about?
Ah,
Is that the happiness?
It becomes very confusing because the mind has done what most minds do and if you have a clever mind or if you have a mind that is very active because of just the lack of harmony around then the mind does what it does best.
That's come back into a state of control,
Controlling everything,
Controlling the way you feel,
Controlling the way your body communicates to the world.
So you are saying,
Ah,
I am happy,
But the body is saying,
No,
I am not really happy,
I am not connected to that happiness that I am thinking that I must be because I am thinking it.
So my thoughts are the most important because they are in control.
So then maybe the way that I am feeling isn't really the right feeling,
So let me search for the feeling.
And it gets very,
Very confusing and it's the same as anything else.
Once the mind learns to connect to this space of control and this space of conceptualization that the mind is very clever at doing,
Then the directness of an experience becomes exotic.
It's like something that happens once in a while and when it happens it's wow.
And we don't understand how easy it is to bring that experience of directness where the mind is not in control,
How easy that is to put into practice in meditation.
If we understand where things are not flowing or where things are restricted in their flow or where things just aren't really harmonious,
So we become aware that the mind is very addictive in its nature and we are just aware of that nature without judging it,
Without thinking about it,
Without trying to make sense.
We are just observing,
Ah the mind again in control,
Ah the mind again wanting to control how I feel,
Ah the mind again worrying about the world and worrying about that thought or creating a whole scenario out of something that I am just thinking.
You have some people that create a whole world of confusion around something that has nothing to do with what they are thinking about.
It's incredible.
We see this all the time.
So meditation is not just about coming back to the directness of an experience that's beyond conceptualization but it's also about a form of sanity that is slowly lost in this world as we get so addicted to this control mechanism within our brains that we don't understand truly what the state of freedom that meditation allows means and we don't believe it.
We don't even have an interest to explore such a situation because we don't believe that there is any truth in that.
The mind is so dominant in its activity and absorbing all the energy around that there is no space for excitement about anything else to sit and to breathe and to be connected to this moment and the mind will say to you,
Are you sure you want to do this?
On a subconscious level the mind will be still in control,
Are you sure you want to do this?
It's quite boring just to sit here and be connected to what?
And then some part of you might say,
Oh I'm not sure,
I'm connected to my breath.
I'm connected to stillness.
It's sort of ironic really.
The mind is there chatting to you saying,
Oh what are you connected to?
And you say,
Well I'm connected to stillness.
Where is the stillness as you begin to ask yourself the more deep and profound questions?
Where is the stillness?
Well it's not being experienced because the mind is in control.
But there is no way to get reactive and push the mind aside and say,
Okay I want meditation now,
I don't want the mind now,
Let me see,
Is there a button I can press like I do on my iPad?
Yeah here it is.
Isn't it Q,
Command Q or something like that?
Switch.
Oh I'm in meditation now,
How wonderful.
It doesn't work like that.
Because once an addiction becomes a habit then habits have a tendency to make it impossible for anything else to be part of the activity.
So as we,
You know this,
It's clear when you sit in meditation the mind is in the background creating all sorts of interesting connections to the future or connections to the past but this present moment is not at all interesting.
But why is it not interesting?
Not because the mind cannot control the present moment because the present moment in space,
In the dimension of space and time is very infinite.
And so there is no place that it can anchor itself into this present moment.
It has to conceptualize,
Okay what does the present moment mean?
As soon as you think that,
What does the present moment mean?
Then already you are not connected to the present moment.
You've gone into a concept about the present moment which then builds on all sorts of understandings that you've learnt throughout your life and that has been part of your normal belief system but it has nothing to do with the present moment.
So it's a bit of a parable really.
How do you come back to stillness without doing something?
Because if you do nothing you just sit there and the same thing happens for most people.
This is what I'm told when they sit in meditation.
It's nice and relaxing and it's wonderful just to have some time where you can close your eyes and nap off,
Nap a little bit.
You know,
I was so tired last night,
You know,
I need to just close my eyes and drift into that sort of nice relaxed state of sleep.
But what is meditation?
Most people don't really know what meditation is because to understand meditation means you truly need to understand the suffering that happens because you're not in the present moment.
And no one wants to spend their time meditating trying to understand suffering.
You are here to have a good time.
In this present moment you want to just close your eyes and switch into blissful happiness.
So why?
It doesn't make sense to just be aware of suffering.
But that is the step that is necessary to be aware of the mind because the mind is reactive because it's suffering.
When it comes to a state of deep,
Deep,
Profound contentment where it's not moved by the forces of reactivity,
By the stress,
By the anxiety,
By the challenges that you're meeting,
By the problems that you're facing,
By all the little aspects of the mundane world that you have to try to understand.
When the mind has removed itself from such,
Then it's freed itself from suffering.
But if you're honest with yourself,
If that's not the case for you,
And I mean,
There are some people who pretend this is the case for themselves.
Oh yeah,
I'm very blissful.
I don't have anything to worry about.
But put them in a situation where they will worry and they will worry.
So it's just that they escape.
And some people are lucky enough to be able to escape from the mundaneness of life by creating all sorts of lovely situations around them.
I'm not speaking about this.
I'm speaking about being so connected to the present moment that you're not escaping into sort of another mundane aspect of the world that is nicer.
I'm speaking about really being here,
Present.
That means you need to be present to all aspects of yourself.
So it may sound a little bit sort of depressing to be present to the suffering of your mind.
But actually,
It's very liberating because we know that the only way to break an addiction or to transform a habit is to observe what is creating that addiction,
To be aware of what's creating that addiction.
So if you're aware of the steps that the mind takes to come back into control,
Meaning that you're aware of your thinking,
And then as you sit in meditation you're aware that your thinking flows in a certain way or in a certain direction and you're just observing it without getting caught in the thoughts.
You're just saying,
Oh,
That's a thought.
So you're labeling the thought as,
That's interesting,
That's,
I'm thinking about the future now,
Or I'm thinking about stress,
Or I'm thinking about a problem.
Then you leave it at that and say,
Okay,
I will look at this later,
And interesting.
So the mind becomes aware that you're aware of it.
So it reveals secrets to you.
This is what makes meditation very interesting because most people believe meditation to be switching the mind off.
Somehow you step outside of the mind for a little five minutes,
20 minutes,
Whatever,
So that you can meditate and then you step back into the mind.
But actually,
What you're doing is you're inviting the mind into a different profoundness of experience,
A profoundness of experience that the mind directly begins to understand simply by being aware of the structure that the mind has,
You are able to fine tune that structure so that the energies of the mind are connected not to just obsessive thinking or addictive thinking,
But now to the wisdom that is within the experience.
So if you're happy,
The mind says,
Oh,
That's very nice,
And reinforces the happiness,
I'm happy.
So the mind is actually fulfilling just its primary function,
And that is to understand and experience.
But only when you have that experience,
Rather than to desire and want the experience and so get so connected to the future that the mind doesn't have the capacity to express its contentment,
To express its joy,
To express its blissfulness,
Because it's not connected to any of those things.
It's connected to itself,
And itself connects to that control mechanism that is connected to addiction and habits and problems and all the things that we know are part of the mundane.
So actually,
It's very easy to sit in meditation.
So now we come back to the very basics of meditation,
And that is when you are sitting and breathing and connecting to this beautiful space.
Here all you have to do is be present and mindful and just observe things without labeling,
Without creating,
Just labeling them,
Without creating a sort of adventure out of those thoughts.
Just labeling,
Huh.
I'm sitting and I'm receptive to the flow of energy.
I'm listening to the beautiful words of wisdom that are being communicated from deep within.
I'm thinking about that thought,
Wonderful,
And I'm coming back to this state of presence,
Awareness.
Now I'm aware of the sound in the background.
I'm breathing in and I'm aware of my body and I'm aware.
And so you're really gently allowing the mind to comprehend what it means to be present to the various experiences that you're having right now,
Rather than getting so caught in the process of thinking that you are lost,
Before you even know it,
You are lost in the future,
Sometimes years ahead of yourself.
And so you're gently allowing the structure of the mind to be more integrated with your experience of this present moment.
And this present moment,
As it is right now,
Usually is free of the suffering that the mind is captivated or obsessed by.
Is this present moment just now?
Everything is perfect.
There is no pain,
There is no suffering.
So the suffering that the mind believes to be reality is just an illusion that the mind has created through the confusion of thinking and being so obsessed with the future and the past.
So when you realize that,
Just directly without thinking,
When you realize that freedom is an aspect of awareness,
Then all of a sudden you quantum leap into the space of freedom and you realize that you have a choice.
And once you realize that you have this choice,
You make clear choices rather than be caught by the reactive process that makes choices for you.
So as you breathe in and breathe out and let go,
Let go of the mundane and come back to this clear and focused state of awareness here in this present moment,
Allow yourself just to sit in stillness.
Deep stillness.
Letting go,
Allowing the vibration of the Who mantra to bring you deeper and deeper into this state of profound contentment as awareness expands with the vibration of life into all and everything,
Into the infinity of this moment.
Thank you.
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