Observing Our Thoughts Like Sounds

We focus on sounds to notice how the mind interprets everything it hears. To become more aware of this is to recognise we have some choice in this interpretation. We may also notice an interpretation gives rise to a train of thought. We use the same technique to listen to our thoughts, see if we can observe any thoughts. We might notice we find this task hard or easy, can we also observe these judgments?

Transcript

Let's make ourselves comfortable. Notice where we're putting our body, Putting our feet on the floor, Our arms and our legs into neutral, Somewhere comfortable. And taking a few deeper breaths as we take our attention inwards. Allowing our spine to lengthen just a little bit as we inhale and as we exhale, Settling into our seat. When we exhale again, Relaxing a little more. Taking a few slightly slower, Deeper breaths as we become still. Let's take our attention to what we can hear. You may notice your reaction to sounds. So, Upon hearing a sound of a particular quality, Your brain will automatically label it for you, Tell you things about it. That's a car, It's going that way. There's a bird on the roof, A clock. If there aren't many sounds in your environment, You may find yourself wishing there were some, Wanting for them to be some. Are we able to separate out these elements a little bit by noticing the physical properties of each sound and our reaction slightly separately? If there aren't many sounds, You may be able to hear internal sounds. Things that your body makes. You may also notice when you hear a sound and your mind labels it, It sets you off on a train of thought. Ah, There's a bird outside. Oh, It's sunny outside. Oh, I could put the washing on. Can we notice this? My goodness. We're going to release our focus on the sounds and see if we can use the same technique of being observant on our thoughts. So as if we were listening to our thoughts in the same way as we were listening to the sounds. So just waiting, Seeing if we can hear a thought. Okay. Maybe we are having thoughts that that's quite difficult. Are we able to observe those thoughts? If we are finding the process difficult, Are we able to observe our judgement? Then maybe we might choose to release that and allow our observation of our thoughts to be just as it is. Maybe we are good or bad at it. Can we be okay with that? Okay. Releasing that task. The last few moments sitting quietly with our breath and our body. Seeing if anything has come up for us during this practice. And we can thank ourselves for taking this time to explore our inner world. And understand ourselves a bit better. And we can take a few energising breaths and start to bring movement into the body. So gradually re-energising, Re-animating the arms and the body. And taking a little stretch if that's for us. And when you're ready, Coming back to your regular waking state. Thank you for practicing with me.

Reviews

Perfect thank you 🙏✨