Guilt

To witness a thinking mind is a humbling experience. It's not always beautiful, not always as we'd like it to be, but it's enough to be humbled. We don't need to add guilt to it too. So when we first sit to meditate, we might be quite shocked by how many thoughts there are in the mind. We might be quite shocked by the types of thought in the mind. We might be surprised by how judgmental, how critical the mind is sometimes. And very often this can lead to a feeling of guilt. It's as though we have an idea of what we would like the mind to be like, what we think it should be like, and then how the mind appears as we witness it in the meditation. But of course, as long as we're getting involved in the thinking as it arises with creating these storylines of guilt and we shouldn't feel a certain way, we're simply creating another layer of thinking. We're creating more storylines in the mind, more noise in the mind. So as much as possible, seeing that when it happens, letting it go, knowing that within the framework of meditation, thinking is just thinking. It doesn't matter what type of thinking it is. We don't need to feel a certain way about it or think a certain way about it. But inevitably, sometimes we will feel humbled by the mind. So just taking a moment or two to get comfortable and begin with the eyes open without moving the eyes, aware of the space around you. Nice, soft focus. And just taking a couple of big, deep breaths, breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth. As you breathe in, noticing how chest expands. As the lungs fill with air. And as you breathe out just watching as the muscles in the body soften a little bit. And with the next out breath, just gently closing the eyes, allowing the breath to return to its natural rhythm. And just feeling the weight of the body, pressing down, contact between the hands, the legs, the feet, and the floor. Beginning to notice the different sounds around you rather than resisting them, just allowing them to come and go. And then bringing the attention back to the body, starting at the top of the head, just scanning downward. Building up a picture of how the body feels right now. At the same time just beginning to notice the breath, noticing where in the body. Feel that movement of breath. Just following the natural rhythm. And counting if you find that easier in your own time now. And noticing when the mind's wandered, just letting go of that. It's coming back to the breath and just picking up a counting from where you left off, and then just releasing the focus on the breath. Just shifting the attention back to those points of contact in the body, that feeling of weight in the body,...