Step Away From the Thought!

(gentle music) Headspace Studio. Hi, I'm Dora from Headspace and welcome back to another Sunday Scaries. So when it comes to Sunday, it's important to consider how we relate to what passes through the mind. Some responses to an active brain are helpful and some aren't. So there are a lot of myths or misconceptions when it comes to meditation. And one that I've heard quite frequently is that thinking is bad. And here's the thing, thinking is neither good nor bad, it just is. But how we respond, how we relate to our thoughts, the meaning that we give our thoughts, is what matters most. So if we can learn to take a step back from those thoughts and see them for what they are, just thoughts, then we can become aware of the meaning that we've associated with them. Once we can become aware, we can take action and engage with them, the helpful thoughts and the not so helpful thoughts, too. Try and notice how your mind processes what's going on around you. See if you can acknowledge your thoughts, whatever they may be, and then try letting them go, coming back to whatever you're doing in the present moment. If it's something positive, we can acknowledge it, maybe make note of it, engage with it if necessary, but ultimately letting that go as well. By learning to let go and learning to engage with that which is helpful, we can start to embrace the positive aspects of our life, the things that are going well and the things that we can look forward to in the week ahead. So with that in mind, just take a moment right now to take a big, deep breath, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And as you breathe out, just allowing the eyes to close, feeling the weight of the body pressed down. Allowing any and every thought to just come and go. And as you sit there, just starting to notice the movement of the breath in the body, the rising and the falling sensation, and just gently placing a hand on your stomach. So just feeling that movement without engaging in any particular thought. Allowing any positive thoughts to leave a feeling of positivity in the body and in the mind. And just choosing to acknowledge and let go of any thoughts that are difficult, troubling, challenging in some way. And then just bringing the attention back to the body, coming back to that feeling of contact, setting the intention to be more aware of the positive thoughts that arise in your mind throughout the week. And then whenever you're ready, just gently opening the eyes again. (gentle music) Before you move or do anything else, just take a moment here to connect to that sense of positivity. Oftentimes, we search for these feelings outside of ourselves. We may think that the source of our positivity is in people, places, or things, when...