Recognizing Your Thought Patterns

(soft music) Throughout our day, there are many things vying for our attention, whether it's external things like work, our relationships, lengthy to-do lists, or internal things like our thoughts, emotions, and sensations. This is the mind's playground. The mind loves to jump from past to future, future to past. And it's normal for the mind to wander and be distracted. If we can learn to be aware of the mind in all its movements, to be aware of thoughts, emotions, and sensations, we can strengthen our mindful muscle and learn how to be in the moment. Let's give this a try. Take a moment to sit upright, resting the feet on the ground if possible, and resting the palms of the hands on the legs. Closing the eyes if you'd like. Just taking a deep breath here. Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And then just beginning to notice that natural rhythm of the breath. Noticing how you're breathing, feeling that gentle rising and falling sensation of the breath. And the mind may have wandered to the past or to the future. Perhaps it's lost in thought. So, just noticing where the mind is and seeing if you can kindly and gently bring the mind back to the sensation of the breath, or even resting it on a sensation in the body, if that feels better for you. So, resting the focus on the body or the breath and acknowledging when the mind has gotten distracted and is elsewhere, and just returning back to this moment. Letting go of any judgment. Remembering we're building a muscle. And we can do that by noticing when we've been distracted, acknowledging the thought or feeling, and returning to the present moment. And then, just letting that go. Beginning to notice sounds around you in your space. Maybe taking a gentle stretch whenever you're ready, opening your eyes if they were closed. Now, before you move, just take a moment to notice how you feel and how that exercise was for you. What did you notice about being in the present moment? What did you notice about your mind? And how did you respond to what you noticed? This exercise can be taken with you into your everyday life as well. Try noticing where your mind is as you go about your day and see if you can be present to what is happening in the moment. The more that we can practice this, the easier it will become. So, keep trying and I'll see you back here soon....