And so for the next several minutes,
You'll be noting any occurrence of hear-rust in your experience,
Which will be an absence of internal talk,
Dialogue chatter in the head,
And or maybe if internal talk is present,
You can breathe into it,
Kind of helping it cool out or maybe melt would be another metaphor.
Some people can hear through and around internal talk.
And the fourth possibility is noticing if outside sound expands,
That inside talk contracts.
And the key for that is keeping the awareness.
The key for all of this is keeping the awareness in talk space.
So if you've lost sensitivity to where talk space is for you,
You can always begin by just saying a word or words,
Repeating it to yourself a few times,
Just to get a sense of where that location is.
And then stop repeating the word and just keep your awareness at that location.
And if any internal talk arises,
That's fine.
If when you take your awareness there or keep it there,
No internal talk arises and it's quiet,
That's hear-rust.
Note that.
Hang out with that,
With or without a label.
Just noticing absence of internal talk or a kind of quiet that goes through and around internal talk.
Or noticing an effect of external sound creating a quiet and internal talk.
In any event,
Your focus is on talk space.
Just hang out there,
Noting any occurrence of hear-rust.
Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,
Hear-rust.
Noting hear-rust can take you into a deep state of concentration.
It also helps you not attach to content of any talk that may arise.
Tuning into rest as opposed to activity is a key skill to develop.
Hear-rust.
Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,
Hear-rust.
Noticing quiet in internal talk,
Lack of internal talk.
You could breathe into any talk activity and smooth it out,
Soothe it out.
You could hear through and around any internal talk.
You could just park your awareness in internal talk.
If there's a point at which external sound increases,
You could notice how it causes internal talk to decrease.
Hear-rust.
Noticing quiet in internal talk,
Lack of internal talk.
Hear-rust.
Hear-rust.
Noticing quiet in internal talk,
Lack of internal talk.
Hear-rust.
Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,
Hear-rust.
Noticing quiet in internal talk,
Lack of internal talk.
If there is activity in internal talk,
See if you can breathe into it.
That may soften it.
Maybe you can listen through and around it,
Tuning into the space,
The quiet around and through behind the talk.
Just shifting your perspective if talk is present.
And the last possibility that may or may not be an option at this moment,
But definitely will later,
As external sound expands,
Internal talk contracts.
You can count on that.
Our attention tends to get pulled out to the noise of external sound.
If you can keep it on talk space,
You can watch it all go quiet.
Hear-rust.
Noticing quiet in internal talk,
Lack of internal talk.
Anytime there's an absence of internal talk,
Hear-rust.
Hear-rust.
Noticing quiet in internal talk,
Lack of internal talk.
Hear-rust.
Good.
This was a good practice session.
And if you feel any more concentrated,
Settled,
Have any more clarity about talk space,
About hear-rust,
Have any more equanimity or acceptance,
Allow those qualities to stay with you after this meditation as you make the transition from formal practice to practice in action.
Thank you.
