Good morning,
Afternoon,
Good evening.
So we're gonna start off with a poem this morning.
Can you just give me the thumbs up,
Linda?
Does the sound,
Is the sound okay?
Because I'm just using a new mic.
Walk Slowly by Donna Falls.
It only takes a reminder to breathe,
A moment to be still.
And just like that something in me settles,
Softens,
Makes space for imperfection.
The harsh voice of judgment drops to a whisper.
And I remember again that life isn't a relay race,
That we will all cross the finish line.
And that waking up to life is what we were born for.
As many times as I forget,
Catch myself charging forward without even knowing where I am going.
That many times I can make the choice to stop,
Breathe,
To just be and walk slowly into the mystery.
There's a few things that stand out for me there,
Other things might stand out for you.
But when we come into the body,
When we come to what's actually happening to the senses,
We soften.
We harden when we get into our thoughts,
Know the what-ifs and might-bes and should-bes and should-haves and should-have-beens and all that stuff,
Because that's out of our control.
Anything that's not happening right now is really out of our control.
It's not to say we don't make decisions,
Of course.
But also that waking up to life is what we were born for,
And I think that's so true.
And that's what we're doing here,
We're slowly waking up to what's really going on.
Because we're all,
The vast majority of human beings,
That's sort of hypnotized by mind.
And we don't quite realize it because everyone's,
You know,
Just about everyone's hypnotized by mind.
Even the doctors,
Psychiatrists,
Psychologists,
They're all hypnotized by mind.
We intuitively know something's quite right here,
Something's off.
And so the mind doesn't wake up,
The mind can't wake up.
The mind is a tool.
What good's a tool without the carpenter?
You are the carpenter.
But we've forgotten that mind is a tool,
A brilliant tool,
Exceptional.
It's like the mind is running the show and it's not equipped to do it.
And that's why we suffer,
Anxieties and worries and frettings and such like.
So our identity is mixed up with our thoughts,
And that's the problem.
And that was the Buddha's point,
That was his essential point.
It's a mistaken identity.
What we're doing here is just coming out of mind,
Watching mind,
Coming out of mind,
And just resting what's actually happening,
And that's it.
That's all you need to do.
When Zen and Djokovic,
When I came across them and said,
All you need to do is just feel what you find,
That was like a breath of fresh air.
Because I was trying to work it all out.
But I still didn't quite know what they were pointing to.
That took a while,
That took a while,
Okay.
Your understanding sort of deepens as you go on.
It's still refining,
Maybe a better term.
And it never stops.
Whilst we're lost in mind,
We're believing all the core beliefs that the mind has,
I'm not good enough,
Life's hard,
Life's not enough,
I'm no good.
So let's drop out of mind.
Come into the body.
Relax the attention on the breath.
Take your foot off the accelerator or the throttle.
It's not going anywhere.
Relax.
Feel what you find in the body.
The Cho Ching,
The whole narrative about it.
The mind will offer you rides,
The anxious ride.
Pull me ride.
The ride of hope.
Just decline and come back home.
If you find yourself on a ride,
Lost in thought,
You can just say to yourself,
Having a thought,
That you're using the mind as a tool.
Then come back to the body.
Feel the breath.
Just checking if there's any straining in the body.
Any tightening through over-efforting.
It's not about effort.
Life's already happening.
You don't have to make it happen.
Watch the mind scurrying around like a scared little mouse,
Trying to make sense of something,
Trying to pin something down.
Or it might have quietened.
Which is pleasant.
Where's your attention right now?
Let go.
What would happen if you let go?
Don't think about it.
Let go a little,
You'll have a little peace.
If you let go a lot,
You'll have a lot of peace.
Let go completely.
Complete peace.
Ain't nobody going nowhere.
Okay,
That's it.
You can open your eyes if they're closed,
Have a little stretch.
Thank you all.
Have a good day.
Thank you,
See you tomorrow.
Bye-bye,
See you tomorrow.
