Good morning So We can liken the mind to a pond If we want a clear pond where we can see the little newts and the little insects and the little fish What do we have to do?
We have to leave it And everything settles It's no good being impatient and trying to settle the water You don't have to try to settle the pond,
The water You don't get a stick and churn it all up Then you've got to wait another whatever amount of time for it to settle You do nothing Absolutely nothing Except sit and wait And clarity arises What we do with the mind is like we keep picking up the stick Churning it up It's just a habit We've been trained that way,
We've been conditioned like that And depending on the content of Playing with the stick Content of thought is,
There's worry,
Anxiety,
Fear,
Fantasy,
Hope,
Whatever I'm not talking about practical thinking It's different So we just leave it alone But when we're not,
When we are Waving the stick,
Churning it all up,
It's okay It has to be,
Because that's what's happening We just put the stick down Just drop it It's like,
Another metaphor is like What does the sky do about the clouds?
Nothing It doesn't do anything It doesn't try to push them away It doesn't have opinions about them It doesn't matter whether it's clouds of a hurricane Or nice thin white ones on a summer's day It actually doesn't matter So what we're going to do is we're going to do a mountain meditation Bringing in one of these metaphors People tend to like the mountain meditation So let me give you something you like But then we are going to do the open awareness We're not going to leave that behind Never leave that behind That's it Just allowing everything to be That's the key So Just settle Eyes open or closed Actually probably best closed for this one Just settling into the body And you can bring to mind a big beautiful mountain Or just have a sense of sitting like a mountain A mountain is still There is a stillness to a mountain And these silences feel into the qualities That are already here A mountain is here Present Can you just be here?
Feel into here A mountain A mountain Just sits Accepts everything just the way it is Storms Rain Sunshine Avalanches The mountain just sits In silence So the body is sitting like a mountain In stillness and presence But mind Is like the sky Clouds pass through it Thoughts Come and go So So just relax Into the spaciousness of the sky Sky like mind The sky doesn't cling on Try to push away the clouds But when you do cling on to the thoughts It's okay Just be sky like Just release them There's nothing in those clouds for you It's the big lie Let them go And sitting like a mountain Quiet Still With no purpose No direction Just drop that stick Drop it And just Without Dropping any image of the mountain Just sitting with a sky like mind The clouds are not going to stop They're not your responsibility Your work is to be the sky Not to stop the thoughts They're not your concern There's a far deeper knowing A far deeper intuitive wisdom In what we find in thought Self-centered thought So you can Begin to bring this session to a close Just opening your eyes Maybe a little stretch Okay So just to remember guys I'm only talking about self-centered thinking here Not talking about practical thinking Or functional That's different Okay Coffee time Ta-ra Ta-ra See you tomorrow Bye Bye
