Hello and welcome to the session.
I invite you to take a seat or lay down and get yourself comfortable.
You can close down the eyes if you wish and take a deep slow breath in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Just gently begin to open your mind to today's quote,
To contemplate the words with a free and open and subtle mind,
To welcome in possibility and expansion and growth and to allow yourself for the next few minutes to just sit and be with whatever arises.
In a moment I'm going to share with you a quote to contemplate and then we'll sit in silence for a minute and just let it percolate and then we'll talk about that quote and just see where the discussion leads us.
Today's quote comes from the spiritual teacher and author Adyashanti and it goes,
All thought craves to be believed,
And even that is okay,
So by accepting everything,
Nothing can strain you.
All thought craves to be believed,
And even that is okay,
So by accepting everything,
Nothing can strain you.
So this quote,
All thought craves to be believed,
And even that is okay,
So by accepting everything,
Nothing can strain you.
That quote comes from a guided meditation and really it's that first part,
All thought craves it's that first part,
All thought craves to be believed,
That speaks out in my mind as truth.
How easy is it to get attached to thought,
Something pops up in our mind and we identify with it,
We become it,
We embody it,
It is us,
It's like,
Colored glasses are placed on our eyes that we don't even realize and we see everything with a tinted gaze.
But this quote invites us to step back and detach from our thoughts,
To take off the glasses and just to see it's like,
Hey,
That's another thought,
That's another mood,
Emotion,
Memory,
Feeling,
That's another piece of mental phenomena that you've become associated with,
That you've attached to,
But what if we could step back and take a mindful breath and just see the thought for what it is,
Just another occurrence within our minds.
I like the analogy of thoughts as sound,
You know a bird call,
A bird cheeps and then it disappears,
Then another one cheeps and disappears,
You are not that bird call,
It's just appeared in consciousness and then it's gone.
But unlike bird calls,
Thoughts are very sticky,
They're addicting,
They're tempting and they latch on and we become enamored with them,
It's like a movie is playing in our mind and we just can't pull our eyes away,
All thoughts crave to be believed,
It's so true.
There's a little game I like to play with myself,
When I notice I'm attached to a thought,
Take anger,
I am angry becomes I am noticing anger,
Becomes I am noticing that anger is present,
Becomes anger is present.
So I've detached,
I've seen the anger,
I've seen my association to the anger and I've stepped it back to just noticing that it's present,
Oh look there's a bird call,
There's a tree leaf,
Oh look at that,
Anger.
Now don't get me wrong,
This practice isn't perfect,
I do get trapped in emotionality,
In thought,
In rumination,
In anxiety,
But being aware of this possibility,
Of this process,
Practicing meditation,
Taking slow calm breaths,
When I notice I'm lost in thought,
Just gives me that little break,
Little detachment,
Little awareness,
A little chime to go,
Hey you are not that thought,
You are the thing having the thought,
You are the space in which the thought arises,
Or just merely a thought has arisen.
You know we can go down different esoteric and philosophical and traditional paths that suggest that at your core you are emptiness,
Or at your core is love,
Or a godlike figure.
I think that's a little bit beyond where we need to be,
I think it's more important for most of us to just realise that we're not our thoughts,
Whatever we are,
Whatever is at our core,
The next thought that arises is not you.
I could say a random word right now and it will implant itself into your mind,
You won't have a choice,
But I'm going to do it,
And I just want you to see how ridiculous it is,
Because this thought will enter your mind,
And because it will be a ridiculous thought,
You will see it for what it is,
Just a transient piece of mental phenomena,
And because I'm letting you know that it's coming,
You will have your guard up a little bit,
But if we practice in this way,
Perhaps we will see that when those thoughts come out of the blue,
Sort of blindside us,
The anger,
The jealousy,
The rage,
The resentments,
The pain,
The depression,
The anxiety,
When these thoughts arise,
With practice,
With awareness,
With contemplation of a quote like this one,
Perhaps we can start to combat it with mindfulness,
With the breath,
With awareness.
Are you ready for the thought?
A cartoon giraffe wearing sunglasses and a backwards cap.
A cartoon giraffe wearing sunglasses and a backwards cap.
Now,
You can picture that in your mind,
I'm picturing that in my mind,
And it's easy to see that we are not that thought,
But it's quite a lot harder to see when it's deep emotionality,
And it surprises us,
But in the same way,
You can hold that thought in your mind,
And recognize that you are not the giraffe with sunglasses and a backwards cap,
No matter what thought arises,
You are not it,
You are not the thought that appears next.
So let's just sit in contemplation of the quote.
All thought craves to be believed,
And even that is okay,
So by accepting everything,
Nothing can strain you.
All thought craves to be believed,
And even that is okay,
So by accepting everything,
Nothing can strain you.
Well done,
This brings us to the end of the session.
At the bottom of your screen,
You'll see an option to view the classroom,
Or to ask a question.
Before moving on,
I invite you to take a moment to click through and share your insights,
To read the answers from other students,
And to hear my replies.
Remember to start your responses with a diashare,
Remember to start your responses with a diashanti,
Or to restate the quote,
So we know which one you are referring to.
This is an opportunity for deep learning,
Further introspection and insight,
So please don't miss out.
I look forward to seeing you in the next session.
This track was taken from my course,
Daily Contemplations for Living an Examined Life.
It's out now on Insight Timer,
And available via my profile.
I invite you to join in.
