Mindful Mondays|Week 21: Uncover

Author Note: If you prefer to listen or watch instead of or along with -
 Check out the YouTube video and/or the Podcast audio.

When you slow down and take time to be in your own space, inside your own mind and body, in a relaxed environment — you tend to discover some things your brain is trying to work out or complete or solve. This often can happen when we lay down at night. When the body stops and the space gets dark and quiet, your brain can finally have your full attention and start its laundry list of things it’s wanting you to work out from the day, about your coworkers or spouse, the schedule, planning for the future, and worrying about the past. This ends up being an unhealthy time for your mind to start chattering because sleep is of utmost importance. Many survivors struggle with sleep disruptions and insomnia because the brain is using the space to work through everything it has ever been through, and it takes so long to calm its overactive nervous system.

If this is you, you probably find the same thing happens when you hit the meditation pillow where, for some, taming the monkey mind seems unreasonably difficult. That’s very normal, actually. If being here every day for ten minutes is the one time of day you are able to sacrifice and carve out as alone, quiet, relaxed, dark, peaceful space, then your experiences with monkey mind are extra common.

So — today is an unconventional practice just for you. I want to honor you for taking the time to be here, and I want you to try to be mindful inside of your non-stop brain. We aren’t going to focus on the breath or body or an anchor. Now is the time to let your mind run freely. What this mindfulness practice today is to watch it happen. Give your brain an open field for full frolicking mode — just try to not let your mind get completely lost in thought. Try to watch your thoughts, from a non-judgmental seat like a tourist would watch monkeys swinging from tree to tree in the jungle. Try to notice your body sensations while thinking. Be extra aware of emotions that arise while the thoughts jump around you. Follow the thoughts to see how far into oblivion they can go, and then chuckle to yourself as you notice the absurdity of the movie playing out in your head. Maybe there is a serious issue that comes to your mind, and you can just follow the journey the brain goes on trying to make sense of it. Maybe a difficult emotion is going to arise; just watch the story is that is causing it. Wriggle along with the storyline to see if your brain can work itself out. If you lose contact with the space, sensations, or your point of view, notice that and come back to focusing on the thoughts drifting through. Let’s allow this time to be the creative playground for your mind to get lost in wonder today.

Close your eyes and see what you uncover in your mind for a few minutes.

***

Welcome back. Open your eyes and wiggle your fingers and toes. Reground into the room you are in. 

When your brain had your full attention, what did it uncover? Is there some vision or goal you need to go write down like a dream journal? Is there a pressing matter you need to add to your to-do that you had been forgetting? Did you uncover a new perspective to a trauma trigger that you had earlier this week? Did you solve an argument you and your partner had?

Whatever you uncovered is precious. Treat it like a newly discovered gem. Your brain created an idea, calculated stuff, organized an issue, or talked you onto or off of a ledge — now you know what it wanted to tell you while you were busy all day long. Yet you allowed the thinking to uncover itself in a process of mindfulness — you stayed present to your body and emotions and the world around you without getting too swept away.

If you found this very helpful, maybe you could find a space to add in a 5–10-minute monkey mind session throughout the day. Meditation is to help improve mental focus and to stay present in the moment. Today we wanted to see what it would look like without a settled focus, just for fun. If your mind was going crazy with delight for you allowing it to flutter around its playground, perhaps a few minutes of that right before you begin a meditation practice would help settle the monkeys so you can work on staying present in the moment or focused on an anchor.

This is a new tool for you to play with as you become more aware of what your mind, body, and spirit all want to uncover for you. This was great and important work. Be well, survivors.

Mindful Mondays|Week 20: Thinking

Author Note: If you prefer to listen or watch instead of or along with -
 Check out the YouTube video and/or the Podcast audio.

The mind is a complex place. The brain is made up of billions of nerve cells. The brain loves to think and work on our behalf. Even when we think we have stopped “thoughts”, the brain never actually completely stops doing what it needs to do. Beyond thinking, the brain is responsible for memory, the five senses, emotions, and all the regulation of our entire body. If the computer system breaks down, everything falls apart. So we can honor our brain by allowing thought. Channeling ideas, using thinking when most needed, calming the reacting parts, and staying on top of looping thought patterns is where mindfulness is helpful. We will never actually stop thinking, so trying to do so will only bring frustration and more worry. Meditation is about not resisting the brain’s magical thinking powers. It’s about allowing whatever is there to be there, acknowledging it, and then redirecting. This process, over and over and over again, is a mindfulness practice. That’s where you’ve found yourself today. Let’s give this a try.

Find a comfortable, quiet, relaxed space where you won’t be distracted. Take a cleansing breath. Close your eyes when you are ready. You are now inside the blank space of your mind where anything can happen.

You may notice sensations in your body, the urge to get up and jiggle around, feeling too hot or too cold, hunger, thirst, rapid fire thoughts, worries, a sense of panic, boredom, arousal, decompression from the day, coordination of your schedule, the long to-do list, fears, old grief from losing a loved one, or anything else the mind can think of to distract you. First thing to do here is to be okay with any and all of those things I just listed. Recognize this is the brain’s job. We are not going to try to stop the brain’s activity. We aren’t going to try to take away its magical powers.

Ground down into the seat below you and start to find a place in your body where you most feel your ever-constant breath. The cool air in the nostrils, the upper lip as warm exhales pass by, your chest or belly rising, or your rib cage expanding. We’ll call that the breath anchor. Stay with this focus point for as long as you can. When you get lost in a feeling, emotion, sensation, worry, thought, story, fantasy, or anything that’s outside of the focus on the breath, just recognize it. You can even tell yourself “There went my brain, working hard again.” Then gently, without judgment, just come back to the breath.

***

Did you get swept away downstream with the ever-so-long list of things you ‘should’ be doing? Did your body convince you to start scratching an itch? Are you planning your future child’s wedding again? All that is fine. Just come back. “That’s just my brain doing a good job,” you can say. Focus back on the breath and just stay with it as long as you can.

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Where is your mind right now? Were you able to stay anchored a little longer this time? Did your brain come back in to do more of its good work? Great! Thank it, and then patiently return its focus on your breath and just breathe.

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Each time you find yourself floating away like a feather, that’s the practice we call mindfulness. Congratulate yourself for noticing you got lost in thought, and then come on back. That’s how we strengthen the brain’s mindfulness capacity, over and over again. Let’s keep going for just another moment.

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You did a great job today. Your brain went on thinking, as it does, and you kept on bringing it back, like a great guru of mindfulness. Be proud of the work you put in and continue bringing yourself back to the present moment throughout the day whenever you notice that your brain has taken over again. Nothing here to be upset about; the brain just loves to think. Allow it; acknowledge it. Be mindful of it as you move kindly back into your day. That’s the practice, and you did amazing work. Until next time, be well, survivors.