Cultivating a Non-Reactive Mind

Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to talk about cultivating a non-reactive mind. So when we begin meditation, as we watch the mind, we can see that we're often either caught up in thoughts or we're trying to get rid of thoughts. So we tend to be actually quite reactive to thoughts in this way, always tossed about sort of clinging to this and resisting that. And it's really habitual.

So as soon as a thought arises, we, sometimes we get pulled in or we get pulled around by it. But over time as we train the mind, we become more and more able to be less reactive and more responsive to thoughts instead. So what do I mean by responsive? Well, with a little bit of practice, we know how to step back from the thinking mind and just observe it rather than being swept away by it. So when we step back, we create this space between us and our thoughts and in that space we can watch and then choose how we would like to respond to a thought. So for instance, and this is an example I often use when I'm teaching retreats, if you wake up in the morning and it's raining and you see the rain out the window, and then the mind says, Oh, what a dreadful day.

If our knee jerk response is to get caught up in that thought, we immediately actually believe it is a dreadful day. We start to experience negative negative emotions, and we'll probably have a dreadful day. But is it true that the day is dreadful? Of course not. It's simply raining. So we don't want to get caught up in that thought.

Instead, all we have to do is observe the thought as it arises and then passes and not buy into it, or believe it. Then we're simply free to lay there and enjoy the sound of the rain on the roof with no negativity, no stress. So we don't get caught up in the thought nor do we need to fight it or push it away because fighting thoughts only reinforces and empowers them. Instead, again, all we need to do is simply observe the thought without reacting to it. So allow it to arise and pass away as we abide peacefully in the present moment.

So my invitation today is to see if you can be a little bit less reactive to thoughts, whether it's in meditation or in a situation in everyday life. Just seeing if you can remember to take that step back from thoughts, don't immediately buy into them or fight them. And by doing so, you'll create the inner space to not react, but to respond instead. And therefore ,you'll experience more ease and freedom of mind. We're going to continue to cultivate a non-reactive mind in today's meditation.

So let's begin to settle in for that now. And as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.