Curiosity Over Contraction

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about creating more internal ease. So a lot of us get caught in creating internal tension because we're fighting the experience that we're having. We resist the thoughts that we're having, the emotions we might be experiencing, the sensations that might be arising. And all of that we can view as a form of contraction.

I view internal contraction as potentially happening on three different levels. There's a level of psychological contraction where we have an experience and then go, I shouldn't be having this experience. So it sort of shows up as thoughts. There's a level of emotional contraction, which is the emotion that says, Oh, I shouldn't be having this experience, but it doesn't say it through thoughts it says it through feeling. Usually it'll be something like anger or frustration that this is here, emotional contraction.

And then there's physical contraction. And this is where the body quite literally contracts around an already difficult or tense experience. You can imagine, you know, pain somewhere in the body that arises, and then other parts of the body that start contracting in relationship to that pain. So these three different layers of contraction, psychological, emotional, physical, are all ways that we can fight our internal experience and actually create more tension, taking us away from ease. So how do we work with that? Well, here's a simple phrase that you can utilize in relationship to that as it's arising.

And the phrase is, curiosity over contraction. Curiosity over contraction. The great thing about the mind state of curiosity is that it's inherently non-judgmental. It just seeks to get to know what this experience is like right now. It doesn't need to make it better.

It doesn't need to change it. It doesn't need to fix it. And it doesn't really have an agenda. It just wants to know, Oh, what is it like to be me? What is it like to feel this? What is it like to have this thought? What is it like to have this sensation? And do you see how that is, in many ways, the direct opposite of contracting against the experience. Contraction tends to be more fear-based and curiosity, I consider to be the opposite of fear.

So as you're going throughout your day and you notice yourself caught up in this internal contraction on the psychological level, the emotional level or the physical level, I just invite you to drop in this phrase, curiosity over contraction, and bring a sense of curiosity to the experience that's there. The thought that's arising that's maybe frustrating you. What's it like to have this thought? The emotion that's arising. What's it like to feel this? The sensation that's arising. What's the quality of the sensation? And by bringing that curiosity to the experience, it will help you meet it with openness and presence rather than tension and contraction.

So something to try out in your meditation practice and in your day-to-day life. Thank you for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.