Hey!

Welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness.

How did it go yesterday?

We're slowly building out a tool kit for

ways to be in relationship to our stress.

In the first two days, we spent

some time creating more space

around the experience of stress.

And also the thoughts that can arise

dropping into being an observer of

the experience rather than being

so sucked into the experience.

But we can take a more direct

relationship to our stress, meaning

how we direct our attention in

relationship to it, which could then

impact the experience of stress itself.

So what I mean by this is, when it comes

to the thoughts and the emotions and all

the sensational experiences of stress,

we could watch that happen, we could give

it space, we can observe it, but we can

also direct our attention away from it.

And that's what we're

going to talk about today.

Developing a calm quality of focus so

that the mind is not so sucked into

the actual content of the stress.

So as you sit here, I'm going to

invite you to bring your attention

to the fact that you're breathing.

If it's helpful, you could

place one hand on your belly.

When we're in a stressed out state,

the mind can get totally swept away

by thoughts, ideas, and judgments,

and all our perceived demands

that we need to take care of.

So, if you imagine that as a flashlight

with dispersion, what we're doing is

making that more of a laser pointer

and directing it right to the belly.

As the mind wanders off, and then

gets caught up in those thoughts.

Instead of indulging in them, we're just

redirecting the attention right back to

this moment, right back to this breath.

So just see if you can be aware

of three full breaths with full

focus, full presence and attention.

We'll try it out together.

If you want to close your

eyes, you're welcome to.

Great job!

We're going to expand that awareness

so that instead of focusing on

the breath, what we're doing is

focusing on the moment itself.

You can bring your focus

to me, to what you hear.

But each time you find the mind

caught up in thoughts, ideas, things

you might be stressed about, just

practice settling, settling the

attention right back into this moment.

Now, each time we do this, the

mind wanders off, we bring it back.

It's kind of like a

bicep curl for the brain.

And what we do see is that bringing the

attention back in that way, wandering

off, bringing it back, is strengthening

the part of your brain that is able

to be present and not so consumed

with the neurotic, stressful thoughts.

So it's a practice.

And when you find your mind wandering,

see if you can view it as a bicep curl.

Each time you're bringing it

back, even though it might feel

like a bit of a strain at first,

is strengthening that muscle.

We're going to do more of

this in the meditation.

So you'll get some more practice, but see

if you can also bring it into your day.

As always thank you for your practice.

I'll talk to you soon.

Take care.