Hi and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today I'm going to share a story with you.

One morning while eating breakfast,

a young woman couldn't believe

what she saw while looking through

the window of her apartment.

Her neighbor, an older lady was

hanging out her laundry outside,

but something looked wrong.

She turned to her husband and

said that old lady obviously has

no idea how to do her laundry.

It's not clean, I guess maybe she's

senile or maybe she's poor and

she can't afford proper detergent.

Her husband remained silent.

Every time her neighbor would

hang out the washing to dry, the

younger woman would see the same

thing and say similar comments.

Sometimes she felt pity and

sometimes even mild discussed

watching the old lady hanging out

her dirty clothes day after day.

So one day, many weeks later, the

young woman woke up one day and was

surprised to see pristine, clean laundry

hanging on her neighbor's washing line.

And she said to her husband,

"Look, she's finally learned

how to wash things properly.

I wonder if somebody maybe gave her

lessons or give her some good detergent."

The husband said, "Actually I got up early

this morning and cleaned our windows."

So often in the same way we think that

we're seeing reality clearly, but our own

windows of perception, our thoughts, our

viewpoints, our opinions, they cloud, or

completely change the way we see things.

Now this can make us judgemental and

create rigid and fixed mental positions.

It can also mean that we simply

don't have a clear or true picture

of what's actually happening.

We're not seeing reality as it is.

So one way to clean our windows of

perception is actually really simple.

In any situation, especially if

you're passing judgment, opinions or

you have a really strong viewpoint

or belief, simply be willing to

question your way of seeing things.

For instance, you could ask yourself

questions, like: What filters am I

looking at this situation through?

In other words, what beliefs,

judgments, et cetera, might

be changing my perceptions.

If my filter was removed completely, how

might I see this situation differently?

Is the filter I'm looking through helpful?

Is it kind?

Is this something I want to hold

onto or is it time to let it go?

You might also consider if that

person looked back at you, what

filter might the other person

see you or the situation through.

How might that be different?

So these are questions you can use to

clean the windows of your perception.

And Hey, look even if you can't remember

these particular questions later, you

can simply be willing to question your

perception to be more openminded, to

hold your judgments and opinions lightly.

After all, you might be quite wrong.

So that's the invitation for today.

Question your perceptions, because

when we do that, we open to new

vistas of inner freedom and clarity,

as well as kindness within the mind.

So as always thank you for your practice

and all that it gives the world.

And thank you for being

part of this community.

And just inviting you now to

settle in for today's meditation.