Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today I'm going to talk about helpful

questions for unhelpful thoughts.

So often in life, we become really

attached to the storylines in the

mind and we take them to be the

truth, and then they really pull

us into emotional reactivity.

So, unfortunately far too

often, the storylines that

we have are not that helpful.

They're not the ones that make us calm,

happy, and at ease within our own skin.

The storylines that we hold on to a

very often quite critical of others

and even more so of ourselves.

And they also tend to focus on

what's not good enough, what's

wrong, or what's unwanted.

When our mental commentary is unhelpful,

it can really hold us back, create a lot

of tension in our relationships and dampen

our ability to have joy in our lives.

So mindfulness is wonderful because it

helps us to step back from our thoughts

and then we're less pulled around by them.

But some thoughts are a bit more

sticky and hard to let go of.

So when this happens, we can question the

thoughts to help dis-identify from them.

So we notice there's unhelpful

thoughts going around in the mind,

we can ask ourselves one of the

following questions, mentally.

The questions like: Is

this thought actually true?

Do I want to buy into this story?

If I do, what can I gain or lose?

Is this story helpful or is

my mind just babbling on?

Does this thought help

me take effective action?

How can I make the best of this situation?

Who would I be without this thought?

How can I see this in a

completely new and different way?

So by asking ourselves questions

like these, we can unhook from those

really sticky or unhelpful thoughts

that were pulling us around and find

clarity of mind and steadiness again.

So it can take courage and humility

to question our thoughts and let

go of certain stories in the mind,

but our willingness to do so will

be equal to our feelings of inner

strength, lightness, and joy.

So today, and for the rest of this

week, seeing if you can notice whenever

unhelpful thoughts arise, and whenever

you need to, using these helpful

questions for unhelpful thoughts.

Whenever we do that, we'll

experience more freedom, not only

in our mind, but also in our lives.

So as always, thank you for your

practice and your presence here with us.

And just inviting you to now

settle in for today's meditation.