Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, we're going to explore the value of

thinking about meditation as a laboratory.

So what do I mean by that?

Well, a laboratory for a scientist

is a place for curiosity,

exploring, experimenting, even play.

And this is really a great way to

think about the attitude we want to

bring into our meditation practice.

We want to bring those attitudes

of curiosity, flexibility, and

openness to learning and discovery.

There really are no

mistakes in meditation.

There's really only the process of

learning and discovering and trying

things out, and then seeing what

the results are, seeing how all

of this relates to our lives as a

whole, and can inform how we live.

So often when we're meditating, you

know, we have these expectations of

how we think our practice is supposed

to be or how we are supposed to handle

things, or else maybe we feel like we're

failing and we're not doing things right.

We might become judgemental

and critical of ourselves.

But we really can't control

what happens in our meditation.

Our mind has a mind of

its own, you could say.

And so each meditation is just going

to unfold in its own unique way.

There'll be times when unexpected

obstacles and challenges arise.

There'll be times when things

just don't go the way that we

thought that they were going to go.

And, you know, times when we try

things in our practice and they

don't have the outcome or effect

that we thought they would.

You know, all of that is just a

really natural part of the process.

Although we cannot control what happens

in our meditation or how quickly we

grow in awareness, we cannot control

when we will have deep insights, when

we're going to be able to totally let

go of certain thought patterns and all

of that, but what you can control is we

can control the attitude and approach

which we bring to each meditation.

So if we can think of our meditation

as a laboratory, a place where we're

really open to new experiences,

then we can bring those attitudes

of playful curiosity, flexibility

and enthusiasm into each practice.

And of course we can keep refining

our approach of finding out whether

we need, for instance, a little more

compassion here, a little more focus

there, a little more letting go here.

And in this way, every meditation

offers the possibility of becoming

a new adventure, a new opportunity

for discovery and learning.

So I invite you to bring this

attitude into your meditation today.

And of course, thank you for your

practice and your presence here with us.

And now let's settle in

for today's meditation.