Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. So Greek philosopher, Epictetus once taught, "We are not disturbed by what happens to us, but by our thoughts about what happens to us." And that's really true. You know, when we judge and label the events of our lives, we often react to the judgments we have about what's happening rather than simply being with our direct experience just as it is. So I'll give you a simple example. Let's say you wake up one morning and you look out your window and you see rain coming down.

And then this thought comes in this judgment that says, Ugh, what a horrible day. Now, is it true that the day is horrible? Of course not. It's just raining. But if you buy into that thought, you're very likely to experience negativity, grumpiness, sadness. But if you don't buy into that thought, then you're free to be at peace just to lay there, listening to the ring.

No problem, no negativity. Now and we know that just like the weather, the events of our lives are also constantly changing. They always will be. We have gain, we have loss, we have up, we have down new loves and heartbreaks, pain pleasure, praise, blame, success, and failure. All of that is a normal part of the richness and variety of being human.

But when we apply judgments and stories to what happens, we're often yanked around at the mercy of our reactions. So the most basic mental judgments we do are often liking and disliking. For instance, when we judge something or someone as good, nice. Right, we're elated. And we get attached to it.

When we judge something or someone is bad, horrible, wrong, we react with negative emotions. So Shakespeare once said, "There's nothing, either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." That's also true. And when we're able to realize this truth, it means that we can learn to respond to the ever changing circumstances of our lives, non reactively, so that we're not always emotionally thrown around by the ups and downs of life. Now that doesn't mean we can't take action to change things. We certainly can.

And on the contrary, we can respond instead of reacting when we're not caught up in reactivity. So we can, we can take, you know, more skillful, more empowered actions. So in today's meditation, we're going to be focusing on cultivating this capacity to be non-reactive and more rooted in presence and inner peace. But in your daily life also, you know, see if you can focus on just laying aside judgments. Especially the ones that label things good and bad, right and wrong, like and dislike.

And instead, just being curious about what happens when you add no story at all to whatever arises. And instead, as best you, can just be fully present with what arises and respond when necessary with the best of who you are.