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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.
Today, I'm going to talk
about taming paper tigers.
So you might've heard of this
term before, paper tiger.
It's a term that refers to something
or someone that claims or appears
to be powerful and threatening,
but is actually ineffectual and
unable to withstand challenge.
So as we go about our lives, there
are many things that invoke fear in us
that are actually just paper tigers.
Most of them are our
fear inducing thoughts.
So for instance, we worry about things
that will probably never happen or
things that we really can't control.
We worry about what other
people might think of us.
We catastrophize, that is, we play
out worst case scenarios in our minds.
And we sweat the small stuff.
Right?
So in all these ways and more, we
create paper tigers in our mind.
Giving things much more weight and
substance in our minds so that they
seem much more scary and stressful.
So as I'm saying this, you might
already be beginning to think
about what I'm about to ask you.
And that is, what are your paper tigers?
You know, everybody's different.
What are the thoughts that tend to tip
you towards fear, stress, and anxiety?
Perhaps you find yourself playing out a
lot of what if scenarios in your mind.
You know, what if I lose my job,
what if my partner leaves me,
what if I have cancer right now
and I just don't realize it.
Or maybe your paper tigers
come in the form of worrying
about what people think of you.
Did I say the right thing?
Am I fitting in?
Do they like me?
Am I doing anything that
could get me rejected?
Am I beautiful enough?
Am I successful enough?
Or perhaps it's a sense of making
mountains out of mole hills.
When small inconveniences or
setbacks, when they happen,
become quite big in your mind.
So for instance, something like,
you're going to be late and you think,
oh my God, they're going to hate me.
They're never going to
invite me anywhere again.
Or you might have a headache and think, oh
gosh, my mom had a stroke around this age.
I could be next.
So whatever your particular paper
tigers are, even though they might
claim to be big and scary, in
reality, they're simply thoughts.
Bits of language that arise
in the mind and dissolve.
They're really just mental events.
So even though they can induce
a lot of stress and fear, they
really have no power to hurt you.
This reminds me, there's an
old acronym for fear, F E A
R - false evidence appearing real.
And that's a really good acronym
to remember when the paper
tigers arise in your mind.
So today and ongoing, I invite you to
be attentive and on the lookout for
your paper tigers when they arise.
And when they do, see if you can
take a pause, take a breath and
then examine them closely to see
if they're simply false evidence
drawing you in to unnecessary anxiety.
In this way, you can let go of stress,
reclaim your inner strength and peace and
enjoy a more mindful and meaningful life.
As always, thank you for your
practice and your presence here.
Let's settle in for today's meditation.
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