Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, I'm going to explore our

relationship to material things.

So if you've been practicing meditation

for a while, you most likely have already

had the experience of, you know, sitting

there in meditation and focusing on the

object of meditation, maybe your breath,

and then suddenly a thought or an image

arises of a material thing you saw,

maybe a couple of days ago or weeks ago.

Maybe you saw it in an

advertisement or shop window.

It might've been a nice item of

clothing, a gadget or something for

the house, some sporting equipment.

And you know, these thoughts

have a real allure to them.

It really generates some feelings

of craving and anticipation.

Maybe we start to think about, you

know, where we're going to get this

thing or how we're going to get it, or

what we're going to do once we have it.

We think about sort of how much

happier we'll be once we have it.

Now the funny thing is that even though

we tend to get really pulled in by these

kinds of thoughts, most of us have had

this kind of thought loop many times

before where we think about the desired

thing, we went and got it, and we got some

temporary pleasure from it, and then we

just sort of become a bit bored with it

and moved on and started thinking about

the next thing we wanted to acquire.

Now, of course, there's absolutely nothing

wrong with thinking about and acquiring

things that we can enjoy for a while.

But at the same time, it's also really

helpful to deeply recognize that

those things won't actually bring

us any lasting sense of fulfillment.

And that that is what we most long

for, a lasting sense of fulfillment.

And I think it's just worth noting,

that if we find ourselves spending quite

a lot of time, a really significant

amount of time, thinking about all

the things that we want, then we're

spending a lot of time caught in a

mind state of craving and desire.

And that can actually steer us away from

the genuine sense of lasting contentment

and fulfillment that we long for.

So there's an opportunity here when

we're sitting in meditation and, you

know, wanting thought arises, it's really

valuable actually to practice a new way

of relating with those wanting thoughts.

So instead of always getting carried

away by it, we practice just treating

this thought like all other thoughts.

We acknowledge it without following it.

We let it arise and pass.

Of course, we can really carry

this into everyday life too.

Right?

One simple practice to use in everyday

life is when we find the mind getting

caught up in a pattern of wanting a lot

of material things, visualizing them,

getting really excited about them.

We can practice letting go of those

thoughts and just bringing the

focus back to the present moment.

And you know, really just enjoying what's

already here, what we already have.

So you can just take a moment in that

case to just connect with what's pleasant

in your immediate present experience.

You know, perhaps the sound of

birds, feeling your breath or a

cool breeze or whatever it is.

Now, again, this practice

doesn't mean that you're giving

up having nice things in life.

It's more about how much time and mental

energy is spent in a state of craving and

dissatisfaction versus cultivating a state

of contentment, gratitude and wholeness.

So there's the invitation for

today, to temper your cravings

and train your contentment.

We're going to explore this

more in today's meditation.

So let's start to settle in for that.

And as always, thank

you for your practice.