Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session we're going to talk about practice. The more you practice gratitude, the more grateful you'll become. The more you practice relaxation, the more relaxed you'll become. The more you practice mindfulness, the more mindful you'll become.

There's a famous quote by this really great meditation teacher. You might've heard of him. His name is called the Buddha and he said, "Whatever one frequently, ponders that becomes the inclination of the mind." Whatever one frequently ponders that becomes the inclination of the mind. Now, this was said by the Buddha, however many thousands of years ago. But interestingly as our understanding of neuroplasticity, that is how the brain grows and changes, as that understanding develops now neuroscientists are saying this same quote, referencing the Buddha of course.

But acknowledging that, yeah, whatever one does frequently ponder that does become the inclination of the mind or the brain. And so I think sometimes on our journey of personal growth, personal development, healing, it could just feel like there are so many variables involved. So many things we need to figure out. So many checklist items, uh, once I get that done and then my 10 years of therapy and figure out this relationship with my mom, yada, yada. It could just be exhausting, right? And I don't want to trivialize that process, the process of healing and growth, because sometimes it is quite complex.

So we honor that. But other times it can really only be as simple or aspects of it can be as simple as just practicing. The thing that you want more of, especially if they're qualities of mind, then this is a foundational principle of contemplative practices like, like meditation. And if you want to develop presence, all right, let's give ourselves something to focus on in the present moment, the mind wanders, we bring it back, the mind wanders, we bring it back. We want to cultivate loving kindness, let's recite the phrases of loving kindness: may I be happy.

May I be safe. May I be healthy, until we feel that. And you just do that more and more and more and more, until you have these qualities. They're like little seeds and the practicing of them is like giving them water, giving them sunshine, clearing away the weeds. And so if nothing else, I hope today's session can inspire you to maybe think about the process of growth in a less intimidating sort of way.

Uh, and come back to some of this simplicity of just watering the seeds in the garden. In other words, just doing the practice. Whatever one frequently ponders that becomes the inclination of the mind. See if that can be your mantra for the week. As always thank you for your practice and let's get settled for our meditation.