Hey, welcome back to

your Daily Mindfulness.

In today's session, we're going to talk

about how to inhabit the space between

stimulus and response so that you

can better respond rather than react.

So there's a popular quote

that I love to share.

It goes like this, "Between stimulus

and response there is a space.

In that space is our power

to choose our response.

And in our response lies our growth,

our freedom and our happiness."

Between stimulus and

response there is a space.

One of the reasons I love this quote

is because if I could encapsulate

in one sentence what it is I try

to do as a mindfulness teacher,

it's really to help people see that

space and then inhabit that space.

Because it's only in that space that

we can lead our lives with any sort of

intentionality, awareness, purpose or

an alignment with who we want to become.

The opposite of seeing that space

is living our lives on automatic

pilot, going through the motions,

repeating the same thoughts, patterns,

conditionings that we always have.

So a big step in starting to impact your

life in a positive way is being able

to see how in each moment, there's lots

of information, data coming through.

But as that comes through, we have the

opportunity to stop, to feel it and

choose how we want to respond to it.

One of the things that often

gets overlooked with this quote

is that it's not something to

just understand cognitively.

It's something we need to learn

how to feel, because when it comes

to reacting to a stimulus, it's

usually because that stimulus

creates a feeling and that feeling

causes us to react in a certain way.

So just think about the last

time you said something to

someone that you wish you didn't.

Say chances are, they said something

that made you angry, that angry

felt like, that anger felt like a

lot of heat in the body and that

caused you to say something or react.

What would it be like to be able to

feel that rush of energy, that rush of

sensation, to take a deep breath in it,

to be settled with it, and then be more

intentional with how you want to respond.

This day and age, that's a superpower

that most people don't have.

So the meditation practice, you

can trust that to develop this.

And as you go throughout

your day, see if you can feel

those impulses coming through.

All of that stimulation, take a breath

and see how might I respond differently.

Between stimulus and response there

is a space and in that space is

your power to choose your response.

So as always, thank you for your practice.

I'll talk to you soon and take care.