Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to share three tips for meditation. First, don't worry about clearing the mind. Now one of the most common misconceptions for both beginners and very experienced practitioners of meditation is that the mind is supposed to be clear. And then there's this assumption that if the mind isn't clear, something's gone wrong.

So meditation is not about stopping your thoughts. It truly, honestly, isn't. Sometimes the mind can be very still and clear as a side effect of meditation, but it's not at all the goal. The goal of meditation is simply to be aware of what's happening so you can be aware of a busy mind and you can also be aware of a still mind. So just practice keeping your attention on your object of focus in the meditation as best you can.

And if the mind wanders, just bringing it back to awareness. It's really that simple. So don't worry about clearing the mind. Second tip, develop a kind attitude. This is big.

So when thoughts and emotions arise during meditation, as they will, just aiming to meet them with a compassionate and friendly attitude. So rather than seeing thoughts or emotions as inconveniences or enemies to overcome, seeing if you can befriend them and allow them to be part of your present moment experience. The same thing goes for sounds and sensations. You want to have this attitude of welcoming everything, resisting nothing. And this attitude of kindness, of course, also gets extended towards yourself.

Now, I think for most people, when they sit to meditate, they're very often quite hard on themselves. You know, they tend to be very self-critical, they get frustrated with themselves when the mind wanders, or they feel like they're not progressing as quickly as they hoped they would in meditation. But if you imagine every time you meditate that you were leading a dear friend through the practice, you wouldn't be harsh and impatient with them, right? You'd just gently coach them through the process. That's the kind of attitude that you want. So in the same way, see if you can have a warm and patient and kind attitude towards yourself during meditation, treating yourself like a dear friend.

Tip number three. Really simple, but not so easy. Just stay with whatever arises. And this is where so much of our learning and our growth happens in meditation. It's in learning to simply stay with what's happening with a kindly and curious awareness.

This is also really big because in daily life when we feel uncomfortable feelings like frustration or boredom or anxiety or sadness, we tend to want to avoid them. And we have all kinds of ways that we try to escape or numb or distract or suppress. So it's incredibly transformational this practice of just gently staying with the feelings for awhile. Just stay and be curious. Now, if things become totally overwhelming at any time, of course, it's fine to tap out for a while.

Then when you're feeling okay, you can simply try again. Just try gently staying with your experience. So one, don't worry about clearing the mind. Two, develop a kind attitude. Three, stay with whatever arises.

We'll explore this more in today's meditation. So let's settle in for that. And of course, as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here.