Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. You know, the human mind is a double-edged sword. On the upside, it enables us to plan, solve problems, create goals, and work towards our dreams. But the dark side of the human mind is that it also tends to haunt our in a world with unhelpful and painful thoughts. We experience self-criticism, ruminations and worries.

And for many of us that voice inside can become our own worst enemy, crushing our self-esteem or driving us to feel constantly stressed, negative or anxious. Now we know that with email or on social media, if we find some of the content coming through really unhelpful, we can just hit unfollow or the unsubscribed button. But the original meaning of the word subscribe means to express or feel in agreement with something. So to unsubscribe from something means to not express or feel in agreement with something. Now, the reason why we often get caught up in unhelpful thoughts is because we subscribed to them.

We agree with them. We take them seriously and we write believe them. So here's a short practice to help you unsubscribe from unhelpful thought processes. It takes the power out of them so that they no longer cause you stress and suffering. This practice comes from acceptance and commitment therapy, and it's called thanking your mind.

So this is a really, really simple. Whatever your mind mine says to you today, no matter how mean or awful or negativity it is, just with an attitude of warm playfulness and even humor, you simply mentally reply to yourself, Thanks mind. Thanks for sharing. So for instance, let's say your mind says to you, "Oh, you're such an idiot." You mentally reply, T"hanks mind. Thanks for sharing." And if your mind says to you, "What will happen if nobody looks after me when I'm old? That would be horrible." You reply, "Thanks mind.

Thanks for sharing." If your mind says to you, "This stupid thanking the mind thing doesn't change the fact that your life sucks. You're kidding yourself". Then you simply mentally reply, "Thanks mind." So today, I invite you to take this practice with you. And any time you find yourself getting caught up in unhelpful thoughts, just have a play with this activity. And when you do, remember to do it with warmth and humor, So, no matter what your mind says to you, no matter how serious it claims to be, see if you can have a sense of smiling at the mind and just mentally saying, thanks mind.

And then once you do that, just change the focus of your attention back to something more nourishing. So each time you do this practice, you build your capacity to unsubscribe from unhelpful thoughts and bring back more lightness, ease and joy into your days.