Hey, welcome to this meditation on

how to work with difficult thoughts

that can sometimes arise in the mind.

Have you ever noticed this?

Sometimes thoughts about the future?

What if that thing doesn't go well?

What if they don't like me?

What if I don't fit in?

And then sometimes

thoughts about the past.

Oh, I wish I did that differently.

Why did I say that thing that way?

All these different thoughts

that can come up in the mind that

can make us feel not so good.

So I'm going to share a strategy to

help you work with those thoughts when

they arise so you can feel more calm.

Let's just start by finding

a comfortable posture.

It could be sitting down or lying down.

If you'd like, you can close your eyes.

And we'll take one deep breath together.

In through the nose.

And slowly out through the mouth.

Relaxing all the muscles in your face.

Imagine that any of the tightness

in your shoulders is just melting.

And if you'd like, you can even place

one hand or two hands on your belly.

Just feeling your body breathing.

One way we can help work with thoughts is

give the mind something else to focus on.

And so let's use our breath right now.

You already have a hand or two hands

on your belly, and we're going to

make that the thing that we focus on.

In the same way that you might

focus on doing your homework, or

you might focus on a cartoon that

you're watching, here, we're just

going to try to focus on the breath.

So we'll keep it really simple.

Just see if you can feel that

your body is breathing right now.

Can you feel that movement

that's happening in the belly?

Feeling the full inhale, as

the body breathes in and the

belly inflates like a balloon.

And then feel the belly get soft

and smaller as you exhale, and

the belly deflates like a balloon.

Now, as you're doing this,

you may notice that the mind

starts to think about something.

Now, those thoughts, they're just

like clouds passing through the

sky, or like a train passing by.

They come and they go.

But, you can watch them as

they're coming and going.

So see what that's like.

Just notice, oh, there's a thought.

And even imagine the thought sitting on a

little cloud, passing through your mind.

It can be kind of fun.

Oh, there's another thought

passing through the mind.

And once the thought goes away,

you just bring your attention

and focus back to your breath.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Another thought might come up and

you watch it just like a little

cloud, or maybe watching the thoughts

sitting on a train passing by.

And then once it passes, just

come back to this breath.

Let's take a few more breaths like this.

Breathing in and out,

watching the thoughts pass by.

And bringing all of your focus

back to this breath, this moment.

And we'll take one more

deep breath together.

In through the nose.

And slowly out through the mouth.

And when you're ready, you

can open your eyes again.

Great job.

Now, this is something that you

can do all throughout the day.

We have lots of thoughts

throughout the day.

And sometimes they're really positive.

And we want to think

about what we're thinking.

Other times, the thoughts might be

causing us to feel scared or nervous.

So when that happens, you can just

bring your focus back to your breath.

Maybe you're sitting in class or

on the playground or at home, just

focusing on your breath and watching

the thoughts pass through your mind,

like clouds passing through the sky.

And then back to the breath.

Thank you for meditating with me.

You're really training your brain

to be powerful and calm and focused.

I'm proud of you.

I'll talk to you soon.

And until next time, take care.