The movies of the mind
One morning, I awoke from a night’s sleep feeling a little negative. At first, I couldn’t pin the feeling onto anything but as I went about my morning routine, I found myself scanning the previous couple of days and recalled two separate occasions where I had spoken on the phone to two different people. There and then – for no logical reason – I decided they didn’t like me and my mood dropped even lower as my thoughts spiraled out of control with added on stories to back up this theory.
Within 10 minutes I had created a movie within my mind of epic proportions! If Steven Speilberg had taken a peek inside my head, he would most certainly be attempting to buy the movie rights! When there was a tiny pause in my thoughts, it occurred to me that this movie – this added on story – was not based on fact. Based on just two phone calls, how would I know if the people liked me or not? I realised I had bought into the pack of lies I had been telling myself.
We have between 40,000 to 80,000 thoughts every day and it is our brains way of processing the stimuli around us. Most of this chitter-chatter will pass through our minds without any pomp or ceremony, but there are going to be thoughts in which we will form an attachment, and with these there will be add-on stories. This becomes a problem for us when we buy into the add-on stories, believing them to be true.
In meditation, you learn to be the observer of all thoughts, regardless of what they are. It’s not to say you don’t make attachments, nor create stories, but instead you learn how you don’t need to buy into the stress of your thoughts, nor feel you have to act on them. Not only that, but the act of non-judgement within the meditation practice means you create an oasis of compassion for yourself within the experience.
The more you practice how to be the observer with non-judgement, the more it will create echoes in your everyday life – prior to meditating, I would have stayed with the spiraling thoughts, for longer than 10 minutes. In fact, it would have affected me for about a week! But now, I can use a natural pause in my thoughts to create a moment of space between what is happening and how I feel about it. This allows me to realise I have choice – do I want to continue to catastrophise the thought, do I want to sit and observe for longer, or do I want to let it go?
If you would like to practice a way to choose your response to stressful thoughts or feelings, I have recorded a short meditation by Christopher Willard called Calming Impulses. Just click on the link below:
Would you like to reconnect with a calmer mindset? If you have already attended a beginners mindfulness meditation course with me, you are always welcome to attend it again. Or maybe you would like to take the next step with intermediate mindfulness meditation. New courses are starting in November. Contact us at info@sarahpresley.co.uk to find out more.
