Wake Me Up: Morning Positivity - Morning Meditation - Listening to Your Thoughts

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

This morning, change your relationship with your thoughts through this simple meditation practice. Enjoying Wake Me Up? Get ad-free access to the entire WMU catalog + bonus content by joining the WMU Premium Feed. Sign up and start your 7-day free trial at https://wakemeup.supercast.com/. Follow and listen on Spotify - Apple Podcasts - Amazon - Podchaser Say hi or request an episode at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/contact. See visual guides for the yoga and stretches in WMU episodes at www.wakemeuppodcast.com/stretches. And find the podcast on Instagram and TikTok. **Only partake in the physical movements suggested in Wake Me Up episodes if you are physically able and in safe surroundings. All movements are done at the individual's own risk. Be safe, and always consult a doctor if you have any questions or concerns.** Have a wonderful day 😃 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you'd like to enjoy Wake Me Up completely ad-free and get access to exclusive bonus content, check out the link in the show notes for the Wake Me Up premium feed. Hey friends, welcome to Wake Me Up. It's Tyler, your host, as always. Thanks for being here. We're back today for a meditation on this week's theme, listening. And today's meditation will be very simple, but it will help you listen to your thoughts more objectively. It'll help you change your relationship with your thoughts by adjusting the framework with which you listen to yourself.

You see, it's really common to feel like your thoughts control you rather than the other way around. But we are not our thoughts. Thoughts are just firings of the neurons in your mind. They can be really useful, they can be hurtful, and they can be completely random too. So how we listen to our thoughts can drastically change our relationships. to them, and in turn, our relationship with ourselves. And it's that relationship, that approach to how we listen to our own thoughts, which today's meditation is all about.

So let's go ahead and jump right in and get started. Go ahead and find a comfortable seat anywhere in your home. Just don't sit in your bed. And you can sit in any position that feels right for you, but just make sure that you're comfortable and you're supported. You don't want to be holding onto any tension or doing anything that's going to distract you. And once you've found that seat, just take a deep breath in, slowly fill all the way into your belly. And on your exhale, just close your eyes, nice and soft.

Use this first moment just to get settled. Let your face relax, drop your jaw and your tongue from the roof of your mouth. soften your shoulders down. And for these first 30 seconds or minute, just follow your own breath as you get settled in. All right. Now for these first couple minutes or so, just listen to the voice in your head,

that stream of consciousness. Let it go wherever it naturally wants to. Don't try to stop or control it or do anything like that. Instead, just watch. and notice what comes up, without judging or labeling or categorizing anything, purely listening. Now that you've listened to the rambling of your own mind for a little, ponder this question. Are you the thoughts going through your head?

Or are you the one who is aware of these thoughts going through your head? In other words, are you the thoughts themselves? or are you their observer? Just sit with that question as your thoughts continue to come and go. You don't necessarily need to find an answer to it. All right, so keep listening to your thoughts and sitting with that question.

And maybe as you do this, you'll notice that there's a little amount of time in between your thoughts, a space, a gap, in between when one thought is subsiding and the next is arising. Try and see if you can notice those little spaces. We've got about another minute left. Now just begin to bring yourself back. Notice whatever's supporting you, whether it's the chair or the floor. Notice the air on your skin and maybe give yourself

a little wiggle just to bring some movement back to the body. Take one last big inhale, fill all the way up. And as you exhale, slowly open your eyes and just gather yourself for a moment. All right. So I hope this very simple approach on listening to your own thoughts has helped you find some separation between yourself and the ramblings of your mind. Did you happen to notice those little spaces in between your thoughts? If not, that's okay. You can try again next time. It takes a little practice.

But when you do notice those gaps in thought, you'll realize that you are still aware, even though there is no thought happening. And that just goes to show you are not your thoughts. You are the observer of your thoughts. You're the one listening to them. There is a great comfort and peace that comes with this realization because it means you have the freedom to choose which thoughts you want to keep, which ones you want to hang on to,

which ones you want to use to define yourself. and which ones you can let go of. Ultimately, we all have thoughts that we believe in and ones that we don't. And just because we have thoughts that we don't necessarily resonate with or align with, it doesn't make us a bad person or crazy or anything like that. What it does make you is completely normal. So I hope you enjoy this meditation, and I'll talk to you tomorrow for our motivation on this week's theme.

Until then, go out and have an absolutely fantastic. day.