At the heart of mindfulness is our relationship with our thoughts and how we respond to them. The ability to notice our thoughts without judgment and accept them is a lifelong practice! How easy it is to become lost in our thoughts and to create so many stories and false realities. I was a real daydreamer as a child and as nice as some of my fantasies were, this meant that as an adult I could equally devote a lot of mind time to negative creations and catastrophising.
My mindfulness practice has meant that I now notice when this happens very quickly and I can ask myself the question “are these thoughts helpful?” And with that awareness there comes a choice. I can then choose to be in the present without the projections and the stories and see things as they really are. It does mean that I have also lost the fantasy world of the perfect life that I would one day have but that’s ok because I now like my life just as it is
Over the last few months as I have moved to becoming self-employed and as those negative thoughts have reared their head this has never been more needed. Learning to see thoughts as clouds which pass, some linger a while and some get dark but eventually they all pass has been life changing.
My mindfulness practices are my toolbox, there is something there for every occasion and as long as I look after the tools, I’ll be ok.
it is remarkable how liberating it feels to be able to see that your thoughts are just thoughts and they are not “you” or “reality” jon karat-zinn