Exercise Two

January 19th 2006

Refer to Sedona Lecture, May 2005, Intention, approximately 60 minutes into Second CD.

"…Attention begins to diminish a thing automatically…"

WATCHING THE MIND - Beginning to Surrender

This week's exercise, like so many spiritual exercises or practices, is extremely simple.

Even when trying to complicate it, it ends up being simple.

When we begin the practice of watching the mind, we will likely use force. The effort of watching will be unfamiliar, even awkward. We may lose our focus and forget what we were doing within a few seconds. Within moments, we will flip into the habitual way of being with our mind.

It is amusing to notice how we balk at the unusual. Trying to concentrate on the task at hand while putting the watcher to work, seems frustrating, if not impossible to do. So carrying out this exercise can feel like we are in an internal tug of war. One second we are watching, the next second we are inside the thought, then remembering to watch again…. Be prepared for this. It is just what seems to be part of the initial learning.

With very little effort, watching becomes a skill. Eventually as we focus our intention on watching the mind, we find ourselves spending more time be-ing the watcher.

This exercise is most important and worthy of our practice because it leads to the ability to deeply surrender. Surrendering our thoughts and feelings and pre-thought and feelings to God is what we are moving towards - the ultimate practice.

EXERCISE

Close your eyes
Take few full deep breaths. Just gently let go of the cares of your day. Imagine stepping out of the heaviness of your mind as if you were removing a winter coat. Imagine setting down the load you are carrying. Any of these images may help to move you into a place of calm and rest.
Notice how alert you are. With practice it becomes easier and easier to be calm and alert at the same time.
Just sigh and feel the lightness rising up. This is a very simple way to discover the calm place inside yourself.
A few deep breaths, a willingness to let go of the worries and cares of the day and we find a place in us which is always available, always present.

'watches'

So bring to mind your watcher. The watcher resides in the area of mind on the other end of the spectrum from the meticulous and focused. The meticulous and focused is that part of your mind that searches a document for grammatical errors, or looks to see if there is cat hair on your black clothing.
But for this exercise, we want to take the wide angle view of your thought-system - the forest view rather than the tree view. Stand back from your thoughts and notice them.
Do you feel the difference in the watching mind state? So you are watching your mind and say the thought pops up, "Am I doing this right?" ignore it, don't give it any attention …it rises up - it falls away. If you do not feed thoughts with attention, they fall away. You don't have to make them go - you need do nothing but watch.
When we have a thought like "Am I doing this right? Then we may think, "Hmm. I wonder how she does it? I wonder if this practice will stop my thinking, Gee I've always had trouble with meditation - hey! Maybe this will help…." and so it goes. Now your mind is comfortable. This is its normal way of behaving. It seems as if your mind is nattering away, but in fact what is happening is that our attention is rapidly flipping from one thought to another as they arise out of the ocean of consciousness, depending upon our intention or beliefs.
What we are doing with this exercise is watching the experience of thinking. We are focused on noticing what arises and at the same time letting go of our interest in it once it does.
A worry flies up from the ocean of consciousness - no you don't get to problem-solve, you don't get to fix or you don't get to go round and round fretting about it. Instead, you watch it and let go. Let your mind be open
And that is the whole of it. Whatever comes in - what ever flies up at you from the ocean of consciousness, is watched:

watch the thoughts
notice the feelings
and let them be, surrender them.

The work is to watch what rises up in the mind so that it becomes a natural state of being to watch rather than re-act.

HINTS

When you are a beginner at mind watching, do be kind to yourself. Ensure you are in a quiet space for at least 5 - 10 minutes. Use post-it or similar reminders: "Are You Watching Your Thoughts?" Tack up reminder around your home; at the sink, on doors or door jams. Make a bookmark of the reminder. Use any visual to cue you that works for you to remind yourself to watch your thoughts.

Do a bit every time you stop for a break, or pick up the telephone or brush your teeth.

Pairing this exercise with a common daily tasks really helps you remember to practice it and so you can easily fit into your daily life.

If you manage a few minutes a day be pleased! Eventually, you will extend the time.

Use any visual cue that works for you to remind yourself to watch your thoughts.