Waking up in the morning…

…and faced with thoughts the “me” doesn’t like. They are often called “negative thoughts”, as opposed to the “positive thoughts that are welcome and liked by the “me”.

What to do about it? Push them away? Find a distraction? Let them set the tone for getting up?

The-hum attendees today heard a variety of approaches applied. A common denominator suggests that those thoughts are not real – rather just mere conditioned mental activities – often biased by deeply held beliefs. Often they have a critical element to them, involving some judgment about this or that – often dressed in a personal situation that didn’t turn out as desired. The latter could be a regretful thought: “I wish I had handled this differently” – or could even take a bit of a blaming tone: “Why did you handle it that way, you should have known better!” – and on it goes. Alan’s guided meditation in today’s meeting offered an opportunity to “step back” – or “step out” of the identification with the thoughts. A shift in perspective that assumes an alternate perceptual position

Perhaps a better approach to today’s exploration about “observation” is Mooji’s metaphor:

As long as we are totally identified with the personal self, – the “me” or the “voice inside our head” – we are exposed to incessant input from the memory bank that is the archive of our conditioned being. This often includes the presence of certain core beliefs, which have become an overriding filter that colors the tone of voice that speaks to us through thoughts. So, when we wake up in the morning, this voice initiates the litany of comments about us – often resembling some of the voices of the people around us while we grew up.

As to Susan’s question about what to do about this, or how to get into the zone, or the flow, where that voice isn’t any longer raining on our desired parade?

Stay tuned – more later – or as Rachel Maddow would say: “Watch this space”.