Too smart for my own good…

[Metanoia]

Hi again Jadzia,

I don’t know HOW to just ”look”… I start thinking instead.

Any tips?

[Jadzia]

I am pretty sure that you can do both - looking and thinking.
It is part of our equipment. ;-)
You wrote that you have glimpses, right? So you can be sure that you know what looking is. Good?

The whole thing is about relaxing, allowing.
Thoughts are there always, thinking doesn't have to get in the way.
Remember? I asked you if you always have to believe thoughts? Did you think about this? And what did you come up with?

Looking is nothing else but for a moment not buying into or relying on what thoughts tell.
Lets make this clearer: Look at something, anything around you!
Within light speed you will have a word for what you look at - lets call it label. Thoughts might offer you what the thingy does, what it is about and so on. Right?
What did you pick? And what happened?

Lets say you looked at an apple. Label apple popped up and all other thoughts connected to the label, like "Yummy", "this is a red apple" or similar descriptions. But what do you really see?
A blob of something, which is labeled round, red, apple ect.
So looking is stripping that what you look at, or hear, or physically feel, or taste, or smell of thoughts.

Here is what you can do. It is a simple awareness excercise.
Sit for five minutes or shorter or longer - as long as you feel comfortable.
If you like close your eyes.
Breathe in and out and decide to just observe what comes up.
You will feel bodily sensations and you will observe the flow of thoughts.

Now try not to fall for the lure of thoughts. Mind you they are good! They will be about what a shitty excercise this is, that you can't sit any longer, they will enchant you with a lovely little story, or they will be about what you want to cook today.

You might feel an itch somewhere or the impulse to get up.

Sit through it and just observe. When you get entangled in the story, gently smilingly get out of it.
In the beginning it might be helpful to focus lightly on a body part, like the bum you are sitting on, the sensation of bum/chair/floor.

Just try this.
Do it with lots of humor and patience.
And you will fall in and out of thoughts. This simply happens, it is ok.

Try this and share what happened.

Please answer all questions you find in this text.

Jadzia