Ssshhh! I'm trying to watch the show.

I often wonder why anyone watches tv when there's so much entertainment going on right in our own minds. Sometimes it's a drama playing, sometimes a comedy. Either way, there's always something playing. It's reality tv at it's best.

I find myself stepping into a state of witness consciousness more easily and more often lately.  Being in that state of the witness is when you can step back from the thoughts and watch them. Noticing that you are not the thoughts. Who is it that thinks the thoughts? Who's witnessing the thinking?

So many questions......Today I'm wondering why I think the things I think and why can't I stop the wild, crazy thoughts. I admit that at times I rather enjoy the drama that plays in my mind I find myself attached to the drama but I know that it's only a drama. And like all reality tv shows, 99.9% of it isn't real.

What makes the mind think? In meditation we focus on bringing our attention into the third eye and the crown chakra.  Is this movement of energy to the head the reason why my thoughts are so crazy wild lately? As we focus on the third eye (the seat of intuition and some even say psychic ability) how do we know if what we are witnessing is inner vision or just a trick of the mind?? Is it a vision of some moment in the future or simply a fantasy to distract us?

As I watched the drama playing out in my mind this morning I found myself getting sucked into the drama rather than simply witnessing it. I felt my physical body beginning to react to the drama. My emotions even got involved. Wow! What a show, it was in 4D!!

Then I remembered that what was important was the practice. Doing the work and having no attachment to the result. I shifted my focus back to my breath, back to the mantra. It is the nature of the mind to think. There's no use trying to fight it. The practice is to always remember to step back to the place of witnessing the thoughts without identifying with them. From that place you can maintain a sense of calm awareness even when the thoughts get scary.  Remembering that we are not the thoughts.

The more we practice witness consciousness, the more easily we can get there. Then, when we find ourselves in a challenging situation we are experts at stepping back into that state of calm awareness and not identifying with the challenges. The challenges do not define who we are. We are not our challenges.   This is the first step in the practice of meditation - stepping back from the thoughts.

Speaking of reality tv, have you seen the show "My strange addiction"? Holy Hell!!  when I saw the woman who was addicted to eating cleanser I thought maybe my addiction to cupcakes and cosmopolitans isn't so bad after all.

Actually, I wonder if in those moments of craving something we know isn't good for us, if the practice of stepping back into witness consciousness would help us step back from the craving?? Who knows, maybe if we watch the thought patterns that trigger the craving maybe we can make better choices.
Let's experiment with this. Give it a try, start watching your thoughts.  It's really quite entertaining. You may never go back to watching tv again!  Feel free to share your observations of this practice if you decide to join the experiment.

~Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti........