You Are Not Your Thoughts

Do you resist starting a meditation habit because you think you can’t clear your mind?

Considering that the average person has between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts per day, it can feel almost impossible to shut the brain down for even a couple of minutes!

But, the practice of meditation doesn’t ask you to clear your mind. Instead it invites you to see yourself as distinct and different from the thoughts passing by.

Clear mind is like the full moon in the sky. Sometimes clouds come and cover it, but the moon is always behind them. Clouds go away, then the moon shines brightly. So don’t worry about clear mind; it is always there. When thinking comes, behind it is clear mind. When thinking goes, there is only clear mind. Thinking comes and goes, comes and goes. You must not be attached to the coming or the going.

- Seungsahn

Once you realize that you are not your thoughts, you take so much power back! Your thoughts no longer control you. You no longer have to believe that you aren’t strong enough, smart enough, pretty enough, good enough, whatever enough.

Once you see that you are not your thoughts, you are free to choose more supportive and empowering ones. You are free to create a new and more fulfilling reality.

Meditation for me has had a profound impact on how I view myself and the world. Some days it’s easy to focus and observe my thoughts. Other days it’s a continual practice in focusing and re-focusing to slow down the flurry of to-do lists and worries.

But either way, I continue to show up for the practice so I can consistently be reminded that I really do have so much power here.

I am separate from my thoughts. I can change them at any moment. And I can create a new reality. ✨✨