Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to talk about mindfulness as a form of listening to ourselves. So when we're sitting down to meditate, what we really are training in is this learning to listen to ourselves, and not only our thoughts and feelings, but we're also learning to listen to deeper dimensions of ourselves as well. You know so often I think, you know, when we sit to meditate, we kind of get this idea that we need to get into some special state or that we need to make something happen, or we might have an agenda that we'd like to have a big breakthrough or insight. But actually what we're aiming to do is to relax and get comfortable with listening to, or witnessing the mind just as it is in that moment.

So listening to ourselves in this way, means we have this open and curious awareness that's free of expectations or agendas. We're simply curious, attentive to thoughts and feelings as they arise and we're deeply in touch with our own experience of what the mind is, who we are and what's happening in the moment. There's a kind of aliveness to it all. The thing I love about this is that listening is actually a really relaxing state to be in because we can just let go of our agendas and desires and just open ourselves to what's already here rather than trying to get somewhere else. It's very receptive and relaxed.

So through listening in this way, we're giving the mind and ourselves space to be just as we are, space to be known and seen and understood. So if we can get comfortable with this idea of meditation, simply being a way of listening to ourselves, free from expectations, then clarity, insight, and peace of mind naturally are going to emerge in their own time. And in the meantime, we can just kick back, relax, open up, and enjoy listening to the pulse of life that's happening, both within us and all around us. So as always, thank you for your practice and your presence here with us. And now let's settle in for today's meditation.