Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to share one question that can help you let go of unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. And the question is this: is what I'm doing helping me, or is it harming me? Simple, right? But this is a powerful question. It can help us become more mindful and discerning with our thoughts, words, and actions. For instance, if you're worrying over and over again about a problem, you can ask, is what I'm doing helping me or harming me.

Now, if it's harmful, if it's just bringing you a lot of anxiety and stress without actually helping you in any practical way to solve your problem, you can drop the worrying and put your focus on something more helpful, like being present in the moment or focusing on gratitude. If you're criticizing a partner, if you're beating yourself up, if you're about to spend more money, work late again, sleep in, have one more, have some food or drink you can check in and ask yourself that question. Is what I'm doing helping or harming me? If you're complaining about the weather, talking behind someone's back, scrolling social media before bed, thinking jealous, negative or resentful thoughts, ruminating about something you did in the past. You know? Again, is this helping me or is this harming me? You get the idea, right? This question offers us a really wonderful, simple way to just check in with ourselves, become present, and then have the opportunity to adjust our course when we need to. Now, importantly here, there is no need to judge yourself for doing anything harmful.

There's no need to criticize yourself or get frustrated with yourself. We're just noticing here with curiosity and openness. Is it harmful or helpful? If it's harmful, you can just make a conscious choice about what you'd like to do out of compassion and care for yourself. So the conscious choice to move towards something more helpful might take many forms. It might be putting your mental focus on something more healthy and helpful and uplifting.

It might be stopping what you're doing. It might be only doing it for a few moments or minutes, and then shifting. I'll leave that exploration up to you. This is an invitation for practice today and ongoing, if you care to, just to keep checking in with this question. Is this helping me or is this harming me? And just adjusting course again and again to ways of being and living that are more helpful and healthy for you.

In doing so you really get back in the driver's seat of your life and start living it with more awareness, wisdom, and purpose. I hope you have fun with this practice. And as always, thank you for your practice. And let's settle in for today's meditation.