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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about playful curiosity. Eckhart Tolle once said, "Life is not as serious as the mind makes it out to be." And that is true. When we we're children, most of us kind of knew this, right? We never took ourselves or our life too seriously. We had this innate curiosity about everything, playfulness towards life.
We approached life with very little fear or self-consciousness. What mattered, a lot of the time, was just exploring, discovering, and just having fun moment by moment. As we get older, things seem to change. We tend to lose all of that and we do start to take life really seriously, and a kind of heaviness can set into the mind. And we can bring that heaviness into our mindfulness practice too, and into our personal growth journey.
And while it's true, on the one hand, that looking deeply within and understanding ourselves is a serious thing in the sense that our ability to be happy and live in harmony with the world and with others really does depend on having a healthy mind. But on the other hand, if we approach mindfulness too seriously, it just becomes really difficult. If we can bring back into our lives that attitude of playful curiosity, if we can bring that especially into our practice and into our approach to watching the mind, then things start to shift. Because if we can smile at the mind and be playful and friendly towards it, we can relax more and not take things too personally. Bringing in more light hearted energy really helps us to get a bit of space and perspective.
When I teach retreats, I often invite people to take the attitude of an explorer or an adventure. Almost, I say to them, it's almost like being a wildlife photographer, tracking some fascinating creature when we watch the mind, to have this attitude of kind of sitting back and just watching the antics of the mind and not getting too worried about it or caught up in it. Just being curious, open and observing. Also being open to playing with the mind to see how our mindfulness skills can potentially change or affects things. And, you know, when we practice that skill, really being curious about the effect.
So trying different things out in the laboratory of your life. I like the term the monkey mind that people use sometimes. It reminds us to kind of almost view the mind as this innocent, naughty creature that doesn't really know any better and just needs a bit of training. It's kind of like, you know, having this attitude of, oh my gosh, what is the monkey mind getting up to in there today? And just of kind of smiling at the mind and then lovingly using our mindfulness skills to train it to be healthier, more balanced and happy. So if we can have this light, easygoing relationship with the mind, then mindfulness becomes a lot more joyful, uplifting and nourishing.
So my invitation for today. Bring an attitude of playful curiosity into your mindfulness practice and into your life. And then see what effect that has on you and on your practice. We'll be playing with this a little bit more in today's meditation. So I invite you to settle in for that.
And as always, thank you for your practice.
Playful Curiosity
Personalized support for learning how to integrate mindfulness into your life. Delivered fresh everyday by our world renowned experts. Choose meditation duration:
Duration
Your default time is based on your progress and is changed automatically as you practice.
Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today, I'm going to talk about playful curiosity. Eckhart Tolle once said, "Life is not as serious as the mind makes it out to be." And that is true. When we we're children, most of us kind of knew this, right? We never took ourselves or our life too seriously. We had this innate curiosity about everything, playfulness towards life.
We approached life with very little fear or self-consciousness. What mattered, a lot of the time, was just exploring, discovering, and just having fun moment by moment. As we get older, things seem to change. We tend to lose all of that and we do start to take life really seriously, and a kind of heaviness can set into the mind. And we can bring that heaviness into our mindfulness practice too, and into our personal growth journey.
And while it's true, on the one hand, that looking deeply within and understanding ourselves is a serious thing in the sense that our ability to be happy and live in harmony with the world and with others really does depend on having a healthy mind. But on the other hand, if we approach mindfulness too seriously, it just becomes really difficult. If we can bring back into our lives that attitude of playful curiosity, if we can bring that especially into our practice and into our approach to watching the mind, then things start to shift. Because if we can smile at the mind and be playful and friendly towards it, we can relax more and not take things too personally. Bringing in more light hearted energy really helps us to get a bit of space and perspective.
When I teach retreats, I often invite people to take the attitude of an explorer or an adventure. Almost, I say to them, it's almost like being a wildlife photographer, tracking some fascinating creature when we watch the mind, to have this attitude of kind of sitting back and just watching the antics of the mind and not getting too worried about it or caught up in it. Just being curious, open and observing. Also being open to playing with the mind to see how our mindfulness skills can potentially change or affects things. And, you know, when we practice that skill, really being curious about the effect.
So trying different things out in the laboratory of your life. I like the term the monkey mind that people use sometimes. It reminds us to kind of almost view the mind as this innocent, naughty creature that doesn't really know any better and just needs a bit of training. It's kind of like, you know, having this attitude of, oh my gosh, what is the monkey mind getting up to in there today? And just of kind of smiling at the mind and then lovingly using our mindfulness skills to train it to be healthier, more balanced and happy. So if we can have this light, easygoing relationship with the mind, then mindfulness becomes a lot more joyful, uplifting and nourishing.
So my invitation for today. Bring an attitude of playful curiosity into your mindfulness practice and into your life. And then see what effect that has on you and on your practice. We'll be playing with this a little bit more in today's meditation. So I invite you to settle in for that.
And as always, thank you for your practice.
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Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
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This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
- Babs312
This is the app I turn to when I want to feel calm and loved.
- Abby
Melli has a beautiful way of guiding and reminding us of the stillness within.
- Adrienne James
I have been on a journey of healing and learning self-love. Amidst the work, I have been using the mindfulness app for the gentle reminders, guides to the moment (especially the difficult ones).
Kelly Boys offers a fresh and illuminating take on how to step out of lifelong patterns that keep snagging us.
- Tara Brach, PhD
Truly life changing. This isn't solely meditation and mindfulness...this is about striving to be the best the versions of ourselves.
- Marisa, Plus+ Member
Relaxing and assuring beyond description... thank you, Cory.
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Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
Shamash's guidance is a gift of wisdom to help us in our busy and stressful lives.
- Paul Gilbert, PhD, FBPsS, OBE, Centre for Compassion Research and Training, University of Derby, United Kingdom
Excellent! Cory gently guides you into internal peace.
- Steve Ericson
A necessary tool for those who feel lost.
- Piper
Just want to say a big thankyou to all involved as this has had a positive impact in my daily life 🙏 Valuable teachings that have allowed me to have a better relationship not only with those around me, but with myself. Heal ourselves and we heal the world 💫✨🌍
- Marty
I start every day with Cory or Melli for my daily practice. Including this app into my practice helps me continue to build more mental focus and understanding of my thought processes. What a welcome and powerful gift.
- Oku
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