Where Was I Thinking?
It’s not unusual for people to equate meditation with shutting out all thoughts. Thoughts themselves don’t stand between us and happiness, it’s the content of the thoughts that can send us on a detour, and the content of our thoughts is largely determined by where we are thinking them.
To get wonky on the neuroscience, when the lateral regions of our brain (picture the area from the ears up towards the crown of the head) are activated, we have a birds’ eye view of the world, an ability to see the bigger picture. We feel a part of something larger, and there is room for creativity.
When the medial region of the brain is activated (think of the area that would be underneath your hair if you had a mohawk - feel free to pause here for a moment if the image of yourself with a big spiky mohawk is making you smile), you are prone to looping, self-referential thought, thoughts like “I should have …. Or I bet [this bad thing] is going to happen… I’m no good at….” It feels tight, small, restricted and closed in.
The physiological effects of these two different kinds of thinking are stark. What’s more whichever of these forms of thinking we favor the most can become our go-to, habitual mode of thinking.
In meditation, we become aware of what we’re feeling, and what we’re thinking and lets us know where we’re thinking. And we can strengthen our ability to redirect our mental activity toward the big picture, present-moment awareness that leads to a more constant sense of peace and well-being and away from small-self thinking that can lead to anxiety and depression.
A real world example: if we wake up in the middle of the night we may notice that our mind is active. If we pause to notice what we’re thinking and how we’re feeling in the body, we may notice that we’re enjoying recalling a time when we were surrounded by family, or a time when we were out in nature hearing the wind move gently through the trees, or we might catch a creative idea for a project that we’re working on. In this instance, we may allow the thinking to continue, enjoying the way it’s helping us have a sense of well-being even though we’re not getting sleep.
Conversely, if we notice that we’re rehashing an argument we had with a family member and playing out a dire potential outcome, and then we feel a twinge in our side and the thought, “What if I have a kidney infection?” comes to mind, followed quickly with the dread of being tired the next day and a sense of futility around trying to fall asleep… we can pause, and realize we have a choice. We can see our thoughts for what they are: thoughts. We can remind ourselves that these thoughts are coming from a part of the brain that limits our perspective. With that, a sense of potential might begin to emerge, a sense of “I’ve trained for this.” We can gently guide our attention to the breath, and then take 3 deep breaths, extending the exhale longer than the inhale, sending a signal up in to the fear center of the brain to let it know that everything is okay, it can turn off the fire alarm. Then we can allow the breath the move freely and bring a sense of curiosity to what it feels like to breathe. We might begin by feeling the breath in just the abdomen and then widen our view to feel the whole body breathe. After a few minutes of observing the full body breathing, we might bring to mind something for which we feel grateful - maybe it’s the very bed we’re lying in. We can then explore in the body what this gratitude feels like, allowing it to seep into every cell in our body, and imagining ourselves resting in it.
We feel a deep sense of gratitude to Dr. Rick Hanson, Dr. Dan Siegel, Dr. Richie Davidson and many others who have studied the brain and neurosystem and the effects of meditation on well-being. For a recent book that combines the science and offers meditation practices to support well-being, see Dr. Rick Hanson’s Neurodharma.
We hope you can join us this week as we train our brain together to support our collective well-being.
May all beings everywhere feel the spaciousness and peace of bigger-picture thinking,
Your CMP Family
