Beyond Thoughts and Emotions: The Serene Observer

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Hello and welcome to The Serene Observer. This is a little meditation that goes beyond your

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thoughts and emotions and it really helps you to separate what's going on in your head, what's going on in

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your body. And who you really are. You just take a step back from them. And very often when we're

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feeling really depressed or we're feeling really lonely or we're sitting in a lot of pain,

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very often we feel like that's us. And what this does is just separates ourself from that. So instead of

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I am depressed, we become I'm feeling depressed. And it separates the self from the thoughts

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and whatever's going on. And it gives us the power to be able to step beyond them

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and transcend them. So it's about a 10-15 minute meditation. So if you begin

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by finding just a comfortable seated position. And settle yourself in and you can gently close your

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eyes if you choose to.

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And if you choose not to close your eyes, just soften your gaze a few feet in front of you.

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You don't always have to close your eyes to do meditation.

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And just allow your body to settle in. Allow your body to relax. Your body knows how to relax. Your

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body knows how to breathe we just become aware of the breathing.

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And I'm Steven Webb And

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Just a reminder, I have another podcast called Stillness in the Storms. Which

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just helps you to get through some difficult times in life or just see life a little bit differently.

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And as you're Allowing your body to settle in.

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Allowing your awareness to become aware of your breath. Breathing in calm. Breathing out relaxed.

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Just notice the natural rhythm of your breath.

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You don't have to do anything with it.

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Breathing in calm.

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Breathing out relaxed.

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And with each breath, just allow your body to relax a little bit more.

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And now just shift your attention to your thoughts.

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I want you to observe them as they come and go.

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And it could be anything you could be thinking right down to. What am I doing sat here? Or

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what's this meditation about? Or perhaps something you need to do later? Just

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give it a gentle smile and a nod. And thank you for the thought. And allow it just to float

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on down, say, a stream. And

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you can see them and you see them just float away.

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And as you're becoming more calm, just say this affirmation.

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But really look at it and feel it and see what it resonates with you. Say

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to yourself, I have thoughts. I am not those thoughts.

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I have thoughts. I am not those thoughts.

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And just recognise how that feels. Recognise how that lands.

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I have thoughts. But I am not those thoughts.

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And notice the small gap between the thoughts and your awareness.

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And now you can turn your awareness to any feelings or emotions that are present within your body.

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They could be around your heart or they could be lower. They

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might even be in your shoulders or your throat.

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Just become aware of any of these feelings or emotions.

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And imagine them rising and becoming more and then fading and disappearing.

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And You have feelings. But you're not these feelings.

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And you can observe these feelings and affirm to yourself just by saying, I have feelings.

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I am not those feelings.

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I have feelings. I am not those feelings.

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And just as you, you

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can bring your attention to the taste in your mouth or what you can hear.

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Whatever sensation you use, you're not the sound or you're not the taste. You're just they're

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experiencing it. And this is the same with your feelings. You're just experiencing the feeling.

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I have feelings. I am not those feelings.

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And if you were these feelings or you were these thoughts, you wouldn't be able to be aware of them.

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Just like the chair can be aware of the table,

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the chair cannot be aware of the chair

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I'm Not sure if that's a helpful analogy.

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But if you're observer and you're watching over your thoughts or watching over your feelings, you cannot be those feelings.

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You're

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aware of them. Same as you're aware of any sounds that are coming in.

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And recognise that your true self, your awareness, is separate to these thoughts and emotions.

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You have emotions, but you are not those emotions. You

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have thoughts, but you're not these thoughts.

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And now just feel the liberation and the understanding that you are the observer. And

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you're the observer of your thoughts and feelings. And you're not defined by them.

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You have feelings, but you're not those feelings. And it means you can be free of them. You can

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experience them. You can sit in them. You can enjoy them. You

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can try to push them away if you don't like them so much. Perhaps they are not all joy.

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But ultimately you're not them. You're

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just aware of them.

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So as we embrace the role of the serene observer here,

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this part of you that is calm, it's unswayed and

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you're away from the mind's chatter or the heart's turbulence and you're just observing.

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And in this space there's a profound sense of peace and clarity. Just

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rest here for a moment.

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And just remember as you to go about your day that you can have thoughts and you can have feelings,

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but you are not these ones. You're not the feelings, you're not the thoughts, you're observing them, you're having them.

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Just the same as if you eat something, you experience the taste of the eating. You're not the actual

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taste itself or you hear something. It comes in and you hear it. You're not the sound itself. And this

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is the same for your feelings and the same for your thoughts. You're not the thought itself. You're just

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experiencing the thought. And

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when we really grasp this concept, it's really mind-blowing. It suddenly gives you this ah

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this separateness that we've wanted for such a long time, this calm peacefulness. So

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as you slowly bring your awareness back to your breath, I'm breathing in calm. I'm breathing out relax Feel

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the sensation of the air entering and leaving your body.

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And when you're ready, just gently open your eyes and shake out your arms and just look around the room

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and really feel this sensation that you're not your thoughts. You just have thoughts.

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You're not your feelings. You just have feelings. And they come and go. They're not permanent.

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There's something to experience. There's something to either enjoy or not enjoy quite so much sometimes.

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You

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are just the observer, just awareness itself.

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I'm Steven Webb and I hope this meditation helps and if it does you can support the show by clicking

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the links below in the show notes and

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just by leaving a review and sharing this meditation with others really does help. It

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gives us a sense of calmness in the world. When it feels like everything's going crazy, we can have this

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centred calm. Thank you.

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Take care. Have a wonderful, peaceful day.