 Hello and welcome to day 54 of our coronavirus mindfulness challenge. We are now well into the fifties and we haven't got long to go. We have 46 more days to be precise. So today we're going to talk about noticing thoughts and where our mind is and how we can allow ourselves to bring our awareness to the thoughts and actually look at them and and and see how see how they rise and where do they rise from and and how they meander around our mind and how they build gravitas to get to that point where, you know, we really start to take on board and we start to overthink things and and there's a simple exercise that we're going to do, which is going to be looking at how our mind and our thoughts arise and then rather than focusing on the specific content of the thoughts themselves, we're going to join, we're going to sort of generalise and we're going to tune into the general context. And when we close our eyes and we get comfortable, we'll be able to sort of see these thoughts and and and when they arise, we can just look at them and say, right, what's in that thought? Where's that coming from? Big hands and we can naturally detach from them. And it's in its that's the key to it is naturally detaching. Some of you may know that yesterday on day 53, I had to go back into hospital because my knee collapsed over the weekend and I'm in extremely large amounts of pain as sat here right here right now. And that pain is painful, but it's also quite off-putting. But as a teacher, as somebody who proclaims mindfulness to be an answer and just confirm the point that I'm not going anywhere fast at the moment. Here is one of my two crutches. I never thought I'd be getting my crutch up online, but there we go. But but so I need to be able to accept the my knees back. I need to accept that I went to the hospital yesterday, they've done the x-rays, I need an operation and that operation is is urgent. It's quite severe, but they're not doing any non urgent, non essential, it's essential to me and it's bloody urgent to me. But because of the coronavirus and I understand that I accept that. I accept that, you know, the way in which it was different when I went to the hospital yesterday, I accept that, you know, the way in which I was treated and I accept the fact they didn't have any braces to prom my leg because they moved all of the stuff out of this hospital to to do something else. I accept all of that, I understand it. I have compassion for the situation. I have empathy for those people who are working there and you know, they're apologising to me. I said, well, hang on a minute, you know, I didn't really want to come in, but when I spoke to my doctor, they said I got a curmin, I spoke to you and you said the curmin, I just don't want to be a burden. I don't, you know, you've got your hands full a lot. And they say, well, no, when an accident, an emergency unit, you know, we need if you've got an accident or an emergency, you come and see us. But it was just the absolute love that these people had and, you know, put in their lives at risk for all of us. And I keep coming back to it, it's amazing. I accept the fact that I'm going to be in pain and I don't know when I haven't got a deadline. I'm taking quite strong painkillers, but I don't really want to take loads of them, but I accept that. So I need to make some adjustments and I need to just breathe. Just come back into my breath and realise that I know this will pass. I know that eventually I'll have my operation and I'll have my physio and I'll be back in the gym again and I'll lose a bit of weight that I put on in this coronavirus and I'll get fit and I'll get my muscles bulging again and get my six pack back 30 years ago that. But in essence, it's all about me becoming aware of some of the things that, you know, the arguments I was having in my head yesterday, you know, oh, this isn't, you know, how long is this going to be? And you're just, whoa, hang on a second. You know, I don't know how long this is going to be. I'm not going to, I can see that thought. I can feel the emotion of, oh my God, this is going to be forever. But what do I do with it? And I just accept it, acknowledge it, breathe it and let it go because it doesn't serve me at all. That mental narrative, that whole chatter in my mind is not going to serve me well. Laying in bed thinking, oh, this is going to be terrible. I just lay in bed and think, I've got time to meditate. I'm in pain, but I can read a book. I read one of the books I got over there I haven't read for ages. Or, you know, I could just do some editing on my laptop or I could just sleep. So, you know, all of these things are there and I appreciate everyone's thoughts and I appreciate everyone's healing and love. But don't give them to me. I don't, I'm okay. I'm not saying I don't need them and I'm grateful for them. Of course I am, but my mind is in that position of, I'll be all right. And if I'm not, then hey, I'll be all right. You know? And that's what I want to get us to today. I want us to get to thinking that how we can bring our awareness to our mind and naturally detach from the thoughts, the meander that jump around in our heads. And when you observe our own thoughts, you naturally create a separation from it. And that's the key. The key is separating our thoughts from our actual situation. When I was in that hospital yesterday, I could have flipped out. I could have really, but what, why? You know, these people are doing their best and I am where I am. So, and I don't want to get sucked into those thoughts. I don't want to get sucked into that negativity, that all of those things. I want to be happy, smiley. I want to come on here for day 54, albeit in a bit of pain, but I'm here. So, as always, we're going to put a picture up and we're going to get into a meditation, okay? Now, this is close your eyes and just start to take a deep breath, but this is a simple noting exercises to look at the mind, its thoughts as they arise. And rather than, as I said earlier, rather than focusing on the content of the thoughts themselves, just tune into the general context. And just to gest your body now, just to find that comfortable and sustainable posture. As we're working with our thoughts, it's helpful to dedicate the first five minutes to building that level of concentration. So, just taking a deep breath in and just breathing out. Taking a deep breath in and just breathing out. And just start to feel relaxed and start to focus on your breath with every in breath. You're breathing in love, peace and out breath. You're bringing out all this beautiful spiritual clean air that's taken away any of the residual energies or bumps or lumps that you've gone on board over the last 24 hours. And as you're doing this now, I just want you to choose a place in the body and rest with the awareness on that breath. So, wherever you feel your body or you want to focus in on parts of your body, then just do so and rest your awareness on that breath. And when the mind wanders, simply bring it back with kindness to the experience of breathing. Come back to that breath. Now, I want you to open your awareness to the mind and your thought processes and use in the breath as your anchor. Stay with the sensation of breathing until a thought comes up. Just open up your mind to allow thoughts. And when you notice a thought arise, note what its general context is. And rather than tuning in to the specifics of the thought, note whether it's worrying about the past, problem solving, whether you're fantasising or another thinking pattern. Is there something else that underlies this? And when you recognise your thinking, note the thought and return to the breath. And just patiently sit with your body breathing, waiting for the next thought to arise. And as I said, don't tune in to the specifics of the thought. Note what it is, as I said, are you problem solving? Is it reneumination? Is it fantasising? Are you thinking of another problem? Recognise what you're thinking, note the thought and return to your breath. The key is always just noting what the thought is in general without diving into the specifics or getting attached to it. Or even more importantly, getting wrapped up in it, adding to it, taking away from it, giving it life energy oxygen. Just focus on your breath. Breathing in, breathing out. You can stay here for a moment now and just do this yourself. And as always, as I said, note whether the thought is about the past, is about the present or the future. And without labelling one as good or another as bad, just notice where your mind is. Just label it. Past, present or future, notice it. Don't get drawn into it. Come back to your breath. Just breathing in and breathing out. Taking a deep breath in and we're going to come out of this practice in a moment. But before we do that, I just want you to, when you do come out, retain some awareness of this thinking mind and when you're going about your daily tasks, recognise when the mind is just going off and wandering. And then try noting where the mind is and see this happening. Be aware of it. And then you can just bring it back with your breath again to give you that peace, that clarity, that time, that balance. Just focus it on your breath. Coming back. Take a deep breath in, slowly wiggle your fingers, open your eyes, come back into the room. So it's, you know, mindfulness is a very simple practice. But it's difficult to master on times because, you know, we try and complicate things. We try and overthink things. We try and do all of these things, really, that we don't need to do. It's about just being aware. And it's interesting because, you know, I do close my eyes and I breathe and all the rest of it. But when I come back up these meditations, I always feel so much more balanced and so much more relaxed. And even if I think about it, my knee's not hurting as much now. It's probably because the strong painkillers are kicking in. But the point is, is that, you know, I'll go back to a say and I said a couple of weeks ago, and that's this. Thousands of things have happened in my life and some of them actually have. The mental narrative, the chatter can really cause us so many traumas without the situation ever arising. Can you imagine having all those moments back? But now you have the tools, the skillset, the ability to be able just to that. And it's beautiful. So, put your hand on your heart today and say, good morning, Julian. I love you. Good morning, Julian. I really love you. Thank you for being with me on day 54. Day 55 tomorrow, God bless. Be loving, give love, have a lovely day. Let me know your comments. Please share this. And if you can subscribe, there's also next to the subscription bottle, there's a button, there's a bell. Click the bell, okay? And what that will do is every time I post a video, it will give you a notification that there's a new one. So thank you very much for watching. Be loving, give love, have a great day and I'll see you on day 55. Bye-bye.