Shifting Your Inner Narrative with a guided meditation

What story is being told in your mind?

What you tell yourself will manifest and become part of your life. Whether busy or calm, the state of your mind — and how you see yourself and the world around you — is all within your power.

The following fusion of lessons derives from meditation techniques, psychologists, and Sanghas of the Vipassana and Tibetan lineages.

You are not your thoughts.

To be aware of your thoughts you must first become an observer of them. Take a mental step back and observe the thoughts as if they were children at a playground. What can you learn from those thoughts? How did social conditioning, parents, moods, and friends shape those thought patterns? The observing mind, behind the chattering, is where self-empowerment lives.

Read more on Practicing Everyday Mindfulness.

Bucket your thoughts.

Watch the mind by stepping into a place of non-judgment. Instead note, observe, and be aware of what’s happening on the movie screen of the mind. For example, thinking most often falls into three buckets:

• Trance state: automatic, robot state when you’re doing something but not thinking about it.