MINDFULNESS VIDEO SERIES (10): SILENT WITNESS MEDITATION

Now imagine that you are sitting beside a stream. Observe the water flow by. See how thoughts flow through your mind just like sticks and leaves float down the river as you watch from the riverbank. The stream may be very clear or it may very polluted. Similar, the stream of mind stuff may be very clear, or it may be very polluted. But you are not the stream or the sticks or leaves flowing in the stream. You are the detached observer sitting peacefully on the riverbank. Just observe any sensations, thoughts, desires, fears, plans, emotions etc. as they bubble up to the surface of your mind and then disappear. Remember, don’t hold onto or judge any particular thought or emotion. If you find yourself holding onto a particular thought or emotion, then consciously let it go. Just remain a detached observer of the mind and its everchanging contents.
It is extremely liberating to realize that you are not your mind. The mind is the sitting place for an endless number of desires, demands, thoughts, emotions, images, speculations and so on. When you identify with your mind, you get pushed, pulled and affected in various ways by the mind’s constant and everchanging contents. This could be demands, plans, emotions, desires, images etc. When this happens, you are like a person who is helplessly getting swept downstream by very strong currents of a swiftly moving river. You do not have to react to what is entering the stream of your mind. If I jump into a raging river, I will lose control over where I am going. Similarly, if I act upon strong emotions that are appearing in my mind, then I will almost surely lose control over what I am going to do or say.