Instructions

This practice gradually reveals the nature of sounds and thoughts. Just like sounds, thoughts appear seemingly out of nowhere and then disappear. By understanding their transient nature, you gain some distance from your thoughts and begin to perceive them as mental events rather than representatives of reality. The meditation comprises two basic elements: acceptance and mindfulness:

• First, we accept sounds as they come and go. We observe how we evaluate them, the emotions we associate with them, and how our minds react to them. 
• Then we let the sounds be and shift our attention to the forefront of our awareness – allowing thoughts to flow.
  

Please follow the recording until you become familiar with the meditation. If it helps, read the following notes that outline the process:

Calming the Breath and Body (you can also do this part with a recording of "Breath and Body" from last week)

1. Find a seated position, if your health allows, with an upright posture.Relax your shoulders, straighten your head, and gently tuck in your chin.
   
2. Direct your attention to your breath or another anchor (the touch of your feet on the ground, the sensation of sitting, the touch of your hands, the body as a whole). Then expand it to encompass the entire body, as if the breath is permeating through it. This will help you better recognize the various bodily sensations present.
3. Rest for a few moments with a sense of the body as a whole. Remember that during the following exercise, you can always return to your anchor and stabilize yourself in the present moment if your mind becomes too scattered or overwhelmed.

Sounds

1. When you are ready, allow your attention to shift from bodily sensations to your hearing – open yourself to sounds as they come and go.
   
2. There's no need to seek out specific sounds or choose only certain ones. Simply remain open and let them come and go. In this way, you open yourself to the entire surrounding ocean of sounds. Notice, for example, how more distinct sounds might obscure softer sounds and also the gaps between sounds—the moments of silence (however you perceive them).
3. As best as you can, be aware of sounds simply as sounds, in their raw nature. Observe their depth, pitch, rhythm, and duration. Notice how we tend to immediately label sounds (car, refrigerator, airplane, tram) and judge them. Try to also observe the process of labeling itself, what you perceive as pleasant or unpleasant, and what as neutral. Then redirect your attention to observing the sounds and their natural qualities.
4. You may find that you think about sounds and create stories about them. Explore if it is possible to reconnect with the present moment instead and directly observe the basic sensory qualities of sounds (pitch, tone, volume, duration).
5. Whenever you realize that you are no longer attending to the sounds, notice where your mind has wandered and redirect it back to the sounds and how they arise and pass away, moment by moment.
6. After four to five minutes, let go of the awareness of sounds and shift your attention to thoughts.

Thoughts

1. Thoughts are now at the center of your attention – observe them as mere events occurring in the mind.
   
2. Similar to how you observed sounds arising, existing, and ceasing, you now observe the arising and duration of thoughts (as if they were clouds moving across the sky of the mind). At a certain moment, you may notice when they dissipate.
3. There's no need to generate or suppress thoughts. Similarly to how you observed sounds, allow thoughts to arise and fade away on their own.
4. Thoughts take various forms. They resemble clouds moving across the vast sky—sometimes dark and stormy, other times light and fluffy, sometimes filling the entire sky, and other times leaving it cloudless.
5. It is also possible to observe thoughts as if watching a movie in a cinema. You sit and wait for a thought or image to appear on the screen. Once it appears, you watch it as long as it is on the screen, and once it disappears, you don't engage with it further. Notice the moment when the unfolding events on the screen captivate you to the extent that you become part of them. Once you realize this, congratulate yourself for noticing it and return to your seat, patiently waiting for the next series of thoughts that will undoubtedly emerge.
6. If certain thoughts evoke intense feelings or emotions, pleasant or unpleasant, as best as you can, notice their emotional charge and intensity. Allow them to be as they are, exactly as you found them.
7. Remember that whenever your mind becomes unfocused, distracted, or caught up in a thought-created narrative, you can always return to your anchor (observing your breath, the sensation of the body as a whole, the touch of your feet...). By anchoring your attention, you can bring your consciousness back to the present moment.

Adapted from Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World (Williams & Penman, 2011: 143-146)

Instructions

When unpleasant thoughts or images bother you in your mind, we recommend practicing the 3-Step Breathing Space and then taking a moment to rest and notice the thoughts and feelings that are present. Explore if it is possible to relate to these thoughts differently. You can, for example:

• Write the thoughts down on paper.
• Observe how the thoughts come and go, perhaps like clouds in the sky or like a leaf floating along the current of a river.
• See the thoughts as mental events, not as representatives of reality or given facts (of course, facts like 2+2=4 are reality; we mean thoughts about ourselves and others).
• Label your thoughts. For example: "worries," "anxious thoughts," "sad thoughts," or simply "thinking, thinking."
• Whenever you become aware of negative thoughts and images in your mind, you can also kindly ask yourself:
  • Perhaps I am mistaking a thought for reality?
  • Perhaps I am making quick conclusions?
  • Perhaps I see things in black and white?
  • Perhaps I am judging myself for something beyond my control?
  • Perhaps I am focusing on my weaknesses and forgetting my strengths?
  • Perhaps I am blaming myself for something that is not my fault?
  • Perhaps I am setting unrealistically high standards and goals for myself to set myself up for failure?
  • Perhaps I am fortune-telling?
  • Perhaps I am expecting perfection?
  • Perhaps I am creating catastrophic scenarios?

Adapted and modified from "Mindfulness for Life" (Bernard, Cullen & Kuyken, 2020: 69).