The Superpower of Mindful Witnessing - Tara Brach [2023-08-23]

Namaste Welcome Friends I'd like to read you something that has struck me it's by the poet Nikki Giovanni and she says the state of the world we live in is so depressing and this is not because of the reality of those who run it but because it just doesn't have to be that way the possibilities of Life are so great and beautiful that to see less wears the spirit down to see less than the whole where's the spirit down so the antidote is to increase or open or widen our attention to use what I think of as a superpower which is mindful witnessing and witnessing just this moment pausing and witnessing doesn't lead to indifference actually we open into a very full presence that allows us to respond with creativity and intelligence and care to our lives it uplifts our spirit so the talk I've chosen for this week explores how you can cultivate this superpower of mindful witnessing and I wish you all blessings as you join me in this reflection welcome friends and thank you for tuning in I'd like to start this talk with a story there was a magician who was traveling through a region he was going from Town Square to Town Square and he'd astonish people with his magic he had this capacity to be able to point to things with his finger a shovel a book a hat and it would turn to gold so the final show of the day everyone's applauding completely wowed by his powers except one boy and this boy had been carrying a stick he'd been playing but he stopped and he'd been fully attentive through the whole show but never clapped and in the end everyone went home except this boy and the magician pointed to the stick and turned it to Gold then the boy had no reaction he didn't say anything so the magician pointed to his shoelaces his belt turned them to gold again the boy was just kind of noticing and then he asked what's wrong you're the the richest in town why aren't you happy what is it you want and the boy said what I want is The Magic Finger so what does that mean to have the magic finger you know we think we want the prize you know the money the mate the accomplishment the security maybe even the feeling of pleasure of Happiness of ease we fixate on the prize and we lose sight of the source of all that we cherish which is presence the open-hearted presence that's possible Right Here and Now so the gateway to that presence is The Magic Finger the Gateway is our capacity to mindfully witness what's going on right here in this moment you know on the bottom of my computer I have a sticky note you know I'm still very non-digital in certain ways and all that's on it is pause the word pause but every time I remember to really stop really pause I'm able to witness what's going on you know maybe it's speediness or anxiety or in some way not in my body but I can witness and and then breathe for a few moments and inhabit a larger presence and then I just re-engage whatever um with whatever I'm doing more clear more embodied more more wholehearted so I bring that up because witnessing this ability to really observe and sense what's happening with a non-judging awareness with a kind awareness this witnessing is our Gateway so we'll pause together right here at the beginning and just look at Awakening the witness and you might Wherever You Are Just Close Your Eyes for a moment and let your attention go inward and the two questions that help to activate the witness the first is what's happening inside me right now so just notice what's going on in your body whatever Sensations or feelings are there traces of thoughts the first question is what's happening inside me and the second is can I let this be non-judging kind presence and as you're attending noticing letting be now since the experience of knowing you are aware this is mindful witnessing being aware of being aware aware of your own presence and just sense how from this place you can now choose how you re-engage when you open your eyes and listening and your intention towards presence as part of this Gathering yeah so feel free if you haven't already to open your eyes in our life Journey the capacity to open our attention and mindfully witness our experience it is our superpower it is our magic finger it allows us to remember what matters to see reality more clearly more wisdom really reconnecting with our wise heart then we can respond not react so in the story The Boy was asking for the real gift the real treasure that which makes it possible to experience the gold uh during for this talk this Gathering we will reflect together on the role of mindful witnessing and really how when you become a witness to your experience it gives you access to great inner freedom to spiritual realization and often when we talk about mindfulness and waking up I use the metaphor of ocean and waves because I find it really really useful that when there's no witnessing awareness we get lost in the ways we get caught in anxious thinking and emotional reactivity we get tumbled we get caught in a really trunk and limited sense of who we are we kind of move around in a in a grimness or being judgmental or defended or tight or tensing against the future we get smaller and this is true as individuals and also in our larger society when we're not mindful as a society as a group of people we get caught in the waves of of greed and fear-based reactivity and we end up violating each other in our Earth so healing comes when we reconnect with a larger view with the ocean when we witness and behold our shared Humanity a few weeks ago you might remember those who listened I described the overview of fact it's that cognitive shift that in Awareness that a number of astronauts have reported during space flight when they're viewing the Earth from from outer space and this witnessing of our fragile blue-green orb that's floating in space it just brings up so much cherishing for them and protectiveness and it's really in the same way that in any moment that we open to a wider vantage point and and witness what's happening whether it's our society or in our personal lives we can respond with more wisdom more heart and it's not abstract you've probably noticed if you're in conflict with someone let's say a family member or a friend and you remember to really look through the eyes of the mindful witness if you look from a larger View you'll see the patterning the dance you're in more clearly and you'll remember what your deeper intention is and you'll speak more from the heart you'll listen more from the heart or let's say you're with your child and you're impatient and in some way you you kind of witness it you witness what's going on something and you will realize you need to slow down to sense what your child needs all right I think a lot if we're at war with ourselves you know you know the moments when you realize and and start witnessing oh my gosh that harsh inner judge is taken over if you're witnessing that you'll also sense how harmful that is and turn towards more self-kindness so witnessing enlarges us it helps us inhabit and live from who we really are so I really do think of it as uh our superpower as humans you know the word homo sapien sapien which is really humans knowing that we're knowing and it's sometimes described by cognitive scientists as metacognition a larger space of knowing and it's very much a part of our evolving consciousness and it takes cultivation so that's what we're going to explore how do we cultivate being a mindful Witness and it really starts with witnessing the trance we're in at any moment when we're stuck you know all the different ways are our attention gets caught where we believe we're separate and threatened and not okay it's those moments when we're really caught in our role in some rigid way in our reactivity and not remembering Who We Are so one story an unemployed biologist got a new job at the zoo and they offered to him to dress up as a gorilla in the skin a gorilla skin and you know pretend to be a gorilla so people would come to the zoo more people would be more engaged and on his first day on the job he puts on the skin and he goes into the cage and people are cheering him so he starts really putting on a show he's jumping around he's beating his chest and he's roaring and during what acrobatic attempt he loses his balance and he crashes into the lion cage and so he's lying there stunned and the lion roars and he's terrified and starts screaming help help you know and the lion races over to him places his paws on this guy's chest and hisses shut up or we'll both lose our job so a kind of maybe not the best illustration but if we jack in regularly we'll find that a lot of times during the day we're caught inside a roll or an idea of ourself that's smaller than the reality than the the wholeness the mystery of Who We Are my friend and teaching colleague Anam thupton puts it this way he says there's a mind-created world that we've been living in Forever a mind-created world we've been living in Forever the world we must awaken from is the world that the mind has constructed and this is this is deep um it's very revealing to start investigating this virtual world we spend so much time lost in when we start witnessing it we find that it's actually run by feelings that our fears are generating worry thoughts and planning and rehearsing fears are generating judgments and keeping us in a kind of problem-solving mind huge loss of the day if we begin to witness this is what we see and that our wants are continuing to move us towards trying to find some more comfort and pleasure and as much as we think we're making decisions or choices and they're rational they're actually driven by the wants and the fears I mean you might take a moment to scan today let's just witness a little bit about today let your attention go inward and just consider how much time were you lost in thoughts maybe living inside the idea of a doing self and on your way to something else how many times and how much of that virtual reality was there a sense of a problem to solve something to figure out judging planning and can you sense how through the day there were feelings that were in some way shaping the thoughts anxiety wanting something different thank you and you might also scan it since were there moments of real presence of mindful witnessing what was going on so the ocean aware of the waves but not lost when your senses were awake when you're aware of what was going on around you inside you without judgment just stepping back witnessing the day open your eyes if they were closed if you'd like the more we're lost in our thoughts and feelings without any of the presence of that mindful witness the more we actually miss out on what's happening around us one mom shared this in an email this story and the background is that she's very much into she and her family into organic foods and vegetarianism they she hadn't gotten to the grocery store one day and she was stressed and tired so here she is at dinner time trying to figure out what to feed her children and thank goodness she found a frozen pizza in the freezer so she announces she feels guilty about it but she announces we're going to have frozen pizza you know it's not homemade it's not organic you know that kind of thing well her son her four-year-old son resists he said I don't want frozen pizza she stayed calm that's what we're having he gets increasingly upset don't want frozen pizza don't want frozen pizza she again tried calmly this is all we have in the house you know in her mind she's thinking he's spoiled he doesn't understand how much time and energy it takes to cook all these homemade meals I'm raising these entitled brats I'm a bad mom you know it proliferates takes a deep breath this is what we're having tonight sweetie I'm tired it's what we have finally he looks at her when this tear streaked face and he's you know he says very calmly okay Mama but could we at least heat it up she really needed that magic finger that bit of mindful witnessing despair the family drama the truth is when we're reactive when we're lost in the ways we're in a distorted virtual reality we need to pause we need that superpower so let's look more closely at how we shift when we're caught in the waves to becoming the ocean witnessing the ways and as you know if you've been with me and practicing these teachings for a while the ground level is become mindful witnessing our thoughts realize thoughts are happening so we can kind of step out of them some again you might just reflect for a moment and uh when I invite you to reflect you can either close your eyes or let your gaze be downcast but check this out that if you just remind yourself of a stressful situation that happened recently maybe earlier today yesterday something where you got triggered like watching a movie just remind yourself what was going on what was triggering what it was like perhaps remembering who was there or if somebody else was there or what was being said and now fully become the mindful Witness noticing this is a story going on right now in your mind so you're witnessing the thoughts as thoughts images sound bites you might even mentally whisper thoughts thinking thinking if there's feelings witnessing that and being aware of witnessing being aware of being right here now larger than the story of the stressed self when you are the witness there's an enlarging quality depressance and there's a Clarity that you can see I am not the thoughts I'm not the self in the story that what you are is larger see see this sense how clear witnessing makes it I am not the thoughts what I am is larger it's this witnessing awareness and again if you'd like to open your eyes please do seeing this is what makes witnessing a superpower a magic finger seeing thoughts as thoughts um there are so many fear-based thoughts that shape our experience of life and it's such a prison to believe those thoughts thoughts of our own shortcomings or what's wrong with others chronic worry thoughts to experience them as reality makes us very small and limited so the moment that you move into the mindful witness and see thoughts as thoughts you have more perspective you you can actually choose and sense well is that thought serving my life is that thought causing more distance more pain mindful witness gives you the opportunity to actually see more clearly and choose what's most shaping your life and I know for myself that it doesn't mean when I'm mindfully witnessing that I've actually stepped out fully of all the anger or hurt or fear that's going on but there is more freedom I notice here with my husband Jonathan that if there's some tension between us and I am having judgmental thoughts and I'm feeling angry towards him if there's enough of a mindful witness just to see okay this is what's going on I can tell myself don't believe your thoughts don't believe your thoughts don't believe your thoughts and actually not say or do things I might later feel bad about I'm still feeling bad but there's enough of that Witness to have some clarity and perspective it's so helpful the witness reminds us it's just a thought you're not your thoughts you don't have to believe them so I did get an email from one man he wrote I'm really trying to witness my thoughts more they've been with me since I was born I know the voices of my mind aren't mine but they sound exactly like me so it is we really do get hooked in thinking these thoughts are what I am but we can train ourselves to step into an enlarged sense of presence you might remember the Wizard of Oz he seemed so great and terrible the great and terrible Wizard of Oz and he had Dorothy and her friends all trembling and then the curtain got pulled you remember who pulled the curtain you probably do it was Toto the little dog so the idea is let your inner Toto that witnessing presence pull the curtain on thoughts you know so that you see them as thoughts and then they don't have the power to make your life small so the beginning of waking up becoming the witness of thinking similarly we become the mindful witness of emotions it's such a superpower when you're caught in emotions in all those ways that are just causing suffering to be able to make that shift from being inside the waves and tumbled to resting in the ocean you're still including the waves you still feel what's there but you have that larger perspective it releases the identification so when we can really recognize and allow without judgment the emotions that are there they lose their capacity to dominate us and there's a lot of research on this that when we become mindful of what's going on become the mindful witness it actually increases the activity of the prefrontal cortex and decreases the activity of the more primitive limbic brain we have more choice I'll give you an illustration for this and my illustration is a story about my one of my assistants Janet who's been on the team here for years and has given me permission of course to share she knows all my stories of the trance of unworthiness so here we were and we're on the phone and she's reporting the status of projects uh this this occurred about four years ago she was juggling so much and she felt she wasn't doing Justice to them and that she could be getting out so many more blog posts and doing so much more on the website and she's just falling short in her mind on many fronts and it just landed her in that sense of I'm not enough you know I'm really failing and it was familiar to her she she often shared self-doubts and I tried reminding her of all the good she was doing didn't make a dent so then I just started singing you know I'm never enough I'm always failing I'm never enough I can't get things right I'm never enough I'm falling short you know and I I really put it on at some point she joined in and of course we were laughing and the dopamine was flowing and the limbic doubts and fears back down she was more the entertained witness than the Unworthy self so in this example of course she had a co-witness and it really helps us to be with each other witnessing what's going on together so we don't take it so personally and get so caught but the principles whether you're practicing activating the witness on your own or with others are the same uh when you sense you're stuck caught in reactivity pause you might take a few breaths because that actually will change your biochemistry a few long deep breaths then ask the two questions that activate the witness what is happening inside me right now and can I let this be witnessing is without judgment it's simply noticing what's here now I've been asked well when we're in that mindful witness isn't that a kind of dissociation isn't it kind of a dry and different observation and I want to just say that mindful witnessing isn't removed any more than the oceans removed from the waves it's an enlarged presence where we feel and hear and see what's here we're including the ways from that larger perspective and importantly when we get open and attentive and we're not judging there's a natural kindness that comes through one teacher describes it as an infectionate attention some like to think of mindful witnessing like a kind grandmother that's just wise and caring and and really accepts what's happening in the moment it's reality in the moment so in its fullness attention is the purest form of love I mean we know this that one another truly attends without judgment that's we feel their love and it's the same thing with the mindful witness when we're witnessing from that fullness there's a deeply tender presence that really fills it and whatever you practice gets stronger so the more you practice becoming the mindful witness the more it becomes a superpower you know you really find that pathway very quickly to being from being stuck in that prison of Trance to reconnecting with beingness where there's more clarity more tenderness and in those moments you can then respond and not react to your world I mean so often so often the regrets in our life are the times we've been caught in trance and had no access to witnessing and instead said things or acted in ways that cost harm so as mentioned earlier uh when there's conflict capacity just to pause somewhere in the midst of that and and just notice okay what's happening and can I just be with this right now the more you can do that the more chance you'll remember what really matters to you that you really really want connection and understanding more than being right more than defending yourself and you'll be able to then respond in a way that's aligned and it's helpful if you want to be able to move into that freedom of the witness to plan ahead if there's a person you know in your life where you get triggered regularly and you go into transplant ahead intend to be able to pause and breathe and notice from a larger view okay what are the thoughts what are the feelings inside you and that pause to connect with the that mindful witness will give you more freedom to then engage from the best of Who You Are okay so the last part of our reflection that I want to uh move through with you is the greatest misunderstanding about the superpower and with that how witnessing actually becomes a portal to the deepest Awakening possible so if you explore while you're witnessing in the background what's going on you'll sense that there's and this is subtle but that the witness is me it's like the self what I am is the witness and it's as if there's some vague hovering inner self residing in the body mind that's doing the witnessing sometimes described as the ghost self there's a profound Freedom when you begin to investigate this like who really is witnessing and you might sense you know as you're witnessing a sense of that kind of well I'm witnessing but if you really look closely who's witnessing what is witnessing and if you attend without adding any thoughts just look to see who's witnessing see if you can really find a self what's there if you if you bring a real interest but a light touch you can't find anything solid you know you just sense well awareness is witnessing it's it's witnessing without a witness it's witnessing without a witness you might listen to these words from srinar sarkodata who's one of the teachers that's most shaped my understanding he says as you watch your mind thoughts sounds feelings you discover yourself as The Watcher okay this is the witness when you stand Motionless only watching you discover yourself as the light behind the Watcher the light behind the Watcher the source of light is the source of knowing of loving that Source alone is relax in that source and that beingness and abide there I'm gonna read that again because to me it's one of the most profound teachings that can help us as you watch your mind the thoughts sounds the feelings you discover yourself as The Watcher when you stand motionless only watching you discover yourself as the light behind the Watcher the source of light is the source of knowing of love that Source alone is relax in that Source in that beingness and abide there when we rest in that source and what we are Beyond any ideas of a self or even ideas of a witnessing self when we rest in that light-filled beingness we can sense that pure formless presence is shining through all bodies all Minds so a final story that I feel brings this alive in a very beautiful way and this is shared by a physician she says it was a it was a busy morning an elderly man as 80s arrived after stitches removed he was in a hurry he said he had an appointment at nine so I took his Vital Signs and knew it would be over an hour before we'd be able to completely move through the procedure I saw him looking at his watch and decided since I was not busy with another patient I would evaluate his wound and see if we could get to it more quickly on exam it was well healed so I talked to one of the doctors got the needed supplies and removed the sutures redressed his wound while taking care of his wound I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning while he was in such a hurry and the gentleman told me no that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife I inquired as to her health he told me she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's disease as we talked I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late he replied that she no longer knew who he was that she had not recognized him in five years now I was surprised and asked him and you still go every morning even though she doesn't know who you are he smiled as he patted my hand and said she doesn't know me but I still know who she is what Grace you know to be able to witness the spirit of another and not be confused or distracted or deluded by their temporary state and what Grace when we get caught in the wage to be able to remember our own spirit to be able to Bear witness to what's going on and sense the light behind the witness that light and love that's really our ashes what Grace so it's Grace and it is a capacity we can cultivate um their through the day is the possibility of pausing so in this talk we've been looking at this is a key part of waking up this capacity to bring mindful witnessing to what's going on anytime it's the superpower that when we develop it it's like The Magician's finger you know it allows us in a daily way to have that freedom to respond and not react and to to live from our most away car in the deepest way it's what allows us to inhabit that Radiance that light that love that's who we are to really rest in in the mystery of our being foreign s we'll close with a short reflection and I invite you wherever you are to let your attention go inward those two questions what is happening inside me right now and can I let this be sensing the witnessing that kind non-judging presence with the thoughts the feelings the sensations and now bring attention to that witnessing Watcher that that which is observing aware you're aware and sensing the light behind the witness The Watcher foreign the source of all being in love and just relax back and rest knowing this is the truth of being Beyond any story the poet Mary Oliver writes still what I want in my life is to be willing to bedazzled to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world I want to believe I'm looking into the White Fire of a great mystery I want to believe that the imperfections are nothing that the light is everything that it is more than the sum of each flawed Blossom rising and falling and I do thank you friends for your attention wishing you all blessings on the path [Music] thank you

Channel: Tara Brach

Views: 35,823

Keywords: Tara Brach, dharmarain108108108, dharma, meditation, mindfulness, radical compassion, compassion, awakening

Id: Gtma6J6Jzx8

Length: 42min 47sec (2567 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 24 2023