Meditation on Changing Our Minds By Developing Groovier Thinking Patterns

I used to struggle A LOT with being defensive.  I would refute or argue most feedback or critiques from people close to me.  Likewise, if someone didn’t agree with my take on things in beliefs, politics, sports, etc., instead of listening to their view and maybe letting my mind be changed, I’d double down on my perspective.  The problem was I associated my value and identity with what others thought of me and the rightness of my thinking.  While I do still sometimes stumble in these areas, I think I’ve made significant strides toward health and wholeness.  I share this because our minds are like vinyl records, in that we develop mental and emotional grooves, or habits, which we fall back into time and time again, and have a hard time breaking free from.

Yogis call these conscious and unconscious, positive and negative patterns of thinking, feeling, and reacting samskaras.  While changing our negative samskaras takes awareness, time, and mindfulness, the great news is we have the technology to do it.  A simple way to help build new, more groovy inner grooves is to repeatedly breathe a mantra.

Three common limiting samskaras are thinking we’re not enough (such as strong enough, smart enough, or good enough), beating ourselves up when we make mistakes, and lacking willpower.  So, today I invite us to literally change our minds by developing groovier thinking patterns.  Let’s watch our thoughts, feelings, and reactions as if they’re a TV show we’re enjoying.  Then, as we notice negative grooves, let’s breath and repeat a mantra that tells a better story.  Let’s flood our minds with positive reminders we’re NOT defined by our mistakes, because we are AMAZING just by being.  We’re strong, smart, good, kind, can do hard things, and so on.  Breathe, repeat, and become these truths.