It’s been a busy week. One of the frequent questions that came up was about quieting the mind and how exhausting, or even impossible that can be.

This is exhausting because we are trying to quiet our experiences not our mind. We try to suppress or stop our thoughts, sensations, feelings, memories or imaginings. But those are not our mind. Those are the contents of our mind. We don’t quiet our mind by shutting down its experiences. We quiet our mind by being calm even when we are having experiences. We develop a calm presence even in the midst of chaos.

This track describes a metaphor, a room of TV sets, for quieting your mind without having to suppress thoughts or other experiences. The next track is a meditation that uses this metaphor.

The following guided meditation is based on the metaphor of the room of TV sets. It has several minutes of instructions to help you develop a calm presence without having to suppress or silence mental activity. The track is several minutes long which will enable you to get a deeper feel for the technique. To build your skill practice for a few breaths several times per day and once or twice for several minutes. You will know that you are gaining skill when you find your breath calming you without you having to think about it.