This morning I did my usual morning swim, run and meditation. The next part of the ritual is always my morning coffee. There I was, catching up on life with the café owner and my morning paper when a man behind me started to talk to himself. People were walking past frowning and making every attempt to get as far away from him as possible. I sat and listened to the discussions he was having with himself – it went from his success as an athlete, to why he chose to have an ice cream instead of eggs for breakfast.

Paying attention to what he was saying out loud, I began to focus onthe discussions that were going on in my own mind. How often do I jump from one conversation to another? The only difference between him and I was that his thoughts were on loudspeaker for the world to hear.

No matter who we are, what job we have, where we were born, or how sane or insane we perceive ourselves to be, we are conversing with ourselves in this mind of ours, constantly.

And we take our thoughts very seriously and these thoughts create a full range of emotions that we experience as part of our day-to-day living. These thoughts create stories that end up playing as our own mini movies –it might be picturesof the fancy car we will be driving one day, or how the boy at the office is annoying us. These stories jump from one to the other in moments. Every thought that creates these stories; has a physical response, as though these thoughts were really happening to us in physical reality. This in turn effects how we experience, see and sense our immediate reality.

What a wake up for me to see how often I would run away and get lost in a story of my mind. These days I try and see it like my best entertainment. Seeing my words and thoughts as my own internal stand-up gig has not only exposed a less serious life and not always quality entertainment but the experience of starting to see what is rather than what was or might be.

In the past, I had been so consumed with my thoughts that I had no idea what was really in front of me. Today every time I see myself in an unproductive thought or thoughts that don’t serve my life, I smile and do something to bring me back to the present moment. This is a practice, which took time, but has exposed me to a lot more of life.

I invite you to check out how often you get caught up with the conversations in your mind, just do it as a game. Question what the thoughts are doing to you? How long have you been in your thoughts? Are you fantasising about the future or from the past? Should of done, should do or any other fabulous movie in the making.  Every time you catch yourself thinking, give yourself a smile and maybe remember the man in the coffee shop..

Learning to become present to what is in front of us and not what is in our heads is a practice of awareness. Choosing awareness is where our lives expand beyond the thoughts of desire, regret, pain and fear, where we can open up to our full creative potential. Why would we choose to live in the prison of our repetitive words and stories? We have the power of choice to do otherwise.

Practice tools to start watching your own mental stand up gig:

• Watch yourself think. words, stories, images
• When you see yourself caught in a story, squeeze your hand and use that as a tool to bring yourself present to the physical sensation in your body.
• Sometimes you can be in story for quite sometime before you realise you are in it. Smile. You’re funny.
• Ask yourself; do you believe your thoughts?
• Are your thoughts of regret, desire, longing, or fantasy?
• Breathe and become present to sensations in your body. Get present to your outside environment, look at the light in the trees or take your breath to your stomach.