The following talk was given at the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, California.

Please visit our website at audiodharma.org.

Hello from Insight Meditation Center. Welcome to the meditation.

And one of the important tendencies to become conscious about is how much of our behavior,

our words and our thoughts, our attitudes are unconscious or operating on habit energy.

We don't think about it, we're not aware that we're not choosing it,

we're just kind of moving along and unthinkingly thinking, doing, saying whatever kind of comes up.

And the opportunity is that with mindfulness is to be aware of what's operating within us,

what are the habits of attitudes, habits of beliefs, habits of ways in which we relate to ourselves and to others.

And habits are kind of how we speak to ourselves or speak in our mind.

And to see it clearly enough, to see that we have a choice or notice where we have the choice.

And so that we can choose to think, to relate to ourselves, to speak to ourselves in our mind,

in a way that is kind, a way that is supportive, a way that is nourishing, a way that produces or brings about some of the best qualities of our heart.

And to speak to ourselves or have an attitude towards ourselves that heals, that helps create friendship within ourselves

and a caring attitude of all of who we are, where we're not in conflict with ourselves or not saying things or being in ways with ourselves or with others

that if we really step back and listen or hear or feel the impact of what our mind is doing, we would feel sorry, we would have compassion,

we would have maybe even some sorrow over, wow, this hurts, this is difficult.

Let's see how we could do it a different way.

And the choice point in meditation has to do with how we then bring our mindfulness, how we bring our attention to what's here.

Can we find a way to, when we have a choice to be consciously aware, to shift some of the inner dynamics?

So there is a kind of a friendly holding of our experience, some kind of way of being with experience.

It's kind of like being with a difficult person who all we have to do is listen and be present and make room for them to speak,

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