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

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Good morning, everyone. Good day, good evening.

It's lovely to see all your warm greetings and little loving emojis.

So this morning I'm going to talk a little bit about reflective thinking and in our meditation.

We'll do a contemplative reflection.

Contemplative reflection is a complementary practice to the mindfulness practice we do,

where we pay attention to the present moment just as it is.

It uses the thinking mind to consider something specific, a Dharma aspect or something in our personal lives.

Of course, in meditation, you know, we'll do something more related to our spiritual life.

But to direct the thinking with a meditative mind,

it's different than thinking about it.

It's allowing their responses to the contemplation to arise from a deeper part of ourselves.

So in this meditation, I'll offer a contemplative reflection.

We'll begin with getting settled, spend a little time in silence,

and then I'll drop in a couple of questions, you know, more silence and then another question.

And we'll see how you respond to that, what comes out of that.

I hope that it's fruitful for you.

To take a comfortable, a little alert posture,

finding your seat gently closing the eyes you might take a moment to consciously put aside any thoughts or concerns, set them aside for later, put them on a shelf,

taking a few deep breaths, and with each exhale, relaxing a little bit more deeply.

It's relaxing into your cushion or chair into the earth that supports you. And now allowing the breath to return to normal. Getting a sense of the whole body, and allowing the attention

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