Hey everyone, it's K-Sunga here. I just want to let you know that we've launched a brand

new call and advice podcast called Dear Headspace. Each week the headspace teachers, along

with some amazing new friends, are answering your questions about relationships, work,

life, mindfulness, and just about everything else. It's so different from anything we've

ever created and we're so excited for you to hear it. Dear Headspace comes out every

Tuesday on the Headspace app and anywhere that you listen to podcasts. Thanks for listening.

Hi, it's Andy here and welcome to Radio Headspace. Welcome to Monday. This is

the start of the week. So I wonder how much time you spend in your life reacting to things

out of habit. I think most of us spend quite a lot of time doing that sort of knee-jerk

reactions to situations, almost as though we feel like we don't necessarily have control

over where our mind goes, where our words go, where our actions go. Of course, as an alternative,

there's the opportunity to train the mind to create a little bit of space in the mind so

that in any given situation we can respond rather than reacting. And when I was thinking

about this, it reminded me of a time in my life when I was training in different monasteries

and following a set of guidelines. I ain't often referred to as rules. I always thought

of them as guidelines, ways to become more mindful. You know, in some monasteries it was

more than 200, in some it was more than 100, but there were a lot. And friends at the time

were often kind of fascinated at what you were and weren't allowed to do. And there was

one in particular that seemed to capture people's attention, and that was that we weren't

allowed to scratch. It sounds like such a strange thing, and their questions would be, well,

what happens? I'd do you get punished if you scratch? Kind of like, what's the purpose

of it? What's the meaning of it? There was no punishment, but the idea of it was to be

...