One of my favorite magazines, “Spirituality and Health”, has an article in the March/April 2007 issue entitled, “Destined for Joy”. It’s written by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, a Buddhist meditation master. In the article, he speaks about how the neurons in our brains like to “gossip”, and it’s this gossip that makes up all the varied thoughts, beliefs, opinions and responses we experience in the course of any given day. He describes the process of meditation as creating an opportunity to break old habits of neurons passing certain kinds of information to each other, and to promote a new internal conversation –one that leads to greater internal ease and comfort.

This got me to thinking about the kinds of “neuronal gossip” we habitually experience and how much of that gossip causes us pain and unhappiness, often without our even realizing it. Most of us don’t necessarily notice that we’re responding out of habit, nor do we remember that our neurons are simply doing what they’re made to do – talk to each other. The good news is that we can change the tone and quality of the conversations they have and, by doing that, create greater ease for ourselves.

For this week’s experiment, I invite you to become more consciously aware of the tone and quality of your own “neuronal gossip”. When you find yourself thinking thoughts that lead to greater anxiety or any other kind of unhappiness or discomfort, I invite you to draw from the HeartMath process I’ve described in earlier experiments, and to play with the following exercise:

The moment you become aware of an unsettling or unhelpful thought or feeling, shift your awareness to your heart space, inhale and exhale through your heart for a few breaths, and notice what happens. Then, if uncomfortable thoughts persist, continue to breathe through your heart and ask what your heart would say about the thoughts or feelings that are bothering you.

As you continue to breathe through your heart, also allow some time simply to notice that thoughts, feelings, and sensations continuously arise, move through, and move on, as we’ve explored so often in mindfulness practice. There’s no need to get caught up in any particular “neuronal gossip” going on. You can simply notice it, name it, and let it go, as you can be certain it will be replaced by more gossip very soon. Developing a capacity to mindfully observe what arises and moves through your thoughts, feelings, and sensations throughout the day shifts the relationship you have to the contents of your consciousness, and that, in itself, can offer delicious internal breathing space.

As with all the experiments, please be sure to leave judgment behind and bring curiosity along as your constant companion. The goal here isn’t to stop “neuronal gossip” from going on – it’s to shift your relationship to it so it doesn’t have the power to drag you around with it.