It is so very easy to get sucked down into the rabbit hole of short video content. Clicking on one video that someone texts can easily turn into half an hour of mindlessly watching whatever comes next.

One after another. A comedian doing crowd work. A dog pushing word buttons to ‘speak’ to his owner. An actress talking about sobriety. A little kid scoring a goal. A horrific scene from a war zone overseas. Young people buying a meal for a homeless man. Someone’s weight loss journey. A politician spewing nonsense. A man robbing a store at gunpoint. A kitten and a duck are best friends.

Over the course of ten or fifteen minutes, we can experience the full spectrum of human emotion: joy, anger, sadness, hope, amazement, hatred, hunger, confusion, shame, disbelief, love, rage…

But the emotions are fleeting, because by the time we watch the fourth video, we’ve completely forgotten what the first one even was. By the time we feel the sadness, we’ve already let go of the anger. By the time the rage passes, we’re laughing again.

We don’t hold on to the emotions. We don’t cling to the them. We move on to the next feeling. The next image. The next sound bite. The next internal response. The feelings are momentary. Changeable. Impermanent.

Sometimes, if a video is particularly engaging, if it invokes something more visceral, either positive or negative, we may replay it. Then, more videos like that will show up in our feeds. That is how the algorithm works.

If we watch something more than once, similar videos will start popping up. If we stop watching a video a few seconds in, similar videos will show up for a while, to try to get us to engage. But if we continue to swipe those away, eventually that category will stop showing up in our feeds.

Sitting in meditation is a lot like watching short videos on your phone. When you sit and close your eyes and breathe, something will arise. A thought. A memory. A scenario. A future worry… You will engage with the thought, follow it, physically feel it somewhere in your body.

Then another thought will arise. You will engage with it, visualize it, feel it. Then another, and then another. You’re just sitting there, and things arise.

As you sit there thinking, visualizing and feeling the feelings, you can also witness yourself thinking, visualizing, and feeling the feelings. You can observe what is happening inside of you, as you sit and watch the reels of your mind go round and round.

If you begin to sit in meditation more often, you will realize that there is a pattern. There is an algorithm in your mind and body. This algorithm is based on all of the thoughts, experiences, actions and reactions you have had in the past.

The same types of thoughts, memories, images, and feelings will repeatedly arise. The ones that you more actively engage with and entertain will come back most often. The ones you push away will come back in other forms to try to get you to engage. If you refuse to engage with them often enough, eventually they will stop showing up.

Try to sit and meditate. Put your phone down, close your eyes, and watch the reels of your mind instead. Watch them with interest, and with curiosity.

Watch the reels of your mind and body. Of your heart. Of your subconscious. Of your spirit. See what arises. Maybe you will laugh. Maybe you’ll cry. You might feel peaceful. Or angry. Or uncomfortable. Fearful. Or joyful. Panicky. Or Amazed.

Let the feelings come. Feel them. They won’t last long. Another will arise very soon. Let that one come. Feel it. Don’t hold on tightly. Move to the next one.

Realize that it is all fleeting. Changeable. Moveable. Breakable. Fixable.

Sit with it all, again and again. Sit with it for a while every day, until it slows down. Sit with it until it’s one endless loop of arising and releasing. Of coming in and letting go. Inhaling and exhaling. Breathing in. Breathing out.

And in between the comings and goings of everything, there may be brief flashes of nothing.

The flashes of nothing will become more and more nothing.

And then nothing will become more than enough. For reels.