Day 4: Those Pesky Thoughts


By now you have become aware that all those thoughts are not going away. Myth Buster #2.

Here we are at day four and we are noticing that no matter how well-intentioned we are, the thoughts just keep on coming. Minds think, like lungs breathe and stomachs digest that guacamole you had for lunch. The good news is that meditation teaches us the discipline to choose where we place our attention.

Myth Buster #2: We are not our thoughts. There is a saying that asks "who is watching the watcher?". Without getting too technical and putting you into a sleep meditation, let me just say that we have consciousness, and that consciousness is not our thoughts, it is the Watcher, the witness, the observer. Meditation invites us to get acquainted with that greater part of ourselves, and to learn the discipline to be able to choose where we put our attention. Once we know that we are the captain of this ship, we will never again be unconsciously railroaded by crazy, scary obsessive thoughts. We will still get swept away sometimes, but will have the ability to know it and to bring ourselves back to the Watcher.

How do we accomplish this magical, miraculous shift? We sit. When thoughts rise up we name them: thoughts, thinking, worry, whatever is there. Then we come back to the breath. We may do that a hundred times during our meditation, that is the process and why we call it practice!

We can imagine thoughts are like clouds moving across the sky. Sometimes they are white and puffy, other times dark and stormy, but just clouds. We are aware of the clouds, and notice them drift by. Or we can think of them as cars going down a street. Oh, there goes a Tesla! When we have been taken for a ride, stop the car! As we keep practicing we will begin to notice fewer clouds and fewer rides.

Often I keep a notebook with me when I meditate so I can jot down those pesky thoughts or flashes of inspiration to get them out of my head. As we continue we will start to develop strategies to support us in focused attention training. Give it time. Sit. Breathe. Keep going!

 

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