How Can I Manage Intrusive Thoughts During Meditation?

Even the simplest life has an infinite number of decisions to make about where to live,

What to do for work,

And which relationships to cultivate.

I have a nagging feeling that there is a set of decisions that will make me the happiest and have the best impact on the world if I could just figure out what they are.

How should I address these thoughts that often invade my meditation practice?

During meditation,

No matter how good thoughts are,

They are all meaningless,

They are all distractions.

Thinking of these thoughts and chasing after these thoughts might be helpful to you in everyday life.

However,

Further,

Chasing after these thoughts can also create other issues.

However,

Meditation is all about pausing,

Letting go of all these thoughts.

So whatever those thoughts are,

If they come to you during meditation,

You don't imbue them with any meaning.

So either you're pausing,

You're discarding all these thoughts.

However,

Unfortunately,

You can't really pause your own thoughts or even discard your own thoughts.

So another way of dealing with them is just let them be.

So whether you're engaged in Vipassana meditation,

In which the only thing you're imbuing meaning is in your breath,

Or you're engaged in Zen meditation,

And in that case,

The only thing that you're imbuing meaning is your koan.

Either or,

Whatever thoughts come unbidden to you,

You should not imbue them with any meaning.

Because if you imbue them with meaning and chase after them,

Then you create narratives that you follow.

And then you're sinking into your distraction,

Which is the biggest obstacle to meditation.

So since you're asking how to address these thoughts during meditation,

During meditation,

You can pause these thoughts,

Or if you can't pause them,

Just let them be and just focus on the breath.