Working With Thoughts & Thinking

The simple act of being aware is really powerful.

In the yoga sutras,

They say that there are two types of thoughts.

They are either painful or painless.

And in Buddhism,

They label the thoughts as either useful or useless.

And right now we might be having a lot of stressful or painful thoughts,

Which is only natural.

Being able to witness the thoughts and breathe with them teaches us how not to get stuck on our thoughts and let them overtake our emotions simply by redirecting our attention to the breath.

So in insight meditation and the Shambhala tradition,

Tara Brock was an insight teacher and Pema Chodron,

Who was a Shambhala teacher,

They suggest that we name the thoughts as thinking.

So it's really simple,

But very profound.

And that helps us to return our attention to the inhale and exhale over and over again.

I have a friend who says that we have to name it to tame it.

So we acknowledge it and we label it as an observer,

So as not to get swept away by the thoughts.

And by being aware of both the flow of thoughts,

Of which there might be many,

And of what we are actually thinking,

We learn that nothing is permanent and that we do not have to identify with our thoughts.

I'll say that again.

By acknowledging it,

So as not to get swept away by the thoughts and by being aware of the flow of thoughts themselves and of what we are actually thinking,

We learn that nothing is permanent,

Everything shifts,

Everything is fluid,

And that we are in fact not our thoughts.

We can live separately.

We do not have to identify with our thoughts.

There's a really nice quote from this Buddhism book that a friend gave me that says,

How you feel is how you feel.

What you think is what you think.

Instead of stopping the flow of these thoughts and feelings,

Be with them,

Observe them,

Explore their origins.

They are your teachers.

All transformation starts with awareness.

So as such,

By being able to identify our thoughts on their own,

Separate of who we are,

We create a better relationships with ourselves as a result.

If you have a negative or not a very joyful thought about yourself,

We can,

Just by being aware of it,

We can separate the thought from actually ourself and who we are,

Which is good enough which is worthy,

Separate from the thought that maybe we're not good enough,

We're not worthy,

And we have the opportunity in meditation to recognize this and maybe dig a little deeper as to why we have the thought in the first place.

So as I said before,

By meditating,

Meaning sitting still and being quiet with ourselves,

We are more able to witness not only the fluidity of the thoughts themselves and the ways in which we can move like the waves of the breath,

But also what the thoughts themselves are.

And by noticing both of these aspects,

How they flow and what in fact we are actually thinking,

We give ourselves space and permission to let everything exist without trying so hard to change anything.

And this can be really profound in how we relate to ourselves,

How we relate to each other and the moment in general.

Nothing has to be different.

Our thought that is in our head is not necessarily happening in real life.

We do a really good job as humans to protect ourselves.

That's what we've been trained to do from day one when we were cavemen running from dinosaurs and whatever creatures were around at the time.

And so our brains are trained naturally to think and to prepare for maybe the worst,

Also to prepare for what we desire,

Of course.

But it's really easy to get stuck on both of these.

So we just in meditation acknowledge that these thoughts exist and that maybe it will happen,

Maybe it won't.

But right now in the moment,

All we can do is just be with the thought as if the thought has taken form,

It is sitting next to us like a friend,

And we can either choose to sit with it and attach to it or let it go on its way.

And right now it's really easy to get stuck on stressful thoughts because again,

We're just trying to protect ourselves.

It's only human,

It's only natural.

But as stress weakens our immune system,

Now if ever is the time to be able to work with any stressful thoughts that might be causing a suffering and that can cause constriction of the breath,

Of the heart,

Of the digestion,

It's not fun.

And now is the time to practice these mindfulness practices in order to remain as healthy as possible.

There's a way to breathe with our thoughts.

It doesn't necessarily mean to let it go per se,

But maybe just to let it be,

Let it be there.

Not try and shove it away in a closet or push it down to where it will inevitably come back up to bite us in the butt,

For lack of better term.

But for lack of better words.

Pema Chodron,

She's an American born Buddhist monk,

Says that meditation gives us the opportunity to have an open,

Compassionate attentiveness to whatever is going on.

The meditative space is like the big sky,

Spacious,

Vast enough to accommodate anything that arises.

Which I love because that doesn't say that we are bad for having thoughts or for thinking,

Or that our thoughts are bad and terrible and that makes us unable to concentrate and unable to meditate.

That's not what it's saying at all.

It's in fact saying that everything can belong.

All of these thoughts can be there because we are human and this is just the natural human experience.

But there are tools that we can use to work with whatever comes up and to work with our thoughts to maybe lessen the blow and create a little bit more ease in the moment rather than attaching to these thoughts as if they are true or as if they will happen,

Especially if they're painful or stressful thoughts.

Let's try it,

Shall we?

Find a tall and comfortable seat.

Get a blanket if that feels nice and cozy for you.

You can also stand or lay down.

Sit in a way that allows the spine to elevate and the pelvis to be stable.

And you can gently close the eyes if that feels natural for you or pick a gazing point in front of you.

Breathe easily in and out of the nose.

Let each breath fill the body with a sense of calm attention.

Allow the body to receive the breath as if the whole body itself is the lungs.

Inhaling and exhaling through the nose.

And as the breath flows fluidly in and out,

Begin to label it as inhale and exhale.

These labels are an anchor.

So when the attention leaves,

Invite it back to the breath.

Begin to acknowledge the presence of your thoughts,

The thoughts,

As they come and go,

Just like the waves of the breath.

The thoughts might be painful or painless,

Useful or useless.

They might be neutral,

Like a to-do list or what you'll have for your next meal.

Just notice how the thoughts flow in and out of the present moment,

Just like the movement of sounds,

Sensations and emotions.

Each time a thought arrives,

You can name it as thinking.

And let this label also be an anchor.

So when the attention attaches to the thoughts,

Guide it back to the breath or to the label of thinking.

Just as the attention is like a big,

Open,

Spacious sky,

Let the thoughts come and go,

Rise and fall like the waves of the breath,

Knowing that you can always guide your attention back to the breath or to the label of thinking.

You might begin to notice if and when you attach to a thought.

For example,

If you attach to one thought of your to-do list and let the attention get carried down that path of what else comes next and any other thoughts linked to that first thought.

And you might notice if you have any emotions as a result of this thought.

For example,

If it's a stressful thought,

You might feel a little tightness in the belly or the chest.

If it's a joyful thought,

You might also feel spaciousness,

Lightness in your chest,

In your mind even.

And so you might feel these thoughts or these emotions in your body.

Just letting the attention travel there.

So.

And in doing this gentle scan of following the thought,

The emotion that might be a result of the thought to the sensation in the body as a result of that emotion,

We begin to really fully pay attention to ourselves and observe the connection between the thoughts,

The mind,

The breath,

The heart,

The body.

You recognize that we don't need to change the experience at all.

We can just observe it.

Let the breath move through the body like the wind.

Each inhale receives the thoughts and each exhale releases the thought.

And when the attention departs,

Simply guide it back.

If it's helpful,

Deepen the exhale slightly to relax the body into a softer state of awareness.

Let the thoughts and any emotions attached to each thought flow without forcefully pushing it out.

Breathe into the body,

The mind,

And the present moment just as it is,

Just as you are.

Let everything be fluid without anticipating the future or attaching to the past,

Just remembering that nothing is permanent.

And when we practice guiding the attention to the breath,

The thoughts,

And the body,

We learn how to maintain focus in and accept the present moment exactly as it is.

Ram Dass says,

I promise you that plumbing the depths of your being is an unparalleled adventure.

I wish you well on the journey.

Let your attention settle back into your breath,

Breathing a little bit longer,

Perhaps out of the mouth as you exhale.

And if it feels comfortable for you,

You can take the hands together at the center of the chest,

Sit up a little bit taller or create a little bit more alertness in the physical body.

And if you like,

You can continue,

Let the head dip down into the chest where the mind and the heart meet each other,

Where the thoughts are inextricably interconnected.

And just thank yourselves for being willing to be the witness of your thoughts today,

Without judgment,

Open and receptive.

Namaste.

Thank you,

Everybody.

I hope that was helpful.

This has been a really helpful tool for me personally and working with my own stream of thoughts.

I have a lot of them.

And I just want to encourage you to keep meditating,

Whatever that means for you,

Sitting still and allowing your breath and your thoughts to move and be there and witness them.

If it's helpful,

You can label them as we've done here.

Or you can listen to guided meditations by some of my favorite teachers like Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield.

It's an honor for me to serve in this way,

To keep studying and keep sharing.

Thank you again very much.

Please feel free to share this if it meant something to you.

Have a great day.

Take really good care of yourselves.

Au revoir.