Awareness Of Thoughts

Awareness of thoughts involves noticing them as they arise and pass, without becoming attached to them, or wrapped up in the content of the story. For this exercise, see if you can rest in the perspective of the observer, much like a passenger on a train platform, watching the thought train pull into the station, pause, and continue on its way, without climbing on board.

If you do get taken for a ride and become wrapped up or hooked on one train of thought, simply notice this, and with gentleness and care, guide your attention back to the platform. You can practice this for just a few moments at a time, or for longer periods of sitting, both of which can help you cultivate the capacity to let go of rumination, self-criticism, and habitual patterns of reactivity.

The more we practice this in moments of stability and rest, the more available this skill will be during times of crisis and upheaval. Remember that thoughts aren't facts and you get to choose where to place your attention.

Transcript

For this Awareness of Thoughts practice,

I invite you to practice in a seated upright posture that supports paying attention.

So start by bringing attention to an anchor in the present moment,

Such as the sensations of the breath coming and going,

Or the feeling of gravity in your body,

Or maybe sounds in your environment,

And just letting attention stabilize here as you attend to this anchor.

Letting the body settle,

Just landing here in the present moment,

Observing and witnessing your experience.

And when you're ready,

We'll shift attention away from your chosen anchor and open the awareness to thoughts.

You might notice that thoughts are fast or slow,

There may be some quality of thoughts,

Maybe they're racing,

Maybe they're troubling,

Seeing if you can just notice the quality of the landscape of thoughts.

Let's hear.

And if there are no thoughts,

That's fine too,

Just noticing that.

It can be helpful to use a metaphor in this practice of Awareness of Thoughts,

And if this is helpful,

You're welcome to adopt it,

And if not,

Simply let it go.

Some like to practice with the image of mind as sky and thoughts as the clouds passing through the sky.

There may be stormy weather,

Or clear skies,

Or high winds.

Another metaphor you can use to work with thoughts is the train of thought,

Or the many trains of thought.

And so your job in this practice is to be the observer standing on the train platform,

Rather than getting carried along for a ride.

So noticing the arrival of thoughts,

And the passing of thoughts.

You might notice that a thought is sticky or magnetic,

Or it pulls you along for a ride.

This is completely normal.

So when you notice that you've become carried away on one train of thought,

Or hooked into one line of thinking,

Noticing this is the practice.

And so returning to this kind of open awareness of thoughts coming and going,

Whenever you notice with a spirit of kindness and gentleness towards yourself.

It can sometimes be helpful to use a gentle noting practice,

Where you label the type of thoughts that are coming and going,

Without becoming absorbed in the story about the thought.

So for example,

You might say to yourself,

Thoughts about work,

Thoughts about money,

Thoughts about my friend who is struggling.

Just like you might identify different trains coming into the station.

Noting,

Labeling thoughts.

And remember,

The goal here isn't to clear your mind or to make thoughts go away.

Your job is simply to notice the arrival and the passing of thoughts.

To observe them.

Getting to know how the mind works.

It's normal for this to be challenging.

So again,

Be gentle with yourself,

Noticing thoughts.

And if judgment arises,

You can notice that.

Judgment thoughts.

If thoughts are scattered,

Or you're having difficulty observing them,

See if you can just track one thought,

All the way from its inception as it blossoms into awareness,

To its completion as it fades away.

Thoughts as mental events that begin and end.

Getting to know how our minds work is this skill of metacognition.

So,

Thinking about thinking,

Or noticing how you relate to thinking.

And when we practice in this way,

Observing thoughts and our relationship to them,

We not only become stronger in conducting our attention,

But we get to know the patterns of our mind,

Which can be very helpful in working with habits and impulses.

And now,

Before we close this practice,

I invite you to just notice whether the thoughts you experienced during this practice,

Whether some of them were true or not true.

Remembering that not all thoughts are facts.

And how can you tell the difference?

Go ahead and release attention from awareness of thoughts,

And bring the attention back to the sensations of breathing for a few rounds of breath.

Bringing this moment-to-moment awareness into the next moments of your day.