How Mindfulness Reduces Distressing Thoughts

In this talk we discuss how focused attention (mindfulness) on thoughts tends to make them reduce or diminish. We also discuss the dual nature of though; how we can chose to add thoughts to our mind, but also how they tend to arise of their own accord.

Transcript

So question, When we view thoughts mindfully, It seems to make me have less thoughts for some reason, Which then helps with the mindfulness. Have I had that experience? Yes, When you turn your attention to sensations, To thoughts, They tend to grow subtle or disappear. So there is a benefit to paying attention to what is arising. But I just want to highlight when you say it helps with the mindfulness. Mindfulness is the awareness that arises from purposely paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment. So if those thoughts are arising, That is, What is arising in the present moment, That is the contents of consciousness. As you move your attention to them, The thoughts drop away and there's less of them. That too is the contents of consciousness. The act of paying attention is the mindfulness. And this is where there's a little bit of a sort of push and pull between the goals of mindfulness and the perception of meditation in general. The act of mindfully paying attention to things can help calm and still the mind. And that is beautiful, And it is lovely, And it is desirable. But whether or not you have a calm and still mind or a very busy, Chaotic mind, The observation of the mind in that moment is the mindfulness. You're observing the chaos. You're noticing the calm. Both of those are you being mindful. There's caveats though. The chaotic, Crazy, Big waved mind can catch you and you can be taken by a thought or a memory and you find yourself lost in that story. You come back to the meditation on the breath, The heart space or whatever it is that you've chosen as an anchor. The calm mind can also be deceptive because you'll be observing this calm mind but without a stimulus, Without strong thoughts. All thoughts can sometimes disappear and you find yourself in this empty space. And that has this unique, Beautiful, Sort of spiritual feeling. Some people would call that the feeling of enlightenment, Right? Temporary. I'm sort of agnostic as to what that space is, But it is definitely interesting and positive. But a couple of things can happen when you reach that state. Number one, It feels good and then you try and hunt for it. You're no longer being mindful. You're trying to force something and it doesn't work. And then you're trying to go through this mental gymnastics of like, Okay, I'm going to empty my mind so I can get to that space. You're still pushing for it. It just sort of arises. You just sort of realize, Oh, The waves are still. And then when that happens, You can go, Oh, The waves are still. I've got to observe, I've got to catch it. And you've lost yourself in the thought. It too, The emptiness of mind, Is yet another thing to observe. But it's deceitful because it's quite pleasurable. It feels nice. It might come with this sort of general calm or this sort of chills or other sort of nice feelings. It's easy to observe and witness negative or neutral because you're okay if it leaves. But when it's a good feeling, A good memory, Or this sort of emptiness, This sort of joyous emptiness, It's hard to put words to these terms. But I think you understand what I'm saying here. It can be a little bit capturing. That's one thing that can happen. So you just observe it. You observe your desire. You observe your craving. And if it comes, It comes. If it doesn't, It doesn't. You accept what arises in the moment. The other thing that can happen when thoughts disappear is that you fall into a daydream, A non-mindful emptiness, Sort of half awake, Half asleep. When that happens, Once again, You become aware of the contents of consciousness. You're like, Where'd I go? I was nowhere. You return back to the anchor. And a follow-up question. Do you believe that you have any control over the thoughts that arise? Yes, With a caveat. As you mindfully observe, You'll notice that thoughts, And that's all mental phenomena I'm talking here, Thoughts, Moods, Memories, Feelings, Everything, Pops up. And they seem to pop up out of nowhere, Exist for a bit, And then they disappear. We don't seem to have choice over that. You just witness it coming. We can interject thoughts into that space. You can picture the visualization of a beach. You can add that analogy. You can picture a flower in your mind. You can remember something. You can force something into your mind space. You can. And in that way or with that method, You do have the power to sort of impact the thoughts that are arising. There is something to be said about affirmations, About mantra. I like the mantra of, I am here now. Things are triggering, Things are overwhelming, Things are anxiety-inducing. I am here now. And it's almost like we're connecting the neurons of the mind. The mind is a big network. One thing triggers, Triggers the next, Triggers the next. But you can add to that process and put in positivity, Put in a mantra, Put in thoughts, So that when those thoughts trigger, The neuron of, I am here now, Triggers. The positive thoughts trigger. The mind is plastic, It changes, And you can impact it to an extent. Because no matter what you do, No matter how much positivity you have, No matter what mantra you practice, Thoughts, Mental space phenomena will still arise. So we mindfully observe it, Witness it. Watch it come. Watch it peak. Watch it fall away. So there's a 50-50 play there. It's almost like the breath. The breath will come and go on its own accord, But we can also impact it.