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How to deal with Thoughts in
Meditation
"I could be confined in a nutshell,
and count myself a king of infinite space,
were it not that I have bad dreams."
— Hamlet, Shakespeare
Never Fight Thoughts in Meditation
we think as we feel
we feel as we think
When thoughts arise during meditation, it is very important not
to fight them. In an open confrontation with thoughts, you will
always be the loser in the sense that any attempt to push an
annoying thought away will result in it bringing reinforcements
from a swarm of new thoughts. So... If you can't beat them—join
them!
It Takes Energy to Think
It requires mental energy for the brain to produce thoughts.
This energy will be taken from the same energy source that your
consciousness draws power from. Imagine your consciousness as a
light bulb connected by a power cord. When thoughts draw power
from this cord, the light in the bulb dims. Because of this
"thought theft" of power, consciousness loses its clarity. When
there are many thoughts, we usually slip into a semi-awake,
daydream-like state, where the first thing to disappear is our
meta-ability to realize we are thinking. When thoughts grip us
in meditation, we are actually on a slippery slope into the
realm of sleep.
How to Relate to Thoughts in Your Meditation - The Secret
There is, however, a very effective secret weapon against
thoughts. This weapon is, moreover, itself a thought, a thought
that in its "meta-direction" actually betrays its own kind.
This thought is the meta-thought: "I am thinking."
The simple and ingenious thing about this little thought insight
is that the power of thoughts over you is significantly reduced
the moment you are aware that you are thinking. The moment this
clarity is present, the power returns to the light bulb of
consciousness, and you will be able to perform your next
ingenious move—namely, to see your thoughts as:
"clouds in the sky."
Without the light of your consciousness, you will instinctively
chase your thoughts like a dog runs after a bone. And in this
chase, you quickly get lost in the thicket of thoughts. The good
news is that the moment you are aware that you are thinking
again—the battle is almost won!
However, there is a small pitfall even after you become aware
that you are thinking. This typical pitfall is that you begin to
create a drama with yourself in the lead role as the one always
plagued by thoughts in your meditation. My advice here is: Do
not spend energy or time on this drama. Every time you realize
you have fallen into the thought ditch, just climb back onto the
path again. Do not spend time sitting and lamenting in the
thought ditch. Just climb back onto the path again. And when you
fall into the ditch again, just climb back onto the path again.
And after you have fallen in the first million times, which you
surely will if you make meditation a part of your life—just
climb back onto the path again. Look between the thoughts
instead of at them.
"The mind can make a Heaven
out of Hell or a Hell out of Heaven."
— Milton
One of the neocortex's main tasks is thinking. The left hemisphere's neocortex
produces the thoughts that continuously pursue us during waking hours.
The neocortex is incredibly complex, with neurons creating more connections than
there are particles in the universe!
Survival Think Tank
Thoughts strategize how we survive our encounter with the world. Thoughts create
realistic scenarios of potential futures. They are survival strategies created
by our latest brain layer, the neocortex.
Thoughts Tell Us Who We Are
Beyond survival, thoughts have another crucial function: they tell us who we
are, where we came from, and where we're going, along with the strategies and
means for survival. Without thoughts, we wouldn't know who we are. The
thought-created 'I' with its survival strategies is the main character in a
narrative stretched between past and future.
I Think, Therefore I Am... Not!
Energy Resource Competition Among Life Functions
These life functions, depicted with the spinal centers, all
require energy. It takes energy to think, run, feel, and be
conscious. It's well-known that physical activity is
energy-intensive. Less obvious is that thinking is also highly
resource-consuming.
The experience of sensual 'consciousness-now' and thought stories both require
resources, competing for our energy.
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