Understand that thoughts are natural and will always come during meditation; the goal is not to eradicate thinking but to change your relationship with it.
Shift your goal in meditation from trying to stop thinking to cultivating a new relationship with your thoughts, recognizing them as transient phenomena rather than dictators.
Cultivate awareness to recognize when you are thinking, as often we are trapped in thought processes without realizing it, which is the first step to not being trapped by them.
Become aware of your thoughts to avoid acting them out reflexively and habitually, thereby cutting the strings of what can be a ‘malevolent puppeteer’.
View thinking as another ‘sense door,’ similar to seeing or hearing, to reduce obsession over thoughts and learn to shift attention away from them.
Practice shifting your attention from thoughts to other sense doors (seeing, tasting, hearing, etc.) to avoid constant obsession with thinking.
Practice recognizing thoughts as mere thoughts, rather than identifying with them, to liberate yourself from being trapped by their content.
Once you recognize thinking as a sense door, you can consciously direct your attention away from unwholesome or harmful thoughts towards more skillful thinking that leads to capacity and opportunity.
Aim for your thinking to be responsive to the present moment, rather than being driven by old, habitual thought patterns that may no longer be relevant or helpful.
Release the notion of a permanent, unchanging self and embrace the fluidity of life and personal identity, allowing yourself to adapt and grow with constant change to avoid suffering.
Cultivate an open, present-moment awareness to unlock hidden capacities and qualities of mind, moving beyond the limitations of habitual living.
Consciously practice being present with reality as it is, as this discomfort is a barrier to accessing the mind’s full capacity.
Before attempting to use thoughts as an anchor, first build a strong foundation of concentration by consistently returning to a chosen anchor until you clearly distinguish thinking as an object.
Use an anchor (breath, sound, body sensations, smell) to stay present. When thoughts arise, give them a general label (e.g., ‘rehearsing,’ ‘planning,’ ‘complaining,’ ‘judging,’ ’thinking’) without getting caught in the content, then gently return to your anchor.
Apply the noting practice in everyday situations, like standing in a grocery store, to discern the difference between direct experience (e.g., standing) and the activity of thinking.
Through noting, learn to distinguish between being lost in a thought (like judging) and being present in direct experience (like standing in a grocery store), eventually being able to hold both without one dominating the other.
The aim of noting is not to eliminate thoughts but to prevent them from completely pulling your attention away from your direct, present-moment experience.
Recognize and appreciate the improved feeling of being present and awake, even in mundane moments, as this positive reinforcement can incentivize your mind to engage more with mindfulness.
Use everyday activities like driving as an anchor to practice noticing when your mind wanders and gently bringing it back to the direct experience of the activity.
To skillfully direct your thoughts, overcome the fear of thinking and become comfortable being with thoughts, understanding what is skillful and what is obsolete.
After cultivating concentration with a traditional anchor, let go of that anchor and use the thinking itself as the object of meditation. Observe the complexity of thoughts, noting if they are pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, and identifying hindrances (desire, aversion, restlessness, sleepiness, doubt) within the thought process.
When using thoughts as an anchor, move beyond simple labeling; actively investigate the nature of the thinking, its qualities, tones, and moods, rather than just returning to a different anchor.
By using thoughts as an anchor, you cultivate a quality of mind that is aware of thought processes without being caught up in them, allowing you to see the harm of judgment without judging yourself.
When observing negative or self-defeating thoughts, mentally separate them from your core identity, viewing them as old, habitual programs running in the background rather than definitive truths about yourself.
Approach the observation of thoughts not as a means to ‘fix’ yourself, but to identify and release outdated, obsolete mental programs that no longer serve you.
By observing the chaotic nature of your inner thoughts, you gain freedom from being controlled by them.
Recognizing the challenging nature of your own mind can foster compassion and reduce judgment towards others, understanding that their minds also contain complex and sometimes difficult processes.
By releasing obsolete thinking patterns, you reduce mental clutter and experience less random, constant verbiage, leading to thoughts that are more relevant to present reality.
Clearing out old, habitual thinking patterns creates space for new, more skillful, and beneficial thoughts to emerge.
Learn to recognize eight specific mind states (wanting, aversion/anger, distraction, delusion, spaciousness, surpassing, concentrated, liberated) by their felt sense in the body, combining the knowing of the mind state with its physical sensation.
Develop the ability to recognize mind states (like wanting or spaciousness) primarily through their felt bodily sensations, moving beyond conceptual understanding or narrative.
Cultivate a ‘surpassing’ mind state by being open to new information, alternative possibilities, and perspectives beyond your current fixed ideas.
Experience a ’liberated’ mind as a release from mental constrictions, such as the absence of wanting, aversion, distraction, or confusion, rather than a state of full enlightenment.
In the third level of practice, when you feel the bodily pressure of a mind state like ‘wanting,’ consciously let go of that wanting without getting caught in its narrative content.
Approach these practices as an offering, adapting them to suit your individual needs and comfort, rather than adhering rigidly to specific instructions, to foster a supportive relationship with your thoughts.