“To be mindful or meditate right, you need to stop thinking”

Our thoughts are part of evolution’s way to have us survive, in this body, on this earth. Often they are helpful, other times they are misguided. How we relate to them makes all the difference. They are not the enemy. They are natural and part of our experience. The inquiry is to explore our thoughts with an attitude of interest, humor, and lightness.

There is a poem that I would like to share in this light by Kaveri Patel.

“There’s a monkey in my mind swinging on a trapeze reaching back to the past or leaning into the future, never standing still. Sometimes I want to kill that monkey, shoot it square between the eyes so I won’t have to think anymore or feel the pain of worry. But today, I thanked her, and she jumped down straight into my lap, trapeze still swinging as we sat still.”

The term monkey mind refers to the experience of being “unsettled, restless, confused”, and it is used to describe the background chatter that happens in our mind, giving voice to the things that stress or worry or otherwise weigh on our minds.

During a meditation sitting, if our mind is busy, we can feel we are falling short, or not doing it right. In reality, if we are at war with our thoughts, we are going to be at war for the rest of our life. We are not opposed to thoughts. We can observe them with loving kindness. Be aware of them in loving kindness. And hold our thoughts lightly.

Thoughts are normal. That thought stream is there in everyone. We all have thoughts. We are not trying to get rid of thoughts, we are trying to see them for what they are. Just thoughts. You can step out of a thought; they are not real.

This takes me to an important and common question; 

What can we focus our attention on during a meditation practice?

Our breath can be used to focus our attention in a meditation practice. The breath is one of the anchors to steady our heart and mind and come more fully into the present moment. Using the breath, we can focus our attention and awareness, awakening beyond the conditioned mind and habitual thinking, revealing the nature of reality. And even when the mind is rather distracted, which we notice as a symptom of our time and our culture, the breath is only a moment away to come back. The breath helps us to become present and when we are grounded in the present moment, we are aware of our body, feelings and thoughts.

As Christophe Andre says “Breath is the anchor of mindfulness, helping us attach ourselves to the present moment. Sometimes it’s what sailors call a floating anchor, the kind that allows a ship to slow down and not capsize in the storm, when other maneuvers are no longer possible”.

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I would love to hear how this resonates with you in the comments below.