Thinking Does Not (Necessarily) Make It So

Mar 7, 2013 | Mindfulness Meditation, Yoga practices | 0 comments

think less
Here’s something I’ve noticed about my thoughts as I’m doing my mindfulness meditations, and you might have experienced it, too: when I catch myself thinking, much of my thought content relates to creating new projects.
Do I need to be doing any new projects? Absolutely not! If you read my post of yesterday, you would know I’m trying to dig myself out of a huge pile on my desk – one that is still growing, in fact.
It’s such a relief for me when I’m able to note what I’m thinking, discontinue the thoughts and feel the space that momentarily opens up.
What are thoughts anyway? Where do they come from?
Theories abound. They are little chemical bursts in our brain, so, in fact, they are material, they are something. Yogis think of thoughts as being related to samskara, latent impressions, that arise spontaneously from our subconscious mind. In yogic philosophy, which adheres to the notion of reincarnation, we can inherit thoughts even from past lives.
I’ve remembered hearing this quote: you are not your body, you are not your feelings, you are not your thoughts. While there’s no doubt some validity in this way of thinking, I don’t know too many people who have been able to distance themselves from body, emotions and mind. Perhaps in the real world, that would even qualify you as mad.
Still, I’m enjoying occasional respites in meditation when I can catch myself in the thought-act; it’s all worth it. (Especially as the idea for this post came to me in my morning meditation.)
 
 

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Archives