Awakening from the Mental Trance: Mindfulness of Thoughts
- patrikharbusch
- 18. Apr. 2024
- 3 Min. Lesezeit
"You are in prison. If you wish to get out of prison, the first thing you must do is realize that you are in prison. If you think you are free, you can't escape."
George Gurdjieff
How often do we find ourselves imprisoned by our own minds, trapped in habitual thoughts without even realizing it? In the following we will expand our mindfulness journey to include not just our bodies, breath and feelings but also the most elusive domain: our thoughts.
The Misunderstanding of Meditation
Many of us mistake meditation for an exercise in controlling thoughts. However, meditation isn't about achieving a thought-free state; instead, it's about observing our thoughts without getting caught up in them. And when we gently acknowledge their presence without trying to grasp them, they often naturally dissolve - like touching a soap bubble with awareness.
The Predominance of Negative Thinking
Let's try a brief experiment. Close your eyes and allow the word "trouble" to echo in your mind. Observe the sensations and mood it evokes. Now, switch to the word "kindness." Feel the difference? This simple exercise demonstrates how thoughts can significantly affect our internal feeling state.
Because of our evolutionary bias to pay attention to danger, many of our automatic thoughts are colored with worry or judgment. This default setting can create an atmosphere of tension and anxiety, far from the ideal conditions of peace or happiness that most of us would like to experience. By becoming aware of these thought patterns, we can begin to step back and see them for what they are - fleeting mental events with no real substance, not truths about how we should feel or how we should act.
The Challenge of Thoughts
Neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris summarizes the challenge with thoughts in the following way: "The enemy to mindfulness is being lost in thought. To be thinking without knowing that you are thinking." So the problem isn't the presence of thoughts but our lack of presence with them.
Our evolutionary design primes us to think constantly, a survival mechanism that keeps our minds engaged. Our brain's default network constantly scans our past and future, trying to orient us in time and maintain a narrative of self.
This ceaseless thought process is useful - it has helped us build bridges, formulate mathematical models and compose symphonies. But as beneficial as our cognitive abilities are, they can become destructive if left unchecked. As the saying goes, thoughts make excellent servants, but terrible masters. Our mental maps are often not just wrong but misleading, distorting our lives with errors and misjudgments that lead to suffering. Recognizing that thoughts are just thoughts - that they don't necessarily represent reality - is like realizing that clouds don't disturb the sky; they just pass through it.
Seeing the Waterfall
In meditation, recognizing that our mind is out of control is the first step towards attaining freedom. Acknowledging the relentless flow of thoughts and commentary without becoming attached to them allows us to "see the waterfall" without being swept away by its current.
Upon closer observation, we might find that many of our thoughts are repetitive, playing out like a broken record. This repetition isn’t just annoying - according to neuroscience it actually strengthens neural pathways in the brain, making certain thoughts and emotional states more likely to recur. This is why breaking free from unhelpful thought patterns is so crucial. It's about rewiring our brains to foster more helpful, positive mental states.
Practicing Mindfulness with Thoughts
Working with thoughts can be one of the greatest challenges in mindfulness because they are often very slippery; they can slide into the mind unnoticed and carry us away before we know it. Learning to see thoughts as mere phenomena that appear and dissolve helps to weaken their grip on us, reducing their ability to dictate our emotions and behaviors.
To practice mindfulness with thoughts, start by simply noticing that they are occurring. The point isn't to stop them, but to change our relationship with them. Naming thoughts as they arise - worrying, planning, judging - can reduce their power and help us stay detached and present.
Living in the Present
Meditation offers profound insights into the nature of thought and its impact on our lives. It teaches us that we do not have to believe every thought we have. Realizing that we are not our thoughts frees us from the tyranny of our conditioned minds and opens the door to a more present, more peaceful life. This is where true freedom lies - not in escaping thoughts but in understanding their nature and resting as the sky of our mind undisturbed by the clouds that pass by.
