How often do you stop and think about your thoughts?

I don’t mean thinking and analyzing one thought or another but thinking about just how many thoughts you have?

I’ve meditated on and off for many years, sometimes with some consistency.

Over the last few years I’ve put more effort into a daily practice. And, aside from the many benefits many people preach, I’ve noticed what an absolute clusterfuck my thoughts are.

I’m not saying this as a bad thing. Only that my mind is never at rest.

Sam Harris, meditation teacher and neuroscientist, points out that this is how consciousness is.

Without going too deep here, the act of mediation shines a spotlight on how little rest our mind has while we’re awake. It’s either processing physical inputs such as sights and sounds, or analyzing data it’s taken in prior.

It’s fascinating to sit silently for 10 or 20 minutes and watch the chaos of your thoughts.

It’s an unrelenting hailstorm of continuous nonsense.

But observing is also an incredible thing. Watching thoughts as they materialize and dissolve is quite powerful.

You can see them for what they are, without reacting. You can learn to separate thoughts themselves from the emotion they so often induce.

Over time, even the most painful or enraging thoughts can lose their power over you.