***Stop Thinking - a Somewhat Guided, Somewhat Meditation

When we try to stop thoughts, we are playing a cerebral kind of "Whack-A-Mole."

It doesn't matter how many times you go after that mole, there are always more of them bursting out of various holes, over and over, faster and faster, not stopping.

But there are other possible ways to experience your thoughts than whacking at them like pesky rodents.

For example, you could try being kind.

One way to approach this is to consider that the mind is like an ocean with waves we call thoughts. There are waves or thoughts that are quiet and mellow, and then there are waves or thoughts fast or big or frightening. Whichever kind they are, like waves in the ocean, they will eventually change. All waves pass.

If waves seem like an issue that can only be dealt with by removal, that itself is going to be a problem - oceans are going to have waves (and minds are going to have thoughts). But by noticing the entire ocean, and noticing how the ocean works, then you can realize that the waves themselves aren’t the problem; they are just a tiny part of the ocean.

If you make friends with your mind like this - noticing that your thoughts are a natural part of "mind" (sometimes calm, sometimes stormy), two things can happen:

First, you can discover feelings of peace, calm, at-oneness, and clarity at the same time as you are experiencing waves of thoughts.

Second, by being friendly with the mind and not caring whether you have thoughts in it or not, a paradoxical thing can happen: often, there aren’t as many thoughts that pop up.

Consider those times you have engaged in "Whack-a-Thought," and ask, "What might I do right now to show kindness to what happens in my mind, to approach my thoughts with friendship? How might I treat my mind like someone requesting my help, instead of like some weed I need to get rid of?"

What do you find?