When I first got into mindfulness and meditation, I was taught to simply "observe the thoughts and feelings" without trying to stop them. Apart from the obvious conceptual thinking this smuggles in, I took observing the thoughts and feelings to mean 'focus my attention on them and label them 1) as thoughts/feelings and 2) as separate from 'me' '. Thus, whenever thoughts or feelings arised while I was doing my daily activities, without realizing it, I would let my attention go to them, believing that if I observed them for long enough they would go away and my mind would quieten. They did not. Instead, all I did was let them drag me all over the place, wasting energy and hampering my ability to act in my daily life.
I have always been able to stop my attention from being grabbed by form, I just didn't know it.
I have no idea how I do it, or whether it is something I am doing outside of cause and effect, or whether it is something that simply happens - all I know is that I just do it.
I have suffered so much for so long because of this stupidity.
I hope this can be a warning to others. Do not "just observe the thoughts". Simply don't be distracted by them, end of.
Submitted November 22, 2019 at 03:56AM by Caithmmir https://ift.tt/332y3w4
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