Observing/watching your thoughts. Practical exemples please!

[Quim]

Thank you Jon. I did read the book actually.

And, you know what? I think that the writing meditation it's worth a thread. It could be an interesting conversation.

[Babywhale]

I'm very new to mindfulness, having only just started practising last week, having enrolled on an 8 week programme through the NHS.

I have so far been doing a couple of meditations per day, everyday, including a 30 minute body scan each evening, as well as a 30 minute meditation that focuses on the breath as an anchor, as well as sounds (internal and external). I'm also becoming more mindful when carrying out routine daily activities that I would normally be on autopilot for e.g. Climbing the stairs, walking to the corner shop, brushing my teeth. These are situations where I am aware that my mind is typically lost in thoughts, worries and negative spirals of thinking.

During meditations I have so far managed to become aware of when my mind has drifted off into thoughts, many of them random and seemingly insignificant and untroubling, and some of them worries (future scenarios, replaying past events). However I don't notice them appearing/manifesting in the mind, rather I am noticing them as they dissolve and I return to the breath. I realise my mind has wandered, rather than am aware of it beginning to wander. It's as though I catch the aftertaste of the mind chatter rather than the onset of the chatter. Which is a big improvement and which I attribute to mindfulness, meditation and the use of an anchor, be this the breath or one or more of the senses. Although I have only been practising for just over a week, I am finding that my mind is wandering less often, including during the day, because I'm mentally busier with concentrating on the task at hand, or being aware of what I'm experiencing at that moment.

So for me, in these early parts of my journey, I'm content with how I'm noticing more that my mind has wandered off and, to a minor extent, catching it before it starts to lead me too far into worry, negativity or doing mode thinking, however I'm not observing yet the arrival of thoughts, if that makes sense?

[MindfulnessRVA]

From one perspective, Mindfulness or Meditation is an ARBITRARY set of instructions that create an impossibility. We are told to sit still and follow our breath. By focusing on 1 thing we find that there were many more things going on than we realized. For many people, this is the realization of the "inner chatter" which another person mentioned. It is only b/c we tried to focus on 1 thing (the breathing) that we even noticed this chatter. This an important distinction b/c we only notice thinking when we are actually trying to not think or when we have stopped thinking and we have the memory of thought. When we are actually thinking, we are just distracted and lost in thought. We then have the experience every so often that we are "in control" and that we are aware we are thinking. The problem is that I have never met anyone who chose to have any thought at all, the thoughts just pop up and we notice them after the fact. Thoughts therefore are nothing more than memories and reactions to something that has come before. Thoughts are created as the minds attempt to avoid suffering or to attain more happiness. This is why when we are actually happy, content, or joyful, we have no need for thought an thus thought is not present. Similarly, when we are sad, angry, anxious or stress without trying to be different in any way, we also have no need for thought b/c there is no need for avoidance and thus thoughts are not present. When thoughts are not present the vice grip of stress of the mind on the body ceases and there is relief, relaxation, openness. To answer simply, just take time to follow your breathing. This arbitrary technique will allow you to notice your thoughts b/c the attempt to concentrate on the breathing allows you to notice what is "not breathing". We can only notice what is in comparison to something else and we can only notice it after it is happening. You can only have thought when there is distraction from physical sensation, and you can only have distraction when you are trying to do this thing called concentrating. Distraction is just another form of concentration, just like meditation is just another form of regular life. Meditation is a concept that people have about what they think they should experience and this concept, this attachment to feeling this "good" thing called meditation, keeps people addicted to finding some state that will never be there for any period of time and keeps people from understanding that meditation is happening all the time. Meditation is just regular life, there is nothing special about it at all.

[MindfulnessRVA]

Simply put - Ask yourself this: What is the emotion present than makes you concerned at all with knowing what observing thought is like? What is present for you in your physical body that makes you feel that it is an important question? Answer this and you will not worry about the question and you will find what you were really looking for!!!

[JonW]

'Meditation is a concept that people have about what they think they should experience and this concept, this attachment to feeling this "good" thing called meditation, keeps people addicted to finding some state that will never be there for any period of time and keeps people from understanding that meditation is happening all the time.'

With respect...This may be your personal experience but it's certainly not mine. Nor is it the experience of the hundreds of people I've taught and spoken with about mindfulness.
Unless you mean that this is the experience of people who have had no training in mindfulness. It's unclear.
Cheers,
Jon