struggling with letting thoughts to pass

[Innerchatter]

Hi, My names steve. I have only recently started to get into mindfulness and meditation - I've been going for just over a month intact. It have been trying it out for various reasons, the mane once being I want to get better control of my focus and to also get a better grip on things in my mind, I tend to get lost in thought a lot and keep thinking the same things over and over and it get quite tiring.

i know its only early days but so far things seem to be going well. I have been using the headspace app on my phone and I'm finding it has been a good tool to get things started.

Howver ever with it being an app there not really any way to talk about things as they progress so I thought it would be good to see if there is a forum. which is why I'm here.

anyway, I have a few questions. I have been mainly doing practises that centre around focusing on the breath, but I'm struggling with a couple of things. I can maintain focus on my breath but I'm also aware of other thoughts arising. I try to surpass them and come back to the breath but they are always there niggling away.

I have found that I can acknowledge, them as in actually allow my internal voice to say them, but even after doing this I am still aware of their. its hard to explain, but its like I'm looking at breath right in front of me, and my other thought are floating around in my peripheral vision, i don't acknowledge them but I know they are there.

allot of the time the are thoughts about the practise itself, or just my metal list of what I need to get done in the day (i make lots of lists in my head) . so this is why I try to surpass them, as I know what they are before I think them so I don't see the need in thickening them. its like there to levels of thought, I an see it or a I can say. hope I'm making sense.

anyway for most of the month I hav accepted this as probably normal. but today I managed to somehow get really focussed and the focus on my breath became very intense, and literally there was nothing apse but my breath, it was very load and all consuming, made me quite dizzy in fact. so this got me wondering weather all the times I have not been focusing enough and this was the type of focus I should achieve.

so I have two questions really, the first is weather or not this is the fact, should I be aware of thoughts even if I'm not giving them my attention, or should I be completely consumed by the focus on the breath?

and also if I am supposed to think the thought and let it pass, how do you get rid of the thought, because after i have processed it, it seems to become stronger and stay in my mind more. they just get thought then sit there again in my peripheral vision.

hope this makes sense, its all very abstract and hard to but into words.

thanks in advance for any insight.

[Gareth]

I think that it's important to understand that you are never going to eliminate thought, no matter what you do. Nor would you want to. Sure, there are some days that it is easier to maintain focus, but there will be days where it's seemingly impossible, too.

The practice of mindfulness is about building a different relationship with your mind, rather than habitually following it about which you have probably been doing all your life. This takes time, commitment, patience and self-compassion. Stick with it. Keep talking to us.

[mybubble]

As Gareth mentioned it is not about getting rid of thoughts and you should not try to suppress them. It sounds like you are handling it all very well by acknowledging them and maintaining focus on the breath. Mindfulness is about being an observer of the mind so if you can keep your attention on breath and at the same time acknowledge thoughts and keep them in peripheral awareness that is good. One way to keep thoughts on the side lines is to tighten focus on the breath trying to spot details in the breath. But dont tighten so much that you suppress thoughts.

If a persistent thought comes along, then acknowledge and return to breath, again and again. Acknowledging just means labelling and allowing it to be there. You seem to be acknowledging but not allowing it to be there which I would imagine can keep it coming back. The thought will go when you let go of wanting to control it.

If the thoughts are painful or emotional and are so persistent then intentionally make them your object of attention, in particular translating to how they feel in the body and your minds reaction to it. Once you become bored of watching it directly return to the breath.

[Innerchatter]

Thank you both for the replys and advice , that's very helpful and makes more sense