just to check if i'm on track

[Peter]

Very good point, Matt!

Sometimes disturbing thoughts come up when I really can't use them; like when I need to sleep. Then I choose to acknowledge them and immediately pull my attention away from those thoughts. I tell myself "the thoughts are okay, but not now, I deal with them tomorrow.". It's a question of priority I guess.

Peter

[JonW]

For me, the element of choice is important here. Sometimes the "turning towards difficulty" stage of the 8-week course is read as a demand rather than an invitation. The time is not always right to turn towards difficulty. As Peter says, one can acknowledge that the difficulty is there and then return to it another time. I love Matt's nautical analogies too.
All of this is an invitation. There are no demands in mindfulness.
Jon

[Peter]

I like the word 'invitation' a lot, Jon!

In this case it is an invitation to step out of one's comfort zone. One needs to realize that focusing on something else than a persisting difficulty might get one by short-term, but if one wants a long-term solution, one needs to deal with the difficulty. And even for non-persistant difficulties it is important to observe them, the way they impact you, and how you deal with them. You'll become less afraid of difficulties in general (like in Matt's analogy).

Peter

[EDIT] It might all be pretty redundant, but I like to emphasize this, because I'm afraid that new practitioners otherwise stay in their comfort zone.