Thoughts are like ...

Many ways for managing stressful thoughts

Birds in the sky

You are sitting in the open, casually looking at the sky. You see a bird flying in your direction. You keep on looking at the bird. The bird sees your interest. It slowly descends and lands on your head. You make no effort to drive it away. It jumps onto your shoulder. More...

Trains arriving at the train station

Every train of thought has its color and destination. You ignore the thoughts going in the wrong direction by keeping yourself busy with a calming task.   More...

Mosquitoes

At some places in India,  when we needed to sleep, we had to protect ourselves from mosquitoes, even when sleeping inside the house. Our bedtime ritual was to put up a mosquito net over the bed, supported by four poles attached to the four legs of the bed frame. We carefully lift one side of the net, taking care not to let even one bug inside, creep into the bed, and meticulously tuck in the lower edges of the net under the mattress, all around. Then we could sleep happily. We could hear the mosquitoes buzzing outside the net, but they couldn't bite us.

Thoughts are like those mosquitoes. When we are not under the 'meditation net',  thoughts can easily land in our mind, may dig in, and stir up some stressful memories. But when we are practicing 'counting breaths meditation', it works like a 'thought net'. It keeps the thoughts at a distance. We can hear their buzz, but they can't bite us.  After a while, they pass on without doing any harm.

Uninvited guests

You allow the uninvited guest to enter and let him settle down on your living room sofa. He feels accepted and welcomed. After a while, he brings his wife, then his children, and then his grandchildren.  More...

Imaginary demons

In a typical folk tale, a demon kidnaps the princess. The prince goes searching for her. He comes to know that the fierce demon's life is in an insect that is kept inside a jewel box hidden in a secure place. The jewel box is in a place guarded by several giant dragons spewing fire and other scary creatures. The hero reaches the secret place, crossing many hurdles. He now sees the fierce-looking demons guarding the door leading to the small jewel box. These creatures threaten to kill him if he goes near them. But when the hero boldly faces them and decisively strikes them with his sword, all the fierce-looking demons instantly disappear. He then opens the jewel box, takes out the small insect, squeezes it between two fingers, and kills it. The demon holding the princess at a distant place falls to the ground and dies immediately.

Similarly, the scary thoughts are like those fierce demons. When we boldly face those scary thoughts and act against their dictates, those demonic thoughts just vanish. Those thoughts don't have any teeth to bite us!

Delusions

This was a scene from an Indian movie 'Namak Haram'. The actors Amit and Raj drink a hallucinatory brew. Amit is disoriented, but Raj is in his senses.   More...

Plants in the garden

The garden has desired plants and also unwanted plants, the weeds. Paying attention to a thought is like watering a plant.  Responding to a thought mentally, verbally, or physically is like supplying plant food to the plant.    More...

Images on the screen

Your mind is like the movie screen on which thoughts are constantly projected like images. You are in the audience watching the thoughts.    More...

Balloons without air

A thought that enters the mind is like a limp balloon without air. Paying attention to it is like blowing air into the balloon, giving it life and significance.  More...

Tuning forks

We get about 60000 thoughts in a day. Most of them just flicker in our minds, and we hardly notice. But a few thoughts grip our minds like leeches robbing us of our peace of mind.  Their effect lingers for quite some time.    More...

Depressors or Boosters

Thoughts are always entering and leaving the mind. Some of them drain my energy and motivation. When I let such a thought linger, I sense losing my energy and motivation. The longer I let it remain, the weaker I will become. I am responsible for shaking it off my mind or creating a counterthought to conserve my energy and motivation.    

Dead leaves blowing in the wind

Contributed by a meditator: "I have begun to differentiate between thoughts and ideas as I meditate. My definition of a thought is that it is a fragment of an idea. 

Thoughts come and go, some good, some bad, like dead leaves blowing in the wind. An idea is a whole thing. It can stand alone like a large smooth rock on the ground. It can be looked at from different sides. The glue that holds an idea together is intuition. 

Here is an example of an idea: that the tranquility experienced from meditation is a baseline. To achieve tranquility is simply opening a door to a new space. The exploration of that space is what counts. When I meditate, I concentrate on that idea (as well as my breath, my body sensations, and my state of mindfulness). Keeping that idea in focus allows me to ward off distracting thoughts and achieve tranquility more efficiently."

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