This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers.

Guided Meditation: Recognizing Thiinking

Good morning everyone, and happy to be here with you all.

I'm going to start with an analogy. If you go on a cross-country train trip, you're going along, and after a while, you just settle into the train trip, looking out the window. You pass many things, many little sights. After a while, you find yourself not commenting on what you're seeing, or not having preferences for what you see, or not having any reaction to what you see. You see a beautiful tree go by—just a tree, and it goes by kind of quickly. You see an ugly house—it's an ugly house, you just see it. There's so much change, so much variety, so many different things coming through. It's almost like you're settling back, relaxing, just seeing it all without making anything of it, reacting to it, or preferring one thing over the other. You're in the train looking out the window. Out the window is just the scenery. It just goes by, and it's kind of interesting, kind of relaxing, and kind of nice not to have an opinion about everything, and just to let it be as it is, simple.

Then halfway through the country, you go through your old town where you grew up, right through the middle of it. Suddenly it is, "Oh no, they tore down my school," or, "Oh look at that, they put in a nice park," or, "How could they build this big skyscraper like that in the middle of this place?" Suddenly there are all these opinions, reactions, becoming intensely interested in everything, and being for and against it. Then you finish going through your town and you are off into some part of the country you've never been before, and you realize, "Wow, that was exhausting—all that reactivity, all those judgments, all those preoccupations." Then slowly over time, you settle back, and then it's just the scenery going by. You clearly see it, but it's almost like you enjoy just the sight, and just being relaxed and looking. It's not like you're actively enjoying or reacting negatively to anything, it's just a pleasure to look out the window and see.

That one opportunity in meditation is kind of like sitting in a train, looking out the window, and experiencing what happens to us with that kind of freedom, that kind of non-involvement of just going through the countryside in a train, and not succumbing to the kind of attention we would have if the train went through our town, where everything is so important, everything is something to have an opinion about, or react to, or want, or not want, or somehow get involved in.

It's not that it's wrong to be reactive or be involved in the sights and sounds. For the purpose of meditation, it goes in the wrong direction; it doesn't lead to abiding peace, or insight, or developing mindfulness. It can actually go in the other direction. It pulls us into the world of stories, ideas, memories, and plans for the future.

I use that analogy to represent the kind of recognition we do in meditation. For mindfulness meditation, one of the great keys, great practices that is really at the heart of mindfulness, is a simple recognition of what is happening in the moment, without searching for it, recognizing the obvious. Doing so is like going with a train through the countryside and just seeing it. You're clearly seeing things, but there's no reactivity, there's no assigning "me, myself, and mine" to that experience. It's just clearly recognized. We allow the train to keep going to the next recognition and the next recognition. There's something in the simplicity of recognizing something where there is a kind of freedom and peace. It's a little bit hard to find, because often right together with recognition is our preferences, our stories, our ideas, our ways of liking and not liking, all kinds of things. It's seldom that we allow ourselves a chance to recognize something simply.

Just now there was another train whistle, very faint in the distance. I don't know if you could hear it. I did a teeny bit with it, thinking I would tell you about it, but the first passing of it, coming to my ears, I recognized it as a train whistle, but there was nothing for or against it. I didn't make anything of it. I didn't think about the story that I told you.

So one of the things we want to try to learn to do in mindfulness meditation is to some degree start learning the art of recognition that is radically simple. This recognition is represented by this thing called mental noting^[1]. Some people like to do it, some people don't. It's using a one-word note label to help us be with a simple recognition of the experience. It could be "sound" when I heard the train whistle, just "sound." I have an itch, "itch." I feel the in-breath, "in," out-breath, "out."

The theme for this week is thinking, and it's possible to note "thinking." People who normally don't like to use mental noting as they meditate will find that the one place where it's useful to note is with thinking. It's a way of using thought to step away from our involvement with thinking. Just a thought rather than thinking, and rather than being swept by the thinking. So the art of recognizing thinking is just "thinking." It could be the most horrible thought anybody has ever had, but just "thinking." You're on the train, you're looking out the window, there's no need to be involved in good or bad. It's the most beautiful thought anybody's ever had, we don't have to appropriate or congratulate ourselves. It's just a thought, "thinking." Having a memory, just a memory, "remembering." Planning, thoughts of planning, "planning." Fantasy, mere fantasy^[2], "fantasy."

It's very simple. It's refining our freedom from it and finding the middle way between being for something and against something. It's a tremendous power not to get pulled into what we like, or pulled into or away from what we don't like, just to hold steady. "Thinking." "Planning." "Having a conversation." "Remembering." In doing so, we begin pulling back away from our entanglement, our involvement, our participation in the world of thinking, and we start becoming free.

So let's start the meditation. Assuming your meditation posture, gently closing your eyes, and taking a few long, slow, deep breaths. Relaxing as you exhale.

Then letting your breathing return to normal and continuing a little bit to relax as you exhale. Settling in.

Relaxing the mind. The thinking muscle. And if you're thinking a lot, see if you can slow down your thinking. Think a little bit calmer.

Then settling down into your breathing.

And if you find yourself involved in thinking, take a simple moment to look thinking right in the eye. Like you're relaxed on the train looking out the window, note "thinking."

The recognition of thinking is not the same as thinking more. It's stepping away into a place of non-reactivity, quiet, openness, receptivity.

And if it's obvious to be more specific, you can do that: "remembering," "planning," "fantasizing," "discussing something."

See if you can find some freedom and calm and peace in the most radical simplicity, simple aspect of our capacity to note and recognize.

When it feels that you've found some freedom from your thinking, then begin again with your breathing, until thinking pulls you away again.

If you're involved in thinking, take a backward step away from it. Then clearly recognize that you're thinking. Simple, radical, simple recognition. You might feel for or against your thinking, but in the recognition there can be no for or against. Just recognition.

In the simplicity of recognition, it can be almost like a light bulb goes on in the mind that simply recognizes, "Oh, it's thinking, it's just thinking." Nothing more, nothing less, nothing true, nothing false. Nothing right, nothing wrong, just letting it be. Simplicity of thinking in that recognition.

When we are not glued to our thinking, there is room then to not be influenced by the thoughts we have, to not be caught in the mind stream of thoughts, and instead to observe them, to be free of them, to recognize them. And in that simplicity and freedom of recognition, there might be room to think in beneficial ways.

At the end of a meditation, it's good to think in ways that have goodwill for the world that you'll encounter today. Thoughts of generosity, kindness, care, and well-wishing.

And you might say these words to yourself silently as representations or as representatives of the goodwill that you can find inside of yourself:

May all beings be happy.

May all beings be safe.

May all beings be peaceful.

May all beings be free.

And may whatever benefits and merit that come from this meditation this morning, whatever learnings we've had, may it work for the benefit and welfare of the world. May goodness spread out from this meditation out into the world. May all beings be happy.

Thank you.

Dharmette: Thinking (2 of 5) Freedom in Recognition

So we come to the second talk on mindfulness of thinking, where the emphasis is the power of recognition. And the art of mindfulness of thinking is not to thereby think more. It is to be able to recognize more clearly what's happening as we think. And there's lots to notice as we're thinking, but before we talk about what we can notice in thinking, it is how we note, how we notice, the way in which recognition happens. Which, as I said earlier, is the art of mindfulness meditation, kind of one of the central features of it. And that is, recognition is the way in which we know what is happening as it's happening, and not knowing it in complicated ways like a story of why it's here, but just the simplest knowledge, recognition of what it is, the thing, what's happening, what's occurring.

So if I'm breathing, recognizing just the breathing is happening. Not to connect it to other breathings, just breathing is happening. If there's a sound, just a sound, just hearing is happening. And as we settle in meditation, that is to be as simple as possible so we're not caught or reactive to or judging what's happening, just a recognition.

It's not an easy skill to learn, but it's a powerful one because it helps us be free in the midst of whatever is happening. To stand in the middle of a complicated life and to be able to just take it in and recognize what's happening, but not be swayed by it or reactive to it. Just there, I just see it, and clearly then we have access to our wisdom inside, our clarity about what to do in a way that we don't if we're caught up and enmeshed in the drama of it all.

So, learning this ability of how we recognize, radical simplicity—meditation is a wonderful laboratory to discover how simple we can be in recognizing. And in that simplicity, find some peace, find some freedom from what it is we're recognizing.

So it could be that we're tremendously depressed, and it's difficult to be that, it's very sticky to be depressed. But as mindfulness gets stronger, it's possible to recognize, "Oh, this is depression." And somehow for that moment, maybe just a moment of recognizing "this is depression," there's a little bit of like a light bulb goes off, or a little bit of clarity, the fog clears or something, just for that little moment. And sometimes you have to kind of say the note a few times until we really are standing in the note and not standing in the depression: "Depression, depression." "Anger, anger," whatever it might be. And slowly, slowly, like this crack opens up and we begin identifying more with the recognition than the emotional state we might be in. "Oh, there is sadness, sadness." And then the sadness is not diminished, the sadness is not disrespected, but it's clearly known so we're not influenced by it or caught in it. It's an amazing capacity.

As we do this, we also start seeing more clearly what's happening as we're thinking, and that also gives some freedom. So one of the things that's useful in meditation is to distinguish different kinds of thinking so that there's both more clarity of what we're recognizing, but also to recognize what kind of thinking is useful for meditation and what is not.

So for example, going from the coarsest, least helpful to maybe going closer and closer to what's most helpful: there could just be dream-like fantasies that have nothing to do with the present moment. There are maybe images that are involved, and we're caught up in a fantasy world of the future, what's going to happen tomorrow. And we're kind of entered into the realm through the imagination of tomorrow or of the fantasy. So those kinds of thinking are just recognized as "fantasy," and it's recognized that it's really a disconnection from reality. We're not really present for what's immediately here for ourselves.

Another kind of thinking is discursive thought, and that's when the mind is having a conversation. Either we're talking to ourselves, or we're having a conversation with someone else. We're repeating a conversation from yesterday to try to come up with a better response or something, and reviewing it and reviewing it. It's kind of like having a discourse, discursive thoughts, a discussion in the mind. And that also is not about the directness of mindfulness; it's kind of removed into a kind of abstraction. So to recognize, "Oh, discursive thinking is happening, discursive thinking."

Then there's a simpler kind of thinking, which is getting closer now to a thinking that recognizes what's happening. It could be still a sentence. It could be, "I've sat down to meditate." It's true we've sat down to meditate, and it's kind of recognizing what's happening a certain way. "I'm feeling hungry. I wonder what I should have for lunch." And then as we begin thinking about what to have for lunch, it might become a discursive thought or a fantasy. But the simple thought, "I'm hungry, and I'm thinking about lunch," that's a kind of recognition of what's happening here and now.

Then it's simpler. There might also be very simple thoughts in the mind in meditation that are directing the meditation. "I'm thinking about lunch because I'm hungry, maybe I'll bring my attention to my stomach where I'm hungry and just feel that." And so that's a kind of very simple thought telling you, "Let's go pay attention there." Or, "Let's go back to the breathing. It was nice to be with the breathing; I don't have to think about lunch. Let's go back to the breathing and feel the breath." So that kind of thinking, it might not be necessary to have this clear recognition, it's just kind of guiding you, pointing you to the present moment. You might have the thought, "I think I should practice recognition now." You could have an infinite regress if you say, "Well, let me recognize that I'm thinking about recognizing I'm thinking," and it's crazy-making very quickly. So some very simple instructional kind of thinking in meditation can be very supportive, provided the instruction is very relaxed and easy, and not demanding, not stern, or something.

And then we get even simpler thoughts, which is this thing that's closely related to mental notes. It's one word. Rather than, "I'm hungry, what's for lunch?" it's "hunger." Or there might be "tightness," "a pang in the belly," "hearing." There might be "warmth." Not "I'm sitting in a warm room," but just a feeling of warmth, because the feeling of sitting with your eyes closed in a warm room is kind of an abstraction. But with eyes closed, direct experience is just warmth, coldness, coolness.

As meditation gets quieter and quieter, the more relevant it becomes to keep it that simple. "Warmth," "coolness," "hearing," "in-breath," "out-breath," "pressure," "release of pressure," "expansion," "contraction." It's not a job, it's not like work that you're supposed to do, but it's getting closer and closer to having the mind be very clear, clearly aware of what's happening in the present moment as it's happening.

So with thinking, we're just so easily getting pulled into, so easy to get trapped by or caught by. This is where mental noting sometimes is very effective. It's a way of kind of stepping out of them. If you're stuck in the mud, in a quagmire, stuck in the mud and you can't get out like quicksand, it's helpful to have one foot on dry land to be able to pull yourself out. The classic example is if two people are in the quicksand, and one person tries to pull the other one out, the one pulling sinks deeper. Then the other one tries to pull the one going deeper and pull it out, and that person sinks in deeper. And they just kind of progressively make themselves go deeper. But if one of them is up on dry land, then that person can pull the other person out.

So with thinking, the simple recognition is meant to be standing on dry ground. Being in the train and in the train looking out the window, not involved with what you see but clearly recognizing it. So clearly recognizing, "thinking, thinking," "remembering, remembering."

One of the nice things about these mental notes is that you can pay attention to the tone of the voice that's making the note. And if it's harsh, or afraid, or irritated, or something, you can feel that in the tone. The idea is for the tone to be very relaxed, easy, untroubled by what we're noticing. That's where we start feeling the freedom of recognition.

So it's maybe not easy to discover, but once we get the hang of it, look at how a simple moment of recognition is a kind of freedom, a kind of peace. It kind of cracks the universe open and you start feeling much more space, start feeling more peace, and also a kind of delight. I just find a delight sometimes. "Oh, I'm thinking about... I need to get the oil changed in my car. Thinking." And I just... "Oh, that's what I'm thinking about." And it's kind of like I'm no longer in the thought, and I'm kind of delighted, or kind of amazed, you know? "Wow, this mind thinks. Isn't that quite something?" And it's easier to be amazed, or to be kind of just delighted or just free, if we step back up on dry land and just really recognize the thinking. "Thinking."

Now it's possible to get busy with all this recognition, and then hopefully you recognize, "Now I'm getting busy, I'm working too hard at it and doing too much of it." The idea is to do just enough to support you. Some people will not do the active recognition, the noting, when they're resting with the breath, being with their breath in and out. But as I've said, they definitely use it when they find themselves in thinking because with some practice it becomes a really clear way, the easy way even, to step away from thoughts, not be enmeshed in it. We're going to turn the light of attention onto the fact we're thinking. "Thinking, thinking."

Over time, as mindfulness gets stronger, it's an interesting skill to learn to be thinking about things, allow yourself to think because you need to think about them, but also to be aware of what it's like to be thinking and to adjust the how. So the thinking is not so fast, not so forceful, not so addicted, not so harsh, whatever it might be, and find a supportive and a pleasant, enjoyable way to think. Thinking can be a wonderful thing, and meditation is not supposed to be a critique of thinking at all costs—you're not supposed to think, or thinking is bad. But we are trying to restore thinking to a way that is harmonious and peaceful and supportive for our lives.

And the path to that in meditation is to step away from thinking. In meditation, it's the one place where you barely need to think at all. Certainly, you don't need discursive thoughts, you don't need to think about things that are not present. The only thing to think about is what is present here and now, but without analysis and asking why, and keeping it very simple. Just simple thoughts about, "Let me see if I can hold that in awareness." "Let me meet that with kindness." "Can I feel that in my body?" And just, then as we settle in, "Oh, just pressure, warmth, tightness." Simpler and simpler.

So I hope that makes some sense. And if what I'm saying seems not quite right for you, or understandable at this point, just kind of file it away. And there'll come a time, I think, where you'll recognize where it's valuable to do what I've been talking about today. And so then we'll continue tomorrow with mindfulness of thinking. Thank you.