Thinking

In attention-focused meditation, we select an object to pay attention to, such as the breath, and then notice when the mind wanders, including when thoughts arise. As soon as we become aware of a thought we have a choice. We can either stay lost in the thinking or we can let it go and bring our attention back to our breathing. As we do this over and over again, we may find that there are longer periods of time between thoughts. We also may notice thoughts more quickly when they do arise, and we may be able to let them go more easily.  One of the outcomes of doing this is that, as we let thoughts go, we may feel less stressed and more relaxed.

Engaging in attention focused meditation is also practice for dealing with thoughts that arise when we are not meditating.  During everyday life, when we become aware that we are caught up in thoughts we can again choose to stay with them or to let them go.  If the thoughts are stressful, we can notice if they are about things over which we have any control or influence.  If we do have some influence, we can choose to focus on thinking about actions that might make the situation better. If we have no influence, then staying with the thoughts may just make us feel worse, and we can practice letting the thoughts go and shifting our attention to something else, perhaps the activity we were engaged in, or to our breathing.

What we think about can affect the structure of the brain.  The brain is continuously making and deleting connections between neurons.  The more we pay attention to certain thoughts, the more connections are made.  The opposite is also true, the less we pay attention to thoughts, the fewer connections there are. When we are constantly going over certain thoughts, more neural connections are made, and the thoughts may become more persistent.  If they are negative thoughts or worries, this can lead us to feeling more stressed. However, we can interrupt this cycle. Rather than feeding the thoughts, we can let them go each time they arise, over and over again. As a result the neural connections may diminish, and we find that the thoughts become less intrusive. This is one reason why we say that what we pay attention to matters. By being mindful of our thoughts, we can increase our capacity to choose where we focus our attention, rather than just getting caught up in whatever thoughts might arise.