{"id":2576,"date":"2023-07-07T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-07T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/?p=2576"},"modified":"2023-07-07T10:01:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T15:01:26","slug":"the-space-between-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2023\/07\/07\/the-space-between-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"The Space Between Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Schorling<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

When we practice attention-focused meditation, we choose an object to focus on, like the breath, and place our attention there.\u00a0 We may follow a few breaths, then the attention wanders, often to thoughts and we get caught up in thinking. \u00a0Eventually we will notice the thinking, and we can choose to return the attention back to focusing on breathing again.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

We do this over and over again. With time, the period of time between thoughts might begin to increase, and we become aware of awareness, of paying attention without thoughts arising.\u00a0 In this space without thoughts, we can just be aware of our present moment experience.\u00a0\u00a0 At first we may only be aware of wherever we have chosen to place our attention, perhaps noticing the sensations of breathing or the points of contact from sitting.\u00a0 We can also pay attention to the mind, noticing the absence of thoughts.\u00a0 How is this absence of thought experienced?\u00a0 With no thoughts there is no judging, no worrying, no wanting things to be different than they are.\u00a0 There are no thoughts of the future or of the past, there is only the present moment.\u00a0 In the space between thoughts, everything is just as it is.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

As mentioned last month, thinking is obviously important, and it is necessary to many tasks such as evaluating and planning.\u00a0 Yet most thinking has nothing to do with these functions.\u00a0 Thoughts may arise about<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>events<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>that have happened in the past, things we wish had gone differently,\u00a0 or thoughts arise about the future, about things that haven\u2019t happened or might never happen.\u00a0 Yet between thoughts there is only the space of a quiet mind, with no need for\u00a0anything to be other than what it is.\u00a0\u00a0 Without thought there is no labelling- things are not good or bad, we are not good or bad, others are not good or bad.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

When we notice the space between thoughts, we can just rest the attention there. At first, this might just be for a few seconds.\u00a0 With practice, noticing thoughts as they arise and letting them go, the space between thoughts may grow.\u00a0 As the space grows, we can just rest in awareness, allowing things to just be as they are, with no need to fix anything or change anything.\u00a0 This space can be a refuge from the seemingly endless thoughts our mind can generate.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we practice attention-focused meditation, we choose an object to focus on, like the breath, and place our attention there.\u00a0 We may follow a few breaths, then the attention wanders, often to thoughts and we get caught up in thinking. \u00a0Eventually we will notice the thinking, and we can choose to return the attention back to focusing on breathing again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We do this over and over again. With time, the period of time between thoughts might begin to increase, and we become aware of awareness, of paying attention without thoughts arising.\u00a0 In this space without thoughts, we can just be aware of our present moment experience.\u00a0\u00a0 At first we may only be aware of wherever we have chosen to place our attention, perhaps noticing the sensations of breathing or the points of contact from sitting.\u00a0 We can also pay attention to the mind, noticing the absence of thoughts.\u00a0 How is this absence of thought experienced?\u00a0 With no thoughts there is no judging, no worrying, no wanting things to be different than they are.\u00a0 There are no thoughts of the future or of the past, there is only the present moment.\u00a0 In the space between thoughts, everything is just as it is.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1202,"featured_media":2358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-monthly-musings"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\nThe Space Between Thoughts - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2023\/07\/07\/the-space-between-thoughts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Space Between Thoughts - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When we practice attention-focused meditation, we choose an object to focus on, like the breath, and place our attention there.\u00a0 We may follow a few breaths, then the attention wanders, often to thoughts and we get caught up in thinking. \u00a0Eventually we will notice the thinking, and we can choose to return the attention back to focusing on breathing again.\u00a0 We do this over and over again. With time, the period of time between thoughts might begin to increase, and we become aware of awareness, of paying attention without thoughts arising.\u00a0 In this space without thoughts, we can just be aware of our present moment experience.\u00a0\u00a0 At first we may only be aware of wherever we have chosen to place our attention, perhaps noticing the sensations of breathing or the points of contact from sitting.\u00a0 We can also pay attention to the mind, noticing the absence of thoughts.\u00a0 How is this absence of thought experienced?\u00a0 With no thoughts there is no judging, no worrying, no wanting things to be different than they are.\u00a0 There are no thoughts of the future or of the past, there is only the present moment.\u00a0 In the space between thoughts, everything is just as it is.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/2023\/07\/07\/the-space-between-thoughts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-07T15:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-07T15:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.med.virginia.edu\/mindfulness\/files\/2021\/09\/Mindfulness-purple-flower-anemone-2712359__340.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"603\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"340\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"hw8w@virginia.edu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"hw8w@virginia.edu\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/07\\\/the-space-between-thoughts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/07\\\/the-space-between-thoughts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"hw8w@virginia.edu\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a376f8732fb91dd01719c9efb88260ab\"},\"headline\":\"The Space Between Thoughts\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-07T15:00:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-07T15:01:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/07\\\/the-space-between-thoughts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/07\\\/the-space-between-thoughts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/files\\\/2021\\\/09\\\/Mindfulness-purple-flower-anemone-2712359__340.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Monthly Musings\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/07\\\/the-space-between-thoughts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.med.virginia.edu\\\/mindfulness\\\/2023\\\/07\\\/07\\\/the-space-between-thoughts\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Space Between Thoughts - 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