So, last time I mentioned that I thought it was possible to stop your thoughts. This would be considered blasphemy in some psychology circles, so I should probably explain myself. What I’ve discovered through meditation practice (and I think this is consistent with the research on mindfulness, thought “control,” etc.) is that consistent practice can make it easier and easier to let go of thoughts. This doesn’t always mean they stop, but it does make me less disturbed by them, more able to let them come and go without jumping on the thought train, and more able to jump (safely!) off the thought train. Thoughts are a little like poorly behaved children. If you give them a lot of reinforcement (in the form of attention, etc.) when they act up, they keep acting up. Let’s say a child tantrums in the mall when you pass the chocolate factory and tell him, “Not this time.” You know the right thing to do, but you’re tired, and you give in and buy him some chocolate anyway. He has now learned that tantruming will help him get what he wants. I think it’s sometimes the same thing with thoughts. Thoughts go through our minds, and if we jump on the thought train, get all involved with our thoughts, get sucked up into worry or rumination, and so forth, the thoughts are basically getting what they want. So, they keep coming and coming. In contrast, when you spend a lot of time doing basic mindfulness meditation practice, you spend a lot of time not giving your thoughts what they want (i.e., your time, effort, and attention). An old zen master once told me the basic practice is simply to “sit, breathe.” You sit and guide your mind to the experience of your breathing. Whenever you start to walk onto the thought train, you gently guide your mind back to your breathing. Over time, it becomes easier to notice when you start edging toward the entrance to the thought train, and you can bring yourself to your breath more quickly. Inevitably, you will jump on that train, but the research says that, with practice, you’re likely to get off the train much quicker than you used to. The beauty of using your breath as your anchor is that you’re always breathing, so it’s always available. You can return to it anytime, anywhere. It takes time and some effort, but once your breath truly becomes your anchor to the present moment, you will experience times when your thoughts just stop. Then, of course, you’ll start thinking about how you’re not thinking, and then, you return to your practice. All this is not to say that thoughts are bad (or good); they just are so compelling sometimes that it’s easy to let them yank us out of the present moment experience. The goal, I believe, is to use this “tool” of thinking when we need it and to discard it when we don’t. This is the kind of freedom I think we can achieve with a lot of mindfulness practice. The best time to start is now! ~Alexander L. Chapman, Ph.D., R.Psych.