Awareness of thoughts is a powerful meditation method that can bring clarity, tranquility, and insight to the mind.
It can be difficult at first to distinguish between thoughts and emotions. Thoughts are discrete, having clear and precise boundaries. Each thought is separate and independent, with a full stop at the end. Between two thoughts there is a gap.
The way to be aware of a thought is to perceive the natural language expression of it. Thoughts cannot be broken down into smaller units than sentences of a language; the sentence is the discrete unit of thought, whether or not it is spoken out loud. It is not that you are putting your thoughts into language; rather, the language expression is the thought.
A full thought must correspond to a grammatically complete sentence. If you just notice phrases and incomplete ideas in your mind, these are parts of thoughts, but you have missed something essential – the structure, the grammar, the completeness. You are trying to think too fast, interrupting and skipping through your thoughts rather than letting them finish.
All languages have grammars, which suggests that grammar corresponds to something inherent not only in language, but in thought itself. The role of grammar in this method is not to prescribe a “proper” form of thought, or to make any sort of philosophical argument regarding language and thought, but only to aid in the completeness of thought. You can use incorrect grammar or any slang you like, as long as the complete thought is observed.
Sit silently and think deliberately in discrete, grammatically complete sentences. Don’t be hasty, don’t tumble over the thoughts, don’t interrupt yourself before one thought has unfolded completely, even if you have already guessed the meaning and purpose behind it.
We communicate only some of our thoughts to others, and make an effort to express our intended meaning fully. But thoughts which are not communicated to anyone else remain blurry, anxious, and ill-defined. The reason for this is simple: we suppress their full expression in language. Without the discrete structure of language, these thoughts merge together into an amorphous cloud of anxiety, confusion, anger, hatred. Thus, even if there appears to be a fog or cloud of tangled thoughts and emotions in the mind, know that this fog is composed entirely of distinct, though unconscious, thoughts. Awareness of individual thoughts dispels the fog.
Be unconditionally aware of whatever thought is occurring to you, whether simple or complex. The particular content of the thought doesn’t matter. The entire thinking process has to become conscious, through awareness of every thought small and large, not just certain types of thoughts, or just important thoughts. Let no thought remain hidden in the shadows, however inconsequential or uncomfortable.
If you speak more than one language, keep in mind that thoughts may come in any of your fluent languages. Certain styles of thoughts may only come in certain languages, solely due to linguistic reasons.
If you realize a little late that some thought has gone by automatically, without your awareness, go back and observe the complete language sentence corresponding to the thought. With a little practice, this deliberation can extend to new thoughts in real time, and bring an astounding clarity of mind.
If the method is working, your thoughts will become simultaneously crystal clear, unwavering, and calm. The gaps between thoughts will become deeper and richer. Thoughts will become fewer and less intense, less compulsive, yet they will be more authentic.
After a point you can allow them to subside completely, and bask in the tranquil state of being that is undisturbed by thoughts.
Advanced meditators are said to be able to abide by default in the silent state of being that is glimpsed initially only during the gaps between thoughts; grounded in thoughtless, flawless awareness of the here and now, they venture deliberately into thoughts only when necessary. But such an advanced state may take years of practice and perseverance to reach.
It is a common experience that when you explain or teach something to someone, you yourself understand it better. This happens because you have consciously expressed your thoughts about the subject in an effort to communicate them.
Even certain psychotherapy methods benefit from the effects of thought awareness. When asked questions by a psychotherapist, you have to make your thoughts communicable — thoughts that are often difficult and that you may have been suppressing and ignoring — and thereby these thoughts become clear even to you for the first time. Often, the simple act of expressing your thoughts in language helps more than any response or advice given by the therapist. This is also the reason why the method of journaling works, where you simply write down your thoughts as they come. Knowing the root mechanism at play, you can instead implement thought awareness directly in order to fully cleanse and uplift the mind.