How to observe and let go of thoughts?

[Gem]

It's basically noticing the thought happens - without reacting to the thought.

Originally Posted by Gem

It's basically noticing the thought happens - without reacting to the thought.

Not emotional reaction (disappointment, proudness etc), i would also say no words at all, no verbal response to the thought, just to see silently.

Would you say this has the potentiall to dissolve thought without the slightest effort?

[passnthru2]

he is 'talking about his experience'. it isn't likely to happen to you..

I read his stuff and nowhere did I find anything of any value.

learn to meditate.. PERIOD. that is what meditation is learning to be in the present moment, focusing on the breath and learning to not to attach to any of the interrupting thoughts. those thoughts are always about the future or the past. you will learn to be in the present and with practice you will be able to take it with you where ever you are

[wstein]

Originally Posted by MeditativeWriter

Not emotional reaction (disappointment, proudness etc), i would also say no words at all, no verbal response to the thought, just to see silently.

Not just emotional reaction, any reaction.

Originally Posted by MeditativeWriter

Would you say this has the potentiall to dissolve thought without the slightest effort?

Thought doesn't 'dissolve. It simply stops spontaneously churning. Thought then just happens without any narration. It ceases when complete the first time without iterating over and over. A lot of the time no thoughts are needed and they don't occur. This is the 'quiet' or 'silent' that is spoken of.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by MeditativeWriter

Not emotional reaction (disappointment, proudness etc), i would also say no words at all, no verbal response to the thought, just to see silently.

Yep, pretty much.

Would you say this has the potential to dissolve thought without the slightest effort?

Probably bring about conscious awareness of thought processes a person might have previously been unaware of. Some thoughts aren't necessary and some thought patterns are harmful and some reactionary habits are burdensome - and these won't persist for too long if one is consciously aware or mindful of them. The 'effortless' basically refers to not trying to change anything, but that doesn't mean 'easy'.

Originally Posted by InfiInt

Hello people,

I am reading "The power of now" by Eckhart Tolle and its talking about letting your thoughts go. It is also very important while meditating. How do I observe thoughts and just let them go? How do I not get caught in them?

A late comment but still. Populist gurus like this one are full of it - tell you what you must do (the easy bit) then neglect to tell you how (the difficult bit) As I haven't read more than a sample of his outpourings I don't know if elsewhere in this book he tells you how to do this - but anyway, VinceField has come up with about the best advice.

In the past when I had to do this a lot I did something similar. Sometimes I'd go into meditation with one of these thoughts, sometimes they'd crop up. I used visualisation a lot - exteriorise them by one means or another, once detached look at them and if necessary, then get rid of them. Sometimes it was as easy as exhaling/blowing them away; sometimes they needed to be dissipated while drawing in something far more appropriate.

However, be selective. Not all discomforting thoughts need to be expelled. They were there for a reason and may hint at further "investigation". Sometimes thoughts can be a bit herbaceous. Until you get to the roots you'll never get rid of them.

♀

[Miss Hepburn]

:https://youtu.be/Yb_quLMWM-E

Perfect...on Unwanted thoughts...Abraham-Hicks, posted in
Abraham quotes today...

Originally Posted by Gem

Probably bring about conscious awareness of thought processes a person might have previously been unaware of. Some thoughts aren't necessary and some thought patterns are harmful and some reactionary habits are burdensome - and these won't persist for too long if one is consciously aware or mindful of them. The 'effortless' basically refers to not trying to change anything, but that doesn't mean 'easy'.

Agreed. Sure it's not easy, in the sense you need immense energy to watch your thoughts. What i feel is that once there is passive, non verbal awareness, no energy is given energy to thought so as to continue in a movement that leads to confusion. Which saves us huge amounts of energy!

Probably later a similar thought will appear again, but this is because the core of thought creation, the ego, is not deeply/completely seen, deeply observed and it's still active

So I will stick to this statement that passive awareness dissolves thought.

[wstein]

Originally Posted by MeditativeWriter

Agreed. Sure it's not easy, in the sense you need immense energy to watch your thoughts.

So I will stick to this statement that passive awareness dissolves thought.

Exactly, that's why you identify your thoughts, not 'watch' them.

[InfiInt]

I see a discussion started on this and thank you all for your involvement, your replies are all useful!

Originally Posted by Floatsy

Many years ago, I read that practice is akin to riding a bicycle, to be able to do it, you have to just do it.

In Buddhist terms, samadhi is the concentration/focus that enables you to stay on e.g. the breath, and vipassana is the insight that enables you to see a thought as a thought. SEE the thought, not think the thought.

It is like a flashlight, the flashlight needs to be held in a steady manner before you can see what is in the cave.

Meditation and other methods help you cultivate the ability to genuinely (note the word genuinely) see and then transcend thought.

In my very limited experience, there are moments of no thought, and this is not through suppression, but through the natural manifestation of a genuine practice.

Good luck in your search.

Thank you for mentioning those, I will look into them and try and practice them!

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

Perfect...on Unwanted thoughts...Abraham-Hicks, posted in
Abraham quotes today...

Thank you for that video. I havent listened to Abrahams words in a while, I guess I just got lost a little bit. This is like reuniting with an old friend and helper! Thank you!


Oh and I tried practicing what some of you said, about the observation or acknowledging thoughts and what I found out that happens in my case is - when there is a bad thought in my head I automatically say something like "Hey, its a bad thought" and then it stops, but the feelings don`t stop completely (I still feel some type of bad but not as much). I guess that is because Abraham Hicks said in one of his videos that whenever a bad thought occurs you can yell at yourself inside to stop thinking it, its an interesting method and since I stopped doing that and tried to just look at them when I bring my consciousness up and recognize a thought is there it just runs away but its still very easy for it to come back. What am I doing wrong now?