Thoughts vs Thinking & Meditating With The Body, Not The Mind — Practical Ways To Find Peace Of Mind
The difference between thoughts & thinking & a subtle yet practical way of meditation to find peace & sustain peace of mind by meditating with the body
It’s usually our minds, the chatter & our reactions to our thoughts & experiences that lead to the most suffering.
While listening to my latest audiobook Don’t Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen, I have just begun to scratch the surface of the concepts he mentions in his book. However, in this short piece, I will run you through a couple of concepts — from a couple of chapters in the book & another technique I found online that helped me considerably.
The most important thing is, that it’s important to understand the difference between Thought & Thinking.
Thoughts vs Thinking
“Stop thinking & end your problems” — Lao Tzu
A thought is something that takes no effort & just happens, it is natural and just flows effortlessly. Thinking, on the other hand, is what follows after our thoughts. The cross-analysis, the negative reactions, the questions, the doubts, the chatter (at times irrational), the fears, the intepreting etc that follow after our initial thoughts.
Thoughts are the natural first perception that comes up, it is subtle, it is natural, while thinking takes up effort & is how we forcefully engage & cross-examine, & go on endless spirals in thinking about our thoughts.
You don’t have to engage with every thought in your mind, but when you do, that is thinking. Thinking is the root cause of all our internal suffering.
Positive thoughts, or thoughts that “feel” good are not a result of thinking. They are generated by our natural state of being i.e. of peace, tranquillity, love, happiness, abundance, & joy. They are a part of our state of “being” not a state of “thinking”.
In the book, the author starts this section of the book with a simple thought experiment, that I’d like you to quickly try out. The question might seem unrelated, but just give it a shot!
Try to do this thought experiment, without judging the question, & just take a mental note of what went through your mind.
The question is:
What is the dream amount of money you’d like to make in a year?
Take some time & wait for an answer to surface, take about 30-40 seconds for your answer & don’t move on to the next part yet & pay close attention to your answer. Take a mental note of it.
Now….
The second question is:
Now take that amount & multiply it by 5x, what do you think about this new dream goal? And achieving it?
Take another 30-40 seconds to analyse how you feel about this new goal, and pay attention to the things that spring up in your mind when you think about this new goal which is 5x the first one.
Now let’s review…..
After the 1st question, the answer popped up into your mind naturally. That is a thought. Take a note of how quickly, effortlessly & naturally that came up & how you felt after it.
After the 2nd question, what happened? When you were asked to think about your goal & target which was 5 times the first one what went through your mind?
If you’re like most people, including me, you went into several thoughts about how it would be too difficult to achieve, or how it would not happen, how there was no way you could make that much, how it’s unrealistic, or how nobody in your family could make that much, or how it would be impossible or any kind of negative, or limiting thought or perhaps several thoughts about how it couldn’t be done.
That, in essence, is the difference between thought and thinking.
Thinking is how we judge, criticize, & analyse our thoughts & as a result experience severe internal turmoil.
The 1st thought, on the other hand, was natural and you would’ve probably felt a good feeling & maybe even a spur of excitement.
It’s the reactionary thinking after that causes, doubt, anxiety, guilt, & as a result, we feel pain & suffering.
Although this simple thought experiment was about a question related to money, it’s this conflict between thought & thinking that happens nearly all the time in our minds, for nearly everything.
A good, positive thought & a slew of negative thinking after.
Thus it is thought that builds & thinking that destroys.
The point is to achieve a state of mind that only allows thought, to stay as long as possible & removes all the thinking attached to it or to be aware of the first & the latter. Although it is quite difficult there are ways you can get there eventually by practice.
It will take time, but with enough time, patience & practice, it will show great results.
Below I will share a unique way of practice, that is a way of meditating that is unique & different from regular ways to meditate.
You can also read the aforementioned book via Audible, an audiobook app I use which I’ve explained in detail an older post (Audiobooks are a great way to consume books these days)
Meditation With The Body & Not The Mind (via Sister True Dedication)
There are many different techniques to meditation & from my experience, you need to keep noodling away & trying different techniques until you find one that works for you.
In the video below, a Buddhist monk I follow on social media (after listening to her TED Talk) named Sister True Dedication explains an interesting technique to meditate with your body instead of the mind. She explains how it is an “embodied mind” and how she uses focusing her concentration on her body & feeling her body that in turn helps to quieten her mind.
You just have to focus your attention & centre yourself to feeling your body. Focusing your core on your entire body, and just feeling & breathing, is an interesting approach & innovative way to meditate.
Of course, this is easier said than done & truly getting to a level of a quiet mind by practising this will take time & effort. But the great thing about this particular meditation technique is that is unconventional and different because you can do it all the time.
That is to say that you can practice this while you’re working on your laptop, at home or at the office, or are on the go & are travelling or just whenever you want, & you don’t need to sit on the floor & close your eyes & focus on your breath which is the more conventional technique.
Just focus your attention onto your body & feel.
I’d suggest playing the video a few times & then trying it out for yourself.
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