As a meditation newcomer, you may feel overwhelmed by the number of thoughts that come in while you’re doing your best to empty your mind.
The important thing is not to get caught up in them.
Don’t be like a weak swimmer who gets swept away by a strong current. Mentally, stand on the shore and watch the current flow past you. Calmly observe the flow, mentally detached from it.
Imagine that the riverbank you’re standing on is actually in the back portion of your head. From there, watch your thoughts and feelings just flow by you. Realize as you watch, that not only your thoughts, but even your perception of what’s important is moving past you.
Nothing in life, not your inner thoughts, not your outer circumstances, is firmly fixed in this existence.
If any thought, feeling, or circumstance seems permanent to you, it’s only because it has become temporarily snagged on a protruding rock of attachment.
In a spirit of freedom, allow the current to release it from the rock.
