Can I get a witness?

Psychology Today defines mindfulness as “a state of active, open attention to the present. This state is described as observing one’s thoughts and feelings without judging them as good or bad.”

If you are new to meditation and mindfulness this definition may not make any sense.

You might ask…

How on earth can I observe thoughts that I am thinking?

Am I supposed to try to observe them as I am thinking of them?

Aren’t I observing my thoughts as I am thinking my thoughts?

How do I “observe” something my eyes cannot see?

Before you are trained in meditation and mindfulness, when a thought pops into your mind, you justify it. If suddenly, you start worrying about paying your taxes, out of the blue, you don’t see that worry as being from out of the blue. You assume that the thought is relevant. Your general attitude in that situation is, “I started thinking about paying my taxes because it’s important. That thought makes sense to me. I started thinking about paying my taxes for a good reason.”

However, once you learn about the “Monkey Mind,” and mindfulness, you start to realize that your mind didn’t prop up that thought because it made sense to do so. Your mind propped up that thought because that’s what the mind does - it thinks, regardless of whether or not the current thought is relevant, useful, or, even, sane.

The mind, or more specifically the Monkey Mind, also worries. As we have discussed in the past, the Monkey Mind is (obviously) not an actual monkey. The term is attributed to the Buddha when he compared the human mind to the “chattering of monkeys.” The Monkey Mind is a sort of internal alarm. The Monkey Mind attempts to protect us by keeping us on alert. This trait was very useful to primitive humans.

In the treacherous landscape of thousands of years ago, the Monkey Mind helped primitive humans survive by having them worry and plan for survival. Thoughts like “Watch out,” “You better go find food now,” “You better plan for a lion attack,” or “You better get this pack of nomads to like you, or else they won’t share their food with you,” were all very useful to primitive humans. In fact, I don’t think we (as a species) would have survived this far without the internal alerts of the Monkey Mind.

The problem is that modern humans still have (pretty much) the same brain as primitive humans. We have the same brain in a different environment. Since the modern world is primarily safe, well-fed, and (relatively) easy, the constant worries of the human mind cause more harm than good. Today, we have very little to “watch out” for. We can easily “find food” right in our own kitchen. We probably aren’t going to starve if our “pack” doesn’t like us. Food is so plentiful for most that even the obnoxious are served. Also, there are no lions. This doesn’t mean that our minds will ever stop warning us about primitive hazards. And since there are so much more stimuli in our environment now, our minds have even more content to react to. This leads to us being over-stressed, which leads to health issues and disease. Stress kills. Turns out that we’re dealing with a pretty violent monkey.

Through a consistent mediation practice, we can get to a point where we can observe our thoughts as if they were separate from us (they are). You can actually watch your mind think. For me, it looks something like words or images being projected onto a screen. It’s fascinating. My thoughts are random and constant but, at the same time, fleeting and inconsequential.

A good process to observe your thoughts would be to, first, quiet the mind. Once relaxed, you can see your mind think by trying not to think. That’s right. Since many people believe that meditation involves purposely clearing our mind of all thought (it doesn’t really), once you try to do this you will immediately see that it is next to impossible. It is not challenging because you don’t have the willpower to stop thinking. Stopping your thoughts is challenging because even if you are able to stop your chosen thoughts, your mind will still create thoughts on its own and place them in front of your consciousness. When this happens, you can watch your mind create thought after thought.

Observing your thoughts come and go for the first time is an amazing moment. It was for me. The first time I was able to pull my consciousness back to see my thoughts popping up on their own, I was shocked. That moment changed how I saw things. Until that moment, I was convinced that I was purposely thinking my thoughts. Now I can see that I am actually the presence deep within all of my thoughts, senses, and feelings, just like Zen proclaimed.

Your brain is an organ, like your stomach. The stomach digests. The brain thinks.

This is the same as your sinuses creating mucus. The average person identifies with their body. A person’s body is where they “are.” But, when your sinuses create mucus, do you think of that as you create the mucus yourself or that your body created the mucus, mostly independent of you?

If you think of your sinuses creating mucus separate from you, then you are already very far along in your mindfulness journey. But, you probably don’t realize it yet.

Before observing your thoughts, you felt like you WERE the one CREATING those thoughts. When you step back to observe your thoughts, you can see that they did not come from “you.” They came from your mind. Your sinuses produce mucus. The stomach produces digestive acids. The brain produces thoughts. That’s what they do.

This kind of enlightenment can actually yield more questions than answers.

WHO exactly was observing the thoughts? Is that really me?

WHO or WHAT was creating the thoughts I was able to observe?

Is the consciousness observing my thought my SOUL or just another part of my mind?

Then you may delve into modern scientific research about the possibility of a “shared consciousness.” This theory suggests that all people (maybe all living things) are actually the same consciousness, the same “person,” deep down, and that there really is no separation between any of us at all. This new research is interesting because its validity would prove that the Eastern religions and philosophies were right all along. This can be a fun rabbit hole for you to explore.

Practically, the reason for this piece is not necessarily to trigger a deep philosophical discussion. My advice is that all of us practice observing our thoughts, either during meditation or during waking hours. I believe the benefits of this attempt are valid and two-fold.

Observing your thoughts for a period of time highlights the random and incessant nature of thoughts. When you can notice that your thoughts are random and (oftentimes) nonsensical, you can give yourself permission to ignore the thoughts that are malignant. You can realize that your tax bill was no more relevant now (with the thought in your mind) than it was ten minutes ago (when you were thinking about baseball). You can LET IT GO.

Observing your thoughts is a mystical experience I feel everyone should enjoy. The process pulls back the curtain. It can challenge all of your perceptions. It can shake open your closed mind and leave you open to new ideas about consciousness, the mind, and most anything else.

If you were wrong about consciousness, what else could you be wrong about?

Burak Uzun is an award-winning writer and a Certified Meditation Teacher. He has received thousands of hours of training and hands-on experience in guiding individuals with social and emotional challenges.

Burak Uzun also co-wrote a feature film called Team Marco, which was featured in over fifty film festivals around the globe and was distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films.

Please feel free to reach out to Burak here.

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