TameMe said:

Just knowing WHY you do something is not the point of meditation.

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thehybridlife said:

does the world really exist, or is it all in my head?

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TameMe said:

I'm reading this book about meditation and it talks about being the observer of your thoughts.

When I think....my mind is at that thought...I can only observe the thought after I've had it.

Can any of you observe your thoughts while thinking?

Come to think of it...what is observing your thoughts? Just being aware of them? Can you have awarness without thought? If so...observing would just be another thought.

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It really depends on the author and the context in which they are explainging the process of thinking (some would argue thinking isn't a process at all, but rather something that just *happens*).  Trying to describe if thinking is a process or not, and trying to 'intercept' that the process would also hint at if we as humans really have free will.

If you are looking for something practical to apply to your life situation, I would look at it in this way:

Obbserving your thoughts is just that, observe. And ONLY observe I might add!  We all observe our thoughts otherwise we wouldn't know they were there.  Often times though we put other things on top of the thought such as feeling which leads to emotions. The idea here is to not put so much emphasis on the thought itself, but to let it be as it is.

Some of our thoughts will act as a single for euphoria, while others will act as a signal for pain.  When you only observe your thinking you are starting to eliminate the instant feedback of emotions upon every thought you have.  This starts the process of being the master of your own mind. You start to react less and less becoming less and less of a robot to your own mind.  You not your mind, will decide what emotions should go where and at what time.

This process isn't to say emotions are bad, but we get so wrapped up with them that we drain ourselves of energy. This keeps our tanks on low instead of high.

For myself, this is the point of meditation.  Being able to connect with that energy and not lose it.  By harnessing this you are better able to make decisions and better able to decide whether or not you will feel a certain emotion. Emotions, good or bad, put stress on our body.  By not instatntly going into emotion with nearly every thought, we think with clairity and the spinning mind along with a spinning body will become more focused.

We are such an impulsive bunch aren't we?