by Following the flow of thought without intervening
Sit with your eyes closed in a chair or armchair, or assume your favourite meditation position. Since it is a mental exercise, posture does not really matter. The important thing is that it is comfortable enough not to cause distraction. If you are sleepy or tired, postpone the practice until a more convenient time. You can also sprinkle your face with cold water or take a few deep breaths to regain attention.
Start by observing the flow of your thoughts. In our daily lives, our thoughts and emotions are closely connected. Seeing someone or an object can trigger feelings and thoughts such as love, hate, or desire. Similarly, one idea can lead to a chain of thoughts that are hard to break free from. The goal of this exercise is to stop this cycle by calmly observing your thoughts as they arise, as if you were an outside observer, without trying to get rid of them.
Obviously, the idea of the observer serves as a metaphor to explain the principle of inaction, which forms the basis of the exercise. Conceptualising oneself as an inactive observer can lead to a potentially endless cycle of observers observing the original observer. Since thought is a product of being, there is no absolute distinction between the thinker and the thought. As mentioned earlier, effective action involves detaching emotionally from the initial thought rather than generating more thoughts. That also applies to disruptive emotions or unexpected thoughts that may arise, such as sudden noises during a meditation session. It is not the sound hindering meditation but our reaction to it.
With practice, you will notice a thinning of thoughts that, without emotional nourishment, tend to disappear spontaneously as they arise. Start with a 2–3-minute session in the morning, repeat in the evening, and increase by one minute daily. When you can maintain a conscious detachment from thoughts for ten minutes, the exercise is complete, and you can move on to the next step.
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