Observing thoughts
Pick any one or more of the following activities to cultivate the habit of observing your thoughts.
Q1.1 Free flow writing - (Unravelling the subconscious). Write without thinking, without pausing the pen. Write fast. Write anything. Don’t analyse it, just write, preferably as soon as you wake up.
Q1.2 Conscious writing - Take any topic that you would like to think about. Write down your thoughts about it.
.Q1.3 Observe your thoughts for five minutes. Gradually extend the amount of time to an hour or any suitable extent that works for you.
Q.1.4 Observe your thoughts for two - five minutes every hour through the day.
Analysing thoughts
Q2.1When you observe your thoughts are they :
Useful or useless | Harmful or beneficial | Repetitive or productive | Imaginary or real | From the past or the future
Replacing thoughts
Q3.1 Do not think of a pink elephant. Is this exercise easy for you?
Q3.2 Instead of a pink elephant, think of a blue elephant. Is this easier do than the previous activity.
Q3.3 Observe if you suppress a thought, does it go away?
Q3.4 Find thoughts that are harmful, repetitive and useless and replace them with thoughts that are beneficial and productive.
Q3.5 Or observe a thought till it runs its course.
Pausing thoughts
Q4.1 Can you stay for two minutes without a thought?
Q4.2 Look for the gap between thoughts and try to stay there as long as possible.
Q4.2 Ask yourself” What is my next thought going to be?” When the thought comes, ask yourself the question again. Repeat till you feel like. Observe if this helps slow down the thoughts.
Examining stories of the mind
Q5.1From the past can you inspect a story that was made up.
Q5.2 How much of it played out as imagined
Q5.3 Generally do your stories play out exactly as envisioned?
Q5.4 Do these stories feel real to you?
Q5.5 Through the day observe what stories the mind is constantly creating.
Q5.6 How do these stories affect your behaviour?
Concepts
Q6.1 Write down a few of your thoughts. Which thought of yours can you be absolutely certain is true?
Q6.2 Have your thoughts changed when your concept of something has changed?
Q6.3 Have your thoughts changed when new information is made available to you? Are you absolutely certain you have all the necessary information at any point of time?
De-identifying from thought
Q.7.1 Are you the thought?
Q7.2 Does any thought stay forever or does it arise and pass?
Q7.3 Do you give equal importance to all your thoughts?
Q7.4 Which thoughts do you give more importance to? Are they necessarily good for you?
Q7.5 Can you allow thoughts which are not helpful to you, to arise and pass without reacting to them
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