This exercise can be done anytime. You just need a few minutes. You can do this instead of reading a magazine in a reception area when you are waiting to be called for an appointment. If there are other people around, you may want to close your eyes. This provides a signal that you are not interested in talking. If you are alone, you can adopt your usual meditation pose.
1. Begin your meditation as usual.
2. Notice the first thought that occurs to you.
3. Instead of letting it go, focus on the thought for a moment. Evaluate it, or reword it in your mind.
4. Then go back to your meditation, with the intention of finding more information about that thought.
5. Notice the next thought. Compare it to the first one. Do they seem related? If not, imagine a connection between them, and go back to your meditation.
6. Notice the next thought, and so on.
If there is a goal here, it is to notice your thoughts without judgment.
In this exercise, the thoughts become the focus. You may be curious about how the thoughts relate to each other, but you don't need to struggle to establish connections. Just notice that the thoughts arise one after the other. When you are finished, you will often find that your first thought has connections to other thoughts; it came up by itself and now fits into a broader picture. This meditation process could be called reverie.
This last exercise suggests the possibility of identifying a thought or problem, and then allowing your mind to have another thought, with no pressure to resolve anything. This is a problem-solving technique that can become part of your daily routine.
I find that the act of straightening my desk is a sort of meditation; each paper, book, or file acts as an arising thought. As I put things away and straighten the stacks of paper, my mind moves freely from one thing to the next without expecting any particular associations. When I am finished, I am then able to go back to a task with a clear mind. By doing this, I have been kind to myself in several ways.
I have made my office more attractive, I have rediscovered items that were (seemingly) lost, I have arranged my working materials so I can find them in the future, and I have given myself a five- or ten-minute break from grand-scale problem solving by solving little organizational problems. Finally, I have provided myself with a successful outcome: I have made my surroundings more comfortable.
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