An Object You Feel Comfortable With

You don’t have to straighten out your thoughts. A thought comes up that’s not related to your object of meditation; you just let it go. You don’t have to figure out what it’s about or turn it into an intelligent thought, because the mind turns out a lot of random stuff. You have no need to keep track of everything.

What you want to keep track of is the breath and that it’s not destroyed by the words, the thoughts, the images that come into the mind.

Think of the breath as a whole body process. Let that sense of comfortable breath fill the body. The more you get in touch with what feels good right now, the less you’ll feel interested in following your other thoughts. We follow our thoughts because we think they’re going to provide some pleasure for us. But here’s some immediate pleasure right here. So try to cultivate this.

If the mind is not willing to settle down with the breath, you can try another object. Where are your bones right now? If you find that interesting, stick with that. The whole point of concentration is to find an object that you feel comfortable with and that allows the mind to settle down. Then once it’s settled down, you begin to see it…. Then, the slightest little moves, you’re going to see. You have a sense of where they’re going: good, bad, indifferent. And you realize you can choose. You don’t have to follow everything that comes up in the mind. Then, you don’t feel hungry.

This is one of the reasons why concentration has to based on something that feels good inside because otherwise, [when] something else comes up, you’re going to nibble on it. Looking for a little pleasure here or there because you’re not finding anything right here, right now.

So try to gain a sense of what would feel good right now in terms of the way you breathe, in terms of whatever the object you want to choose because this sense of well being is actually good for the mind.

This adds to the clarity and understanding of what you’re doing and how you can direct your mind in the right direction.

This reflection by Ajaan Geoff is from the talk, For Long-Term Welfare & Happiness, October 15, 2017.