Thinking About Thinking

One of my most persistent problems and greatest joys is thinking.  Boy, do I think a lot.  Boy, am I not in control of my thinking most of the time.  My mind goes and goes and then goes faster.  Well, welcome to the human condition.  Our brains are there to think and they've been running the show for a long time and they're not going to give up this prerogative without a fight.

Here's Venerable Henepola Gunaratana waxing poetic about meditation . . . (Ed. Note: My brain interrupted while I was typing that to wonder why I bother to spell his name correctly.  Who would know? I could do this: Gunaratanabobanabannana and you wouldn't know the difference.  Do you think Spell Check tried to help me out there?  Spell Check threw in the towel.  Spell Check didn't have shit.)

"Your mind will wander off constantly.  Just note the fact that you have been thinking, daydreaming, worrying, or whatever.  Gently, but firmly, without getting upset or judging yourself for straying, simply return to the simple physical sensation of the breath.  Somewhere in this process, you will come face to face with the sudden and shocking realization that you are completely crazy.  Your mind is a shrieking, gibbering madhouse on wheels barreling pell-mell down the hill, utterly out of control and hopeless.  However, you are not crazier than you were yesterday.  It has always been this way, and you just never noticed.  You are no crazier than everybody else around you.  The only real difference is that you have confronted the situation; they have not."