Welcome the storm of thoughts

Our thoughts are like a constant river that never seems to run dry. We all know that. Sometimes we have the feeling of being swept along by it, of being hurled to foreign shores, sometimes we have the feeling of downright drowning. Only rarely is this river a rippling, comfortable stream. Are we really helplessly at the mercy of this stream of thoughts?

Thoughts again Generate emotions in us, which significantly influence us in our life and in our quality of life. We can also write the word emotion like this: E-Motionwhich means Energy in Motion, or energy in motion.

Whenever we perceive an emotion within us, it means nothing more than that our Qi is making a movement within us, or is restricted or even blocked in its movement.

But how should we best deal with this storm of thoughts and let our energy flow?

Very basically, one can say: Do not try to calm your thoughts or get rid of them. This works only in the rarest cases and if, then certainly not the next time. Trying to stop thoughts only leads to them surfacing even more violently, as experienced meditators know only too well. In addition, you feel stressed because relaxing and letting go just won't work.

Instead, try to let this storm in your head simply observe Observe how it thinks you. Because with some experience in introspection, you very soon realize that it is not you who is thinking, but rather it is that the thinking is happening to you. It just happens and we have little control over it. Thoughts come and go and we can't control this constant flow of appreciated 60,000 thoughts per day. But we can very well learn not to let this river carry us away the whole day.

This is to recognize and with it we can begin to work creatively. Observe what is the storm in you actually. What is the energetic quality that you can perceive in your body? By this I mean the very concrete physical perception of sensations like pressure, tightness, wideness, warmth, coolness, pain or numbness. Try to name these sensations the next time you sit down for meditation or silent qigong.

When you have done this for some time, begin to realize that there is someone watching the thoughts. This someone is not a person, but there is a space where all these mental activities arise and pass away. This space, however, remains unaffected by all this.

Feel this space as intensely as you can. This room is your consciousness or we could also say your self, your being. It is as if you suddenly become aware in the cinema during the film that you are sitting in an armchair with a bag of popcorn in your hand. And the supposed horror movie is nothing but light on a screen. Actually, you can feel very comfortable in your pleasant armchair and enjoy the spectacle, with goosebumps indeed, but still.

The beautiful thing is that your self is there before the storm of thought, during it, and even after the storm has passed. This silent presencewhich we often find very difficult to feel in our hectic everyday life is always there. It is just waiting to be perceived under or behind the noise of thoughts.

What can you do specifically?

Begin to distinguish more and more the thought storm in your head and the space in which it arises. Thus, gradually more and more perception and thus consciousness arises in you. You realize that there are thoughts and a consciousness in which all these thoughts come and go. But they are connected to each other in what you call the I you designate. Without this I, which perceives the thoughts at all, nothing would be. Nothing would happen. You can't recognize the wind until it encounters a resistance like a house or a tree.

So it also needs this I to realize that there is a storm of thoughts in you. Therefore, try to see this storm like a movie in the cinema. You can enjoy it in a way that you can love watching an action movie, a horror movie or a tragic movie.

Do not identify with the stormbut with the space in which it arises. This makes you free, because you never know when the next mental storm will come and how much it will shake you up.

But you can learn to say: "Storm please come, I accept you and welcome you warmly".. At that moment you will realize that you can enjoy any weather whether sunshine or storm.

Learn to enjoy the flow of thoughts and with it the flow of life and become free from the slavery of your thoughts.