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Exercise 1 - Thought Control/Meditation
I should like to suggest an exercise for you to start with this summer to give you some preparation
for our later work together. Sit down twice a day for five minutes, not more, any time you wish. Choose
a time and a place when you know you will be undisturbed, when you do not have to fear interruptions. Sit
down comfortably, do not lie down. Then become very calm. Relax completely, without trying to exert any force,
strain, or pressure. Begin to follow the abdominal movements of your breath when you breathe very quietly: up
and down, up and down. Or, if you prefer, imagine a point between your eyes, whichever is easier for you. Be
prepared for your mind soon to be disturbed by unvolitional background thoughts. Expect them, observe them
quietly. If they are not of pressing importance for you now (because of a disturbance in your psyche), discard
them, again quietly, without getting impatient with yourself. Resume the task of following the abdominal movements
of your breath or of concentrating on the imaginary point between your eyes, all the time aware of what these
background thoughts are when they do come. It suffices to observe them as they appear in order to become
conscious of the mechanism of thought process; to become aware of your being a victim of them. This awareness
will bring you nearer to the goal. At the beginning it will seem impossible to think of nothing but your
breath movements. Uninvited thought fragments will constantly rush in. Most of the time, they will be so
powerful as to make you unaware that you indulge in them. You will notice it only after a while. Whenever
you do, try to recollect what your thoughts made you think of. Say to yourself: "I was thinking of this or
that," whatever it may have been. This in itself is a means to become more aware of yourself. You may then
either go on with your concentration and defer analysis of these thought materials until afterwards. Or you
may do so right away, if you feel the urge, and resume the concentration exercises another time.
If you faithfully persevere, you will eventually get to the point when you will become a watcher of your
thoughts. You will stand guard, so to speak, at the threshold of your thinking process. You will begin to
sense what calmness really means. Your thoughts and emotions will stand still, be it only for a moment. As
you go on, you will learn to extend this moment. The longer you can do it, the more you will feel rested after
such periods, and many other benefits will befall you. You will also get accustomed to watch your background
thoughts during the day, during certain activities which do not demand your entire attention. Thus, more and
more self-awareness will come to you on all levels.
When you do this exercise, approach it in a very relaxed frame of mind, and, at the same time, trying to use
your calm inner will. Most important of all, do not feel frustrated when you do not succeed, when you find
yourself involved in unbidden background thoughts. Use this experience rather as a means to understand what I
am trying to explain here. Such an approach will be most beneficial. It will open vistas to you, and will get
you eventually to what we are after. If, at one time or another, you find it impossible to concentrate in this
manner because your thoughts always come back to something, then is a sign that this something ought to be
investigated; that it bears a seed of one of your conflicts. If such is the case, you will not be able to become
calm until you have found some clarification. Remember that calmness is indispensable for this exercise.
From Lecture 68 - Suppression Of Positive And Creative Tendencies -- Thought Process
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