Perhaps the most daunting obstacle for any aspirant to get past is the chatterbox mind. It plagues their days and haunts their nights, often keeping them from getting a good night’s rest. Do you know that I have had no thoughts in my mind for years unless I am the one doing the thinking?

I know most people do not understand the mechanics of the chatterbox mind – in fact most blame themselves for doing all that noisy thinking. Would it surprise you to learn that that chattering is not you at all? It is the brain doing what it does, which is to process information. You are not doing the thinking, you are in your brain listening to it doing its processing. Knowing this really helps to explain why there is virtually no success in trying to quiet the mind.

During meditation a person eventually will ‘quiet the mind’ by focusing on an external object. What they do not know is that they shifted their attention from the brain’s inner workings to the exterior of the brain, identifying with the object. The chatterbox in fact is still chattering away – you did nothing to stop this natural process – you simply stopped listening by moving beyond the brain.

This would also explain why practitioners of meditation often mention letting the thoughts ‘arise from the void’ without attachment to them. There is an unaware acknowledgement there that the thoughts are not their own. The problem with those meditators is they deduce that the thoughts are coming from the void when they are in fact originating from their own brains.

So the next time you find yourself in the throes of the chatterbox mind try and remember that it is not you doing the thinking, and to silence it is impossible – moving away from it is the only remedy. That is done simply by putting your attention external to the brain. That is why those meditations that have you focusing on a candle flame, or spot on the ceiling or your breaths can become very effective. Again nothing mysterious…just simple mechanics.

~ DC Vision