Can’t get your head to shut up? How bad is it, and would you like me to throw you a life preserver? I would, but I can’t seem to reach you – you’re too far off in the future, man. Well, hey, see if you can grab this: The Vipassana Mental Noting Meditation for everyday waking life as your anchor to the present…

The Salesman…

Thoughts can be like alluring snake charmers. They convince you to come along for a promising ride, only to sweep you away from your serenity and to hold you as a hostage.
Hostage is not a metaphor that I use here lightly. When we get caught in our thoughts, it can seem almost impossible to distance ourselves from them; let alone be able to pick and choose the ones which we’d wish to play.

For this reason (and many others) I had sought relief with drugs and alcohol for so many years. Anything to take me out of “myself”—or my thoughts—which I mistook for myself… so yeah, “myself”.
But how can we break free from the thought prisons in healthy and sober style? How can we channel our inner Dr. Rich Alpert’s, leave the dope behind, and “Be Here Now”?

“Hi, My Name is John and I’m a Thought Addict…”

Years ago, when I was practicing Buddhism, I had initially approached it—not as a means to become enlightened, or to find out about the nature of things—but as a way to get my head to shut up, period!

Having been familiar with Buddhism, I figured that this was the best shot that I had at achieving this goal without the consumption of alcohol, drugs, or doing something far worse to myself.
Because, man, I was really being bombarded by my thoughts; which are the object of my obsession—what was killing me—but yet I’d still open up the door; invite them in, because I still mistake them for myself. Man, talk about an addiction…

It Worked…

My saving grace; which I found within the Insight Movement, was a Vipassana practice called “Mental Noting”. I always called Mental Noting meditation “my life preserver” (a term which I may actually have picked up somewhere), because I was drowning in a sea of negative thinking and desperately needed some help. Like… right at that moment; it couldn’t wait.

A Vipassana Mental Noting meditation is meditation in action, so it may be something more closely associate to a mindfulness practice. In fact, that is exactly what Mental Noting is – Mindfulness with noting.

“Noting” is the act of saying silently in your mind in real-time, all of the experiences emerging and disappearing within in your field of awareness: all of the thoughts, feelings, sensations, perceptions, states, activities, and other processes.

Mental Noting has its roots in Theravada Buddhism and is a main component to Vipassana, or Insight Meditation; the westernized version.

While I wasn’t aiming to get “insight”, the practice of mental noting allowed me to take what was attacking me (my thoughts) and to use them to my advantage – to actually gain insight.

Mental Noting: If You Can’t Get Beyond Your Thoughts to Meditate, Then USE Your Thoughts TO Meditate…

In my case; the case of an overactive mind, you might note: “thinking” – and then to be more specific, “worrying”, “planning”, “anxious”.

You could even take it a step further and note: “unpleasant”, or “dislike”.

But you don’t want to analyze your thoughts; only note them, as it would defeat its purpose by getting you wrapped up in them… once again.

“Vipassana is the art of living. Not the art of escaping.”- S.N. Goenka

By doing the practice of Vipassana Mental Noting meditation, you develop a relationship of non-attachment to your thoughts. Don’t get me wrong; they are still your thoughts, but they don’t consume you. You are given a sort of buffer-zone between you and them – a “spacious awareness” to observe them with.

Through Mental Noting meditation, you can see how quickly your thoughts (and everything else) comes and goes. If you are noting a thought, it will be only moments before your awareness will take you to a sensation, sense, state, or feeling in your body; which you would then note accordingly.

It might play out something like this:

“Itching” – “annoyed” – “scratching” – “feeling” – “relief” – “happy” – “breathing” – “peaceful” – “thinking” – “worrying” – “planning” – “anxious” – “seeing” – “dislike” – “walking” – “breathing” – “happy” – “walking” – “tired” – “breathing” – “planning” – “anxious” – “rain” – “happy” – “excited” – “cold” – “angry” – “breathing”, etc…

That may sound exaggerated; a whirlwind of an experience, but I can assure you if you pay close attention that this is most likely how your thinking mind operates—if only playing in the background. Well, it’s how mine used to (and still sometimes does) operate.

It is helpful to use the breath as an anchor, which is done in formal vipassana seated meditation. this helps you to stay present—anchored—and to have an object to come back when tou find yourself getting swept away.

Noting keeps you present..

As you watch it all unfold from a place of spaciousness, or awareness. Eventually the practice of a Mental Noting meditation can lead you to a state of peace, calm, and equanimity. Some of the most peaceful and surreal; “in the now” moments I’ve had came from practicing Mental Noting meditation.

And while it may seem tedious; it can be your life preserver in those moments of getting swept up in the currents of the all consuming thought—taken adrift from the Now. It’s a life saver for those most desperately in need; me…

Besides, what else do you need to think about that’s so important anyway?