The Shuttered Study

The old idea is to sit down and simply stop thinking. Try it and the thoughts usually arrive louder. This working takes the gentler road. You don’t shout the thoughts out of the room. You watch them leave, and notice the quiet each one leaves behind.

The working

1. Sit comfortably and close your eyes. Let the breath set its own pace.
2. Turn your attention toward the mind itself, the way you’d look up at a room you’re sitting in.
3. When a thought appears, a plan, a song, a worry, notice it as a thought. You might say silently thinking. Don’t argue with it and don’t follow it.
4. Watch it fade, and look at the quiet that follows. Stay there as long as the quiet lasts.
5. When the next thought comes, notice it the same way. Over time the gaps tend to grow, and the room grows still.
6. If a tune or a phrase keeps looping, give it something softer to do: repeat one calm word on each out-breath until the loop loses interest.

Closing

Let thoughts return freely for a minute before you open your eyes. You don’t have to keep the shutters closed all day. It’s enough to know where they are.