Two months ago I purchased the counter you see above.
When I go jogging, I sometimes make the intention to have NO THOUGHTS. When a thought arises, I count one number on the device. At the end of my run I can see how many thoughts I had.
The first time I had about 30 random, uninvited thoughts during a 20 minute jog. That’s more than one thought every minute, despite my best intentions to stop the mind.
Recently I’ve achieved a reduction to ONE thought only, the thought “no thoughts”. After only two weeks of practice!
It’s a mind-discipline exercise – the opportunity to be the BOSS of my consciousness for at least 20 minutes a day.
Two tricks can help:
1. If you keep repeating one thought or phrase, it can crowd out all other thoughts. It’s still a thought, but better than dozens of thoughts.
2. The method I prefer is externalizing attention. By keeping awareness outside of myself, looking at specific trees, shrubs, clouds, the running path, etc. I reach no-mind. In the beginning it may seem challenging because one’s own thoughts appear more interesting than the darned shrubs.
I don’t always do this, sometimes it’s important to let thoughts flow freely, without control. I’ll be using it every few weeks.
