Thoughts come and go.
They roll through our minds like clouds through the sky or waves in the ocean.
We often become attached to our thought patterns.
These thoughts come together as stories which make them seem factual.
Thoughts are often created or accompanied by strong feelings or emotions.
This re-enforces our belief that our thoughts are facts. Thoughts can point to facts, but they are not facts.
Thoughts are real. But thoughts are NOT FACTS.
As long as we confuse thoughts with facts, we act upon illusions without knowing they are illusions. We can only start to see thoughts for what they are when we cease to identify with them.
The way we do that is to realize that it does not have to be ‘me’ who thinks these thoughts, but that thoughts think themselves, that thoughts are the thinker.
The moment we sever the automatic ties between thoughts and sensory-emotional reality we start realizing that thoughts are not us, that they are just thoughts.
With regular mindfulness meditation practice, we create the skill of awareness, to notice thoughts from a higher perspective without investing emotional energy.