Thoughts Are Not VIPs

I recently asked a fellow practitioner how someone should be doing with reacting to mind-states after a period of practice. I received this in addition to his response. I liked it a lot, so I thought I would share it here.

THOUGHTS ARE NOT VIPS

Usually, if you have mental chatter, you call it your thoughts. But if you have deeply involved emotional chatter, you give it special prestige. You think those thoughts deserve the special privilege of being called emotion . Somehow, in the realm of actual mind, things don't work that way. Whatever arises is just thinking: thinking you're horny, thinking you're angry. As far as meditation practice is concerned, your thoughts are no longer regarded as VIPs, while you meditate. You think, you sit; you think, you sit; you think, you sit. You have thoughts, you have thoughts about thoughts. Let it happen that way. Call them thoughts.

From "Meditation: Touch and Go," in SMILE AT FEAR: AWAKENING THE TRUE HEART OF BRAVERY. Coming in October from Shambhala Publications.