How Do I Stop Getting Lost In My Thoughts?

Question: I find my attention drifting a lot during meditation. Recently, I’m getting lost in thoughts and dreams and losing my question, “what is this?” during practice. Are there any specific techniques to work on this other than just keep doing it?

Answer: Right now, in THIS moment… how is it? That’s most important? What you are talking about is a dream. Then we start to dream about the dream and that is where we get lost. We disconnect from what’s happening right now in this moment. In fact, you’ve never meditated before. In fact, your attention has never drifted before. Why is that? Because we’re talking about a dream. The dream doesn’t exist. All the techniques we have, whether you’re doing some kind of question, mantra, or just following breath, all of it is the same.

Those techniques help us wake up right now in this moment. They help us see clearly, hear clearly, even help us see our thoughts very clearly. Usually we are pushing away thinking and feeling or holding onto it. Or we’re lost in the dream of the past and the future. So the best thing you can do right now is wake up. What do you hear right now? Birds are chirping. What do you see right now? The wall is white. What do you smell right now? The smell of the incense. That is the most important.

Jason Quinn JDPSN