Written by Rebecca D'Onofrio

“When we actually notice that a thought has arisen, we are experiencing a little moment of pure awareness. … You can think of them as little sparks of wakefulness. The more sparks you have, the more you’ll be able to build a fire of awareness and presence that doesn’t flicker out so easily. ”

A common misconception in meditation practice is that we aren’t supposed to think and that our minds should be blank. This couldn’t be further away from the truth! In our practice, we use thoughts as the very means for waking up.

This is the approach we take to teaching mindfulness meditation here at Dharma Moon. We begin the practice by focusing our attention on our breathing to anchor our awareness in the present moment. When we notice a thought has arisen, we acknowledge it by labeling it “thinking” and then let it go by coming back to our breathing.

But many new practitioners get super frustrated when this happens! They think they’re doing the practice wrong but this process is actually really important and valuable.

When we actually notice that a thought has arisen, we are experiencing a little moment of pure awareness. We can refer to this as “the gap.” It cuts through the momentum of our speedy discursive mind, creating a break in which insight arises.

The insight, in this case, is that we have become aware of the fact that we have wandered away from our breathing and have become lost in thought. With this knowledge, we now have a choice, a choice we did not have before we noticed the thought: we can choose to let the thought go and come back to our breathing and a sense of being present or we can let the thought hook our attention and carry us further away into the fog of discursiveness — the choice is ours.

So this tiny little gap of awareness is a powerful experience that contains the precision in which we are able to see our minds clearly and then have the freedom to choose our course of action.

The more we practice meditation, the more we increase these “happy little accidents” as Bob Ross would say!

These seemingly annoying little disruptions actually illuminate our mind and strengthen our sense of presence. You can think of them as little sparks of wakefulness. The more sparks you have, the more you’ll be able to build a fire of awareness and presence that doesn’t flicker out so easily. Building this sense of stability takes time and practice, so don’t be discouraged when you notice your thoughts in meditation; it’s a great sign that you’re making progress!