In the last post in this series, we imagined the mind as a clear sky with all thoughts –  negative, positive and neutral –  as clouds moving across that sky. When we have worked on our ability to do this – to create a non-judgmental space around all thoughts- we can move on to the next step, that of naming the thoughts. We do this by simply putting  a label onto the thoughts we are having – such as “there is worrying” or “there is planning” – without going into the content of the thinking at all. As one teacher said, we simply touch the thought lightly with the words and let it go. For the moment this is all we will do. Do not get carried away into the content of any of the thoughts, do not hook into any of them. Simply touch them lightly and let them go, and return to your awareness of the mind as a vast spacious blue sky or of the breath entering and leaving the body. Notice the attitude you bring to the labelling, avoiding any harshness or disappointement. There is nothing wrong with thinking. We simply, gently, and with a friendly approach, label the thought and let it go.

Thus, if we put the first three steps together, we practice becoming aware of our breath coming in and going out. We keep our attention there. As thoughts arise we simple return to the breath. We can imagine the mind as a clear blue sky, with thoughts simply as clouds passing through. If certain thoughts repeat, we gently label them, and continue to let them pass through, keeping our focus on the breath. We gently practice this for a short dedicated period each day, say for ten minutes.