When I first began, I had a basic misunderstanding that the goal of meditation was to clear my mind of all thoughts and feelings. Naturally, I couldn't do it. No one can. The mind is like Penn Station at rush hour. Which is to say, total chaos.
In meditation, what you're actually doing is paying close attention to the trends and tracks of the mind, not the contents of the fevered list making, the dramatic reenactments of events that did or didn't happen, fantasy spinning and future tripping that pull us out of the present moment.
This short audio clip by Gil Fronsdal of the Insight Meditation Center in Redwood City, CA describes the intention of this detached observation of the mind.
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