Difficulty in Seeing Stories
Even if we want to notice our thoughts, we usually forget, particularly at the beginning of this kind of exploration. When I first heard about storylines, despite my enthusiasm I probably noticed my thoughts only a couple of times a month during my day to day life. Then over the months and years it became more often – a couple of times a week, then a couple of times a day, and then even more frequently. It’s a habit that we work on developing over time.
Initially, though, some people have difficulty in separating out individual stories at all, even when they are looking for them. It seems to them that their minds are not very busy or that their thoughts are not visible. In my experience, this is because we are not used to looking and seeing what is actually going on – not because there are no thoughts.
Our mind is quite skilled at keeping a lot of the stories hidden. It’s a strong evolutionary trait – much of what we need to know to survive operates at a subconscious or unconscious level. This leaves our conscious mind free to deal with other things, and allows us to flourish in a complex environment. But even our conscious thoughts can seem elusive and hard to find.
A person who is truly interested in becoming more present needs to break through this barrier of not being able to see any stories in the mind. Some strategies that can work:
Meditating: when we are alone with our minds with nothing to do, it can be easier to see the thoughts and stories as they flow through (see section, Meditation)
Trying the two exercises in this section, An Exploration, and Interrupting and Seeing
Asking for help from someone that knows you, that you feel is wise (or even someone who is already familiar with this material)
Thinking of something that makes you emotional, and trying to notice what you tell yourself about it
I’ve known people who had some trouble actually locating the stories in their own minds, but when they kept at it, eventually the fog clears and it does become possible to differentiate and identify the inner tales that we’ve been speaking about.
Next: An Exploration
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