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experiencing is that the more we are experiencing, the less we are caught in thinking. The reverse is also true: the more we are caught in thinking, the less we are capable of actually experiencing. That’s why the technique of thought-labeling is preliminary and complementary to experiencing: as long as we believe in our thoughts, we remain locked in the mental world, cut off from the physical reality of the moment.
    As we practice observing and labeling our own thought patterns, we may begin to notice how they are often directly related to the particular strategies of behavior that we use to cope with everyday life. For example, if our basic strategy is to be in control, we may notice that a lot of our thinking takes the form of planning. We are simply continuing our basic strategy even while meditating. This is no coincidence. If we are driven by the fear of things falling apart, we will do whatever we can to avoid facing this fear. We will even spend our meditation time lost in planning trying to avoid the discomfort of not being in control. The practice is to see this dynamic as clearly as possible. So when we see our repeating pattern—whatever it may be—we label our thoughts so that we don’t get lost in them. As we become more familiar with these types of thoughts, we can generically label them “planning” and return awareness to the body. Recognizing that the planning is at least in part a cover for discomfort, we return to the body with the awareness that we may need to feel the discomfort. We will find it easier to actually experience a moment of discomfort when we are not just lost believing in our mental world.
    How do your own thinking patterns follow your strategies of behavior? If you spend a lot of time fantasizing while meditating, can you see how it follows the basic strategy of seeking pleasure and diversion to avoid the anxious quiver of being? When this becomes clear, label the thoughts “fantasizing,” then return to the physical discomfort out of which the desire to find escape arose. If you tend to get lost in your own drama, reliving or imagining conversations, can you relate this pattern to the strategy of doing whatever is necessary to avoid the fear of being ignored or discounted? In this case the practice would be to label the thoughts “conversing” or “dramatizing” and then return to the physical reality of the “hole” out of which the need to seek validation arose.
    The point is, when our thoughts are not clearly seen and labeled, it’s very difficult to actually experience on a bodilylevel, because we’re believing the thoughts that are filtering through. Occassionally, especially when caught in a confusing or intense emotional reaction, we may have so many thoughts going through our minds that it’s difficult to see what to label. Then we can even make up a very generalized thought that, when labeled, will clarify the chaotic mental jumble. For example, when I used to awaken in the early morning hours to unending anxious thoughts, the specific thought contents were not the issue. The thoughts were arising from the need to get control, to avoid the fear of chaos. So I would say, “Having a believed thought: things are out of control; I’ve got to get control.” This specific thought never actually went through my mind. I made it up to summarize and simplify the mental jumble. Identifying and labeling the process allowed me to return to the physical reality of the moment. When we are caught in thinking, our ability to experience the truth of the moment eludes us. The more we observe and come to know ourselves with clarity, the more we can see through our thought patterns, thereby entering the experiential world of the present moment.
     
    But even when we clearly see and label our thoughts, staying in the experiential world is difficult, especially in the early stages of practice. Why, even while sitting in meditation, is it so hard to simply reside in the body? What