Dear Anita,

Thank you. Your description of meditation has been very helpful to me the past few days. I’m dealing with a problem and I can’t stop thinking about it. I’ve thought it through so thoroughly from every possible angle, and I keep doing it again and again. It’s exhausting. I’ve needed a way out, a one-step instruction on how to get out. Your words “..move your attention from thinking to sensing” are really helping me. I was driving yesterday and instead of rehashing through my endless negative thoughts, I recalled your words. So I rolled down the windows and felt the warm air and sun on my skin. I noticed the white clouds in the blue sky. I smelled the air and listened to the car engine and tires rolling on the concrete. For about 20 seconds I was using only my senses and had no thoughts. I had zero thoughts for about 20 seconds!! I’ve read so much — everything Eckhart Tolle has written and so many of the others too. I know all about the ego and the “pain-body”. So your words are something I’ve read before and have known for a long time. But I’ve gotten so caught up in all the extra information that I don’t need. When it really comes down to it, all a person needs to escape his or her suffering is a simple one-step instruction like the one you’ve posted: move your attention from thinking to sensing. I know I have a lot of work to do to get from 20 seconds of freedom to, say, a whole minute (lol), but darn-it I’m motivated! I believe it’s really the only way to end suffering.

Thank you, Anita!

Lori