Dear Ale:

You are welcome. As to “I lived normally and naturally in the moment but when I’m stressed I come back to my head”- I think this happens to everyone. No human lives in the moment all the times. It is probably possible for animals because they don’t have our language and all the thoughts made possible using language. But humans, oh, we do go back to thinking a whole lot.

When stressed, the brain is  motivated to think so to resolve the stress, to find a solution to the stress. Problem is we don’t think well when stressed too much, so better calm down first. So go back again and again to calm, to focusing on your breath, to listening to sounds around you, to disengage from that “loop of hell” you were referring to, that is the loop of overthinking and the distress is causes.

anita

Dear Ale:

I think that thinking needs to be effective, to make life better, not worse. So, if you find yourself thinking but no good comes of it, then better not to do that kind of thinking.

When you find yourself thinking… think: is this thinking making my life better, am I coming to a practical solution to a problem?

Or is this thinking making me anxious and I am not arriving to any practical solution to any problem?

Avoid the second kind of thinking and promote the first kind.

anita

Hi Ale,

My head is like yours too. I feel like a billion thoughts per minute going on in the head. I can only suggest you the ways to come out of your ‘mind’ problem, but the “doing” part will be yours.

Right now, what is stopping you from going into the inner body (link below) which takes the attention away from the thinking mind?
(https://tinybuddha.com/topic/emotional-addiction/page/3/#post-174061)

You might say I don’t even know my mind has got lost into thinking. That is the duty of the mind, to pull you into thinking.
If you have read the post thoroughly it does contain the solutions to these problems.

“Don’t be concerned if the mind occasionally succeeds in drawing your attention out of the body and you lose yourself in some thought. As soon as you notice that this has happened, just return your attention to the inner body.”

“Be more focused on your subtle energy body and do not spend so much time in following the distractions of the mind. Thoughts may come but your job is not to jump onto the train of thoughts. Catch yourself – “Ah there I was thinking again….there I was starting to make mind-movies….there is my mind monkeying around.” Go back to your inner body.”

The trick is if you start by going into your inner body you will not go much frequently into your head,
but if you start by going into your head you will not wish to go into your body (because the mind has already taken over) and it takes some time to come back to the present (especially for people who get lots of thoughts).
So you need to start with the former.
Begin with the morning and night routine mentioned in the above post and then throughout your daily activities.

But are you doing this is the question?

Warm Regards,
VJ

Hi Ale,

That is bound to happen.

Are you going to quit an effective technique just after a few seconds?

You stated your “head starts again”. Isn’t it mentioned in the instructions that this is going to happen to you and to go back into the inner body as soon as you go into your head? Allow yourself to think as much as you want, but a moment, however tiny, will arise when you will see yourself that you were thinking.

The moment you realize that you were in your head is the moment of Presence.

That is Presence.

We are not enlightened as the Buddha to start living in every single moment.

Keep the practice on and sooner or later you will feel better and better and won’t even bother much about what your mind is thinking.

Warm Regards,

~VJ