I read this excerpt in Awareness today:
Thinking cannot be stopped – not that it does not stop – but it cannot be stopped. It stops of its own accord.
As I think about this quote it dawned on me that we can’t really stop thinking. There is a paradox in this statement itself. When we do stop thinking, how would we know that we are not thinking? It’s the same mind that’s producing the thought that is trying to stop the mind to think.
But instead what we need to do is Watch. Be a witness that the thoughts are ceasing and bring the mind to rest. When we watch our thoughts, we stop identifying with them and then become still in the gaps between thoughts.