why would you want the thoughts to go away or try not to think? are you afraid of your thoughts? aren't thoughts there for a reason?

The only time I want my thoughts to go away is when I'm trying to sleep, sadly that's when they seem at their most numerous lol

Not to think is to stagnate!!!

sleep is the subconscious mind communicating to the conscious mind. or something? haven't read freud in a long time.

"not thinking of you" — buddhist birthday card

a constant stream of thought that isn't relevant to the present is not useful, in fact its a downright nuisance. Being unable to control your thoughts, as the vast majority of people are (myself included much of the time) is an awful affliction.

Rene Descartes walks in to a bar and the barman says, "Would you like a beer?" Descartes replies, "I think not"....and disappears!

Useful thread. I'm beginning to realise why 1) a lot of people can't think beyond the next meal-time 2) It's not easy to buy year planners. As for a 5 year diary? Not a chance in Nirvana.

@Magnifico: thoughts may be there for a reason, but it's not necessarily always a good one. You might want them to go away so that you can do something else with your mind.

how do you know? do you even know where your thoughts are coming from? i don't think anyone understands how the mind works.

Absolutely no one knows how the mind works. Everyone's knowledge is as complete and current as the book they just read.

Individuals have their own way of dealing with things and it's easy on here to begin talking at cross-purposes.

I had a colleague who I liked but I never considered him a close friend until I learned more about him. He never got riled even when his boss talked to him as if he was worthless. I could never fathom him out. A week later at a dinner party in his house I said to him something like '...you're a proper little buddha. I would have told the boss to get stuffed.' His response stunned me as well as making me cry laughing. He admitted he didn't let his mind dwell on such things and he saw no point in getting angry. His response: "I ran my keys down the side of the bastards (boss's) new car."