Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, So it is considered normal. The constant mental noise does two things: One, it prevents you from finding the realm of inner self that casts a shadow of fear & suffering.
The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, it becomes very destructive. In fact you do not use it, it uses you. Mind loves to get its teeth into problems. Whether doing crossword puzzles or making atom bombs, it loves to work incessantly like a Godzilla that knows no stops.
Our mind generates constant inner dialogue, you are never free from it. In fact the only difference between mad & sane people is whether the dialogue is audible or not. The voice in the head comments, speculates, judges, compares, complains, likes, dislikes……… all the time. It is either reviving the recent or distant past or rehearsing or imagining possible future situations.
Even if the voice is relevant to the situation in the present, it interprets based on the past conditioning of the mind, a result of your past history as well as the collective mind set you inherited.
The good news is that you can free yourself from the mind. By “listening” to the thought & not “becoming” The thought. You will soon realize: these is the voice, and here I am listening to it. This realization arises from beyond the mind. Listen to your mind, do not fudge it, as judgment is again from the mind! As you do it, for the first time you “disidentify” from the mind.
– Extract from “The Power of Now” Author: Eckhart Tolle
