Yogi: There were lots of thoughts and stories – I didn’t want to have them but they came back and back. Then suddenly, when the mind realizes that I’ve already known the stories and they are useless, they stop.
I realize that depending on how I’m aware of what is going on, I can not be involved in the stories and I have more choice to decide where I want it to go.
The stories came again, but it no longer had the same power.
Sayadaw: Just be aware again and again. It doesn’t go to waste – it teaches us something.
Like when you’re watching and you see the thoughts come continuously, at first, you’re just watching and as the mind gathers the data, you realize that they are different stories but are of the same theme and it has this effect on this mind.
It starts to learn and see the suffering – one time you see it very clearly and then the mind has enough power and information to decide ‘okay, this thought I don’t need to keep thinking it and I’m not going to let it’. And then it stops.
At first, it’s just awareness and there’s not enough wisdom, but when the awareness gathers enough information, wisdom comes in.
It is said that every mind that has sati, panna will also be in it. That’s why we want to always cultivate the sati because it means the panna will always be present as well.
Panna can only learn when sati is present because it needs sati to be there in order to be present in the mind. That is why we practice sati so that the panna can come along.