Yogi: I’m meditating for the first time – I tried counting 1 to 10, but still there was a lot of thinking and it was too difficult.

Sayadaw: Don’t try to stop thinking – it’s impossible. Actually, your awareness is very good; that’s why the mind can notice thinking. 

Knowing what is happening in the mind is awareness. 

The objective of mindfulness meditation is to know and understand what is happening in the mind and body. That’s why we try to be aware. 

Now you notice that the mind is thinking – you have already achieved your goal, but we have the wrong idea that thinking is not good; that’s why the mind wants to stop the thinking.

We’re not interested in the story line. We have a lot of defilements in daily life and therefore a lot of thinking is unpleasant defilement thinking – that’s why the story is not very good. Yogis judge that the story is not good; that’s why they want it to stop.

We are not interested in the story; we’re interested in the nature of the mind (e.g. defilements, thinking and feelings arise and they are related) – that’s why we practice to notice that the mind is happening.

If we want to really understand a person, first, we need to observe him and continue to observe what he’s doing and where he’s going – then only we can understand his nature. This is the objective of our practice.

Now, we’re trying to be aware of the mind and we can know the mind because of thinking. That’s why we need to notice that thinking is happening first; we’re not interested in the story line.