Yogi: How much room should I allow unwholesome thoughts to carry on?

Sayadaw: When we want to work with unwholesome thoughts, the important to remember is that we’re not going to intentionally feed or think the unwholesome thoughts. They may still have their momentum, but we’re going to intentionally be mindful – so, our intention is to be mindful and we come to the feelings because unwholesome thoughts always generate feelings.

Don’t look at the thoughts directly – you know that the thoughts are happening, but your intention is to keep watching the reaction in the body and the mind.

Now you’re paying attention to the feelings, the reactions in the body and the mind, and if you find that the reactions get worse as you are watching it for some time, that means that the mind is not so skilful at watching – the emotion is overwhelming the awareness – then stop watching that and start to be aware of a neutral object.

Now you need to ignore the feelings and switch to a neutral object to build the strength of the awareness; and when the awareness becomes more stable, you can challenge yourself again.