Yogi: I get lost when I try to observe that thinking (the story) is happening. I find it very helpful to find some place in the body to go to and not get entangled in the thinking.
Sayadaw: The mind is very fast and subtle, and it is easy to get lost in the thinking instead of observing that thinking is happening. We’re not supposed to observe the story, or we’ll get lost in the story.
We get lost in the thought because we’re paying attention to the story rather than the mind that is thinking.
We build the skill of recognizing that thinking is happening by acknowledging the thoughts and then quickly come back to the body over and over again until the mind figures it out for itself.
Another way to anchor the mind, especially when the mind has an emotional charge, is to come back to the feeling of the emotion, rather than stay with the thoughts about the emotion.
Yogi: Is that how the feeling manifests in the body?
Sayadaw: Yes, that’s the most obvious.