Yogi: The mind lets thinking continue because it likes the story.

Sayadaw: You then have to be aware of liking, not the thoughts. You intentionally want to think because of liking. Liking is the cause, thinking is the effect.

You need to watch the liking, the wanting, or intention to think. You can watch the intensity of the intention because you can feel it. When the intention reduces, naturally the thoughts reduce too.

When we see the cause and effect, we take care of the cause, not the effect.

Intention is an important function of the mind. We have this wanting all the time – intention to look, intention to eat and intention to go. Intention is mostly motivated by defilements.