Stop Believing Everything You Think + 12-Minute Meditation
How to notice thoughts without getting trapped by them
Click above for this week’s guided meditation
What’s in a thought?
Not much, it turns out. At least, not much when you stop and actually notice them. A bit of pixie dust in space.
And yet, our thoughts have immense power. One of the more liberating teachings of Buddhism is the idea of “mind states,” that is, the moods and convictions and stories we get sucked into that then become the basis for what we imagine is really happening. Our sadness, our optimism, our ideas about our relationships, our penetrating conclusions about the nature of reality, shared with great confidence over Substack.
“It’s just a mind state.” I actually have this note taped to a cupboard in my kitchen. I look at it every day, and every day I forget it. I can’t be reminded enough.
What keeps specific thoughts and convictions and feelings coming around – what makes them seem so permanent and authoritative – is our identification with them. After all, we’re the ones having these thoughts and feelings. They must mean something about us personally, perhaps something fundamental, perhaps something that feels – claustrophobically – like fate.
Those of us who get angry conclude we must be angry people. Those of us who feel isolated conclude we must be isolated people. Those of us who feel important conclude we must be important people.
If I can notice any of this in the moment, if I can go “oh look, a mind state” … it almost always makes me feel better. It’s like stepping out of a coffin into a cathedral. Space! Air!
I can now see around my mind states, to a different, often broader perspective. By the way, this is true even of mind states we imagine we might want – the mind state of believing we’re virtuous, or well-meaning, or right. Mind states we spend a ton of energy defending because they’re central to a version of ourselves that we like. Of course, this relates directly to the massive, warring political belief systems that a lot of us have been sucked into. We’re living in a bonanza age of believing our thoughts, and the thoughts of others aired and syndicated online. The world is not better for it.
“Oh look, a mind state.” A temporary cloud misting our view. Or, let’s be more generous: a totally understandable and creative response to life.
“Thank you, mind state!” You’re like a flower that bloomed through my head, and then curled back into the ground of awareness, and then bloomed again. How delightful to watch you bloom and compost, bloom and compost. Even this flower, which smells like a durian fruit and keeps belching sticky resin into my face.
“Thank you, mind state. You are an inevitable part of what I walk around inside. I will try to notice and appreciate your particular hue, and try not to have an agenda about the timing and duration of your visit.”
Noticing and actively playing with mind states has been helpful for me, and it’s been helpful for others. In this week’s guided meditation – recorded at my local library (hence my “shhhhh quiet it’s the library” voice) – you can explore whether it may be helpful for you as well.
Love,
Jeff
A few quick notes—
The Do Nothing Project (DNP) is now happening on Substack. The next one is this Sunday, December 14 – at 8pm EDT. Link here.
New to Home Base? We have over 50 guided meditations in our library, and over 350 guided DNP Meditations on YouTube. Use any these as part of your daily meditation support.
Meditation, Movement, Mystery – British Columbia
May 13-17, 2026
Hollyhock Cortes Island, BC
This will be a different kind of retreat offering from me. Less structured, more room for silence and spontaneity. The idea is to make space for some of the more personalized movements of practice that come through when we really listen.
Hollyhock is perfect for this. The land is charged. Maple leaves the size of serving plates, towering old-growth Douglas-firs and Western red cedars. Mossy quiet in the forest. Clean air rolling in off the sea, the tide sculpting smooth every black and grey stone. Wandering through this landscape – extending our attention out to the more-than-human world – will be part of our practice.
Two of my good friends will be joining me. Scott Davis is a Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner and yoga & movement genius – he will help us connect to our bodies. And Kalen Colson is a nature-based therapist – they will help us connect to the land.
Man thanks @Jeff Warren