Suffering is caused by compulsive thinking. We get lost in thoughts, we identify with them; we "think" we are our thoughts. They are incessant and quite often negative, and they create anxiety, stress, and the problems of everyday life.

You can break your identification with compulsive thinking, however. You can increase awareness that you are not your thoughts. Consider your senses: your brain processes the inputs of the eyes, the ears, the nose, the tongue, and the skin. But, you don't think that you are what you see, what you hear, what you smell, what you taste, or what you touch. View your thoughts the same way - your brain processes them, and you use those you need to solve problems and function in your daily life. But the thoughts you don't need - those that are negative, limiting, critical, and destructive - you simply let float away.

Treat non-useful thoughts like undesirable smells: don't dwell on them, don't identify with them, don't get attached to them, don't get lost in them - simply let them float away.

-Tad- [link to i.imgur.com]

[link to i.imgur.com]

Focus your attention on the present moment. The past and future are just thoughts happening in the present. Don't attach to the thoughts or develop a story around them. Let them float away, the same as they came in. That will keep you grounded in the present moment.

[link to i.imgur.com]