By: Charlotte Selver
...Many people have learned to say to themselves, ‘Stop thinking,’ and then they control their thoughts and try to stop their thinking. Like somebody who is being choked, thoughts are being choked off. [But] we are sometimes very desirous to come to quiet....this state of quiet is something wonderful. Quiet is not dullness. .... Quiet is also not forbidding thoughts. Quiet is a different state into which we gradually ... come. You cannot stop thinking from one moment to the other without violating your thinking, but you can – when you feel you would like to rest — gradually allow the giving up of thoughts...let me call it allowing peace inside."\
... it’s not a command with the expectation that right away something will happen. It may be a long way which we have to go until we can gradually allow – altogether – more quiet..."
Note: Charlotte Selver was a transformational teacher of a practice which she called Sensory Awareness. She frequently taught Zen students at the San Francisco Zen Center. Sensory Awareness has a wonderful affinity with Zen practice, and there are a number of quotes by Selver on this Readings page of our website. The quote above is from her book Waking Up. There are several links on the Resources page of our website to Sensory Awareness practice.