momentum

The stream of thinking has a momentum to it that's useful to account for in meditation. As we go through the world we're absorbing a constant stream of information and stimuli, and when we suddenly cut off that input (as in meditation), the mind will still be very active for a time in interpreting and sorting all of it.

It's important to learn to expect this, and to have infinite patience with it. We can just let the mind do its thing, continuing to breathe in and out as it does, watching without attaching or judging. If/when we get caught on something that goes by, we can let it go again (and again, and again), continuously returning to that place of quiet watchfulness.

There's no hurry. There could be decades of unprocessed information sorting its way through. It could take time. But little by little it'll start to feel easier, more natural. To just watch it all go by. And things will start to shift all on their own. You don't have to do anything. You'll start noticing changes in yourself and how you're responding to the world. It happens on its own.

Joy starts arising. Patience starts arising. Understanding and acceptance start arising. Just from being there in the silence, it comes.