Mentations are unconscious thoughts, thoughts you don’t control. Thinking is thought you control, conscious thoughts. Pause and reflect honestly: How many of your thoughts throughout the day do you actually control?

 

It's important to note that mentations will rarely come to you as fully formed thoughts. And you won't hear them as a voice in your head. Mentations are more of an urge connected to a thought fragment that makes you feel a certain way. You might get the urge to eat pizza and have the thought fragment, '...pizza...' which feels positive. The rest of that mentation is actually, '(I want) pizza (because it will make me feel good).' You did not choose to have this thought, your mind did. That is a mentation.

 

These are The 4 Directions of Mentation, with examples:

 

UP: 'I’m amazing.'

DOWN: 'I’m not amazing.'

PAST: 'I used to be...'

FUTURE: 'I will be...'

 

Mentations can also come in combos:

 

DOWN / PAST is a worry: 'I think I made a fool of myself yesterday.'

 

FUTURE / UP is a fantasy: 'When I’m a millionaire I will be happy.'

 

Mentations are not good or bad, but they are a distraction. Practicing Love needs your full attention.

 

Sit-down meditation is how you learn to replace unconscious mentations with conscious thoughts by bringing your mind back to Love from The 4 Directions of Mentation.