OK, I’m going to keep quiet for at least a couple of weeks. The nexus of thoughts and doubts comes up mostly when thinking of what to write for this thread. Usually, however, the thoughts dissolve quickly and I can't think of anything to write (which doesn't always stop me from posting). I could ...

Dear Pablo,
Thanks much for putting my case up for extended consideration. Sorry for my slow answer. It’s both because my daughter is keeping me busy, and because of uncertainty how to answer. I started mentally drafting a couple of responses that started to get pretty long-winded and . . .well ...

Adam,
This effortful trying not to try to find progress, where is that effort coming from? I mean, in direct experience, is there something that is trying, that is exerting effort? Or is that also just a mental event that carries the label of something that is being done by something?

It's a knot ...

Thanks for your note and for thinking of me Pablo. Sorry I've been so bad at posting. But here is what I’ve been doing.

Greg is out of town during August. He offered to consult via email, but I decided to wait on that. His book led me to George Berkeley’s Three Dialogues , which really helped ...

Hi Pablo,
Sounds like your arm must still really be bothering you. Sorry about that, and hope it gets better soon.

It doesn't seem to be fear and avoidance so much as frustration and a sense of tediousness. The very process of doing the inquiry constantly brings up the idea of "I" who am doing the ...

Ouch!
Thanks for still responding with your swollen finger. Hope your flexibility returns soon. I'll report anything else that comes up the next couple of days.

Adam

watching the sensations and not paying much attention to the labels; they start to get disjointed. Sounds, movements, sights, smells. All with no relation to each other.

But paying too much attention to the sensations, stories are created about how they all fit together, how they become objects ...

So there is looking at what happens.

Pretty often, labels pop in ("cloud" "car" "irritation" "progress"). The labels get linked to each other ("My daughter is bored"). And it appears to be a world of things.

The "I" thought pops in most often in contexts of: 1) Long, extended story-thoughts and 2 ...

Hi Pablo,
Nothing to say this morning. Perhaps some fear that writing something will create some story about how "I" am progressing. But mostly, more relaxed, looking, just not thinking of anything to write.

Adam

Thoughts are trivial. Focus on what is actual in any given now moment.
Yes.
The past couple of days, I've also been recalling exercises by Greg Goode and Douglas Harding (more accurately, using memories of those exercises as a starting point to focus). They are more focused on awareness and the ...

Could it be, Adam, that the resistance is to the thoughts of 'I'?
Could there be a belief, somewhere, that these I thoughts should not be happening?
Yes, this surely part of it--or at least not happening in some quantity. And when they do, all kind of other doubts follow in the wake.

Maybe it's ...

What you can rely on, however, is that the pain is temporary.
The aches and pains are not a big deal. They are in familiar places (lower back, calf and soles, behind the eyes) and come and go quickly. They are more surprising than anything because the familiar causes and stories of how they rise ...

Welcome back Pablo. I've been sitting quietly a lot the last couple of days, looking, still without much to say. Afraid I've been pretty dull company for my family.

Exactly. Kind of amusing, isn't it?
Actually—it feels heavy. It is the same kind of heavy/melting feeling I used to have when ...

Looking for the observer:
There is observation/looking. Can’t stop that. As soon as an observer or observed is identified, it has become a thought.

Attempting to step back and observe the observer:
It just creates a new observer, and the label “I” jumps from place, and the objects/thoughts under ...

Your internet problems come at a good time. Because I'm finding it hard to write anything. All the sentences and words and thoughts sounds like lies.