door	to	our	roller	coaster	car	and	we	hopped	aboard.	As	the	machine
accelerated,	the	fearful	thoughts	began	to	retreat	into	the	background	of	my
awareness.	There	was	an	opening	now	for	more	than	worry.
I	became	aware	of	my	son’s	liveliness	and	pure	elation.	Seeing	him	throw
his	hands	up	in	the	air,	laughing	and	smiling.	I	felt	it,	too;	it	was	exhilarating
to	go	against	my	fearful	thoughts.	The	thoughts	were	not	gone,	but	I	was	no
longer	a	captive	of	them.	I	was	energized.	I	was	present.	I	was	in	the	moment.
I	was	a	person	who,	along	with	worried	thoughts,	was	having	a	thrilling,
memorable	experience.
Similar	to	watching	an	engrossing	movie,	a	particular	thought	stream	has
the	potential	to	pull	us	in	so	entirely	that	there	is	no	“us”	separate	from	those
thoughts.	The	thoughts	become	all-powerful,	making	choices	for	us,	limiting
our	experiences,	telling	us	what’s	right	and	what’s	wrong.	It’s	only	through
breaking	the	trance	that	we	can	come	to	see	the	nature	of	things	as	they	truly
are.
Our	brains	supply	us	with	an	inordinate	number	of	thoughts,	many	of
which	are	unhelpful	and	even	downright	inaccurate.	Taking	each	one