As we learn to quiet our racing thoughts, observe and not be dominated by our noisy brains, we become more responsive to our lives and to the events and people in them.

We learn to operate from centre. Our knee-jerk reactions no longer rule our everyday experiences.

When our brains are quiet we operate from a sense of direction and purpose other than immediate gratification.

Learning to let go of the racing thoughts that demand our constant attention is not abdicating thinking. It's letting our thinking be useful.

Letting go of the jumble of insistent thoughts that can dominate our attention is rather like letting noisy children go outside to play. We can accept the thoughts that still want to race as we do the excited children popping back in for attention. Our tolerant acceptance frees us from being dominated by such demands: we get to respond appropriately and let the children run off again.

When we have quiet time with ourselves we discover the truly responsive, creative beings we are. It helps us in this discovery to practice a quiet time on a regular basis. The actual amount of time is less important than just doing it regularly.

At some time during our day we can sit quietly with ourselves. As we sit quietly we focus our attention: one focus can be our breath; or we can place our attention in our belly, our centre. While we are relaxed, we remain alert, and we just observe our thoughts as they claim our attention. We can just re-focus; we don't have to struggle to banish or control our thoughts.

Over time, as we practice regularly, our thoughts lose their habitual grip on our immediate attention. The useless ones fade away, rushing in to claim our attention less and less frequently and with ever lessening clamour and insistence. Our thinking becomes clear and effective.