Michael Pollan

I can be aware of it, but the more aware I am of it, the less in control that I feel, which is one of the great and slightly terrifying lessons of meditation.

And so that question of the unconscious doesn't seem mild to me.

That is the factory question.

producing thoughts and then something is deciding what to put in the front shelves.

But there is clearly a way that the mind learns what to think about over time.

So to use the example of my kids.

It is quite clear to me that my children do not spend any time during the day thinking about things they have to do in the future.

Right.

They might think it's about things they want to do in the future.

Right.

But they're never like, you know, I think it's been a while since my last pediatrician appointment.

I might need some shots.

Right.

You leave me with my mind alone for much time at all.

And a to-do list begins bubbling through it.

It's very, very persistent.

I mean, I meditate with paper near me to just get things out of there and onto the paper so I don't keep thinking about them.

Somewhere along the way, I went from being a kid who was pretty present in his life and thought more, I think, about things I wanted to think about or...

And became somebody whose mind has bent towards productivity.

Yeah.