When you can develop a sense of inner fullness simply by the way you breathe, the mind can stay nourished no matter what the situation.

"It’s crucial to have a center for the mind. But to maintain that center, you have to enjoy it. If you don’t, it simply becomes one more burden to carry in addition to your other burdens, and the mind will keep dropping it when your other burdens get heavy. This is why we spend so much time working on the skill of playing with the breath, making it comfortable, making it gratifying, making it fill your body with a sense of ease. When you have that kind of inner nourishment to feed on, you’re less hungry for things outside. You don’t need to feed on the words and actions of other people. You don’t have to look for your happiness there. When you can develop a sense of inner fullness simply by the way you breathe, the mind can stay nourished no matter what the situation. You can sit in a boring meeting and yet be blissing out — and nobody else has to know. You can watch all the good and bad events around you with a sense of detachment because you have no need to feed on them. It’s not that you’re indifferent or apathetic, simply that your happiness doesn’t have to go up and down with the ups and downs of your life. You’re not in a position where people can manipulate you, for you’re not trying to feed on what they have to offer you. You’ve got your own source of food inside.

At the same time, when you have an inner center like this to hold onto, you develop a sense of dissociation from the thoughts that arise within the mind. You realize — when you’re focused on the breath and a thought comes into the mind — it’s not necessarily you thinking or your thought, and you’re not necessarily responsible for it. You don’t have to follow it and check it out or straighten it out. If it comes in half-formed, just let it go away half-formed. You don’t have to be responsible for it.

This is another important skill, because if you can learn to step back from the thoughts and emotions that come into the mind and not say that this is my thought or this is my emotion, then you can really choose which ones are worth holding onto, which ones should be explored, and which ones should be let go, that you don’t have to deal with at all."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Skills to Take with You" (Meditations1)

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