[Longwow]

Here's a quote from Ajahn Sumedho of the Theravada Thai Forest Tradition from his
book "The Sound of Silence" page 21.

"The mind wanders, and you start thinking, and then it will start planning for the future or remembering the past.

Awareness then, is bringing attention to the way the mind works. The future is a thought in the mind, in the present, and the past is a memory. You can be aware of thinking, be aware of thought.

We are not our thoughts; our thoughts are artificial creations. So we can think anything. It can be reasonable or totally insane or whatever, but thinking is an artifice that we tend to identify with, intimidate ourselves with, and we let our thoughts control us. So we're establishing a sense of confidence in the present, mindfulness, sati -sampajanna, here and now" source:

http://books.google.com/books?id=TqK...d=0CBUQ6AEwAA#