2025-03-02 claude [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC0kz3sm26E&t=2s) ### Gaps Between Thoughts Expanding In meditation practice, "gaps between thoughts expanding" refers to the natural phenomenon that occurs with sustained observation of the mind. As you consistently practice watching thoughts without identifying with them, you begin to notice brief moments of mental silence between individual thoughts. Initially, these gaps might be barely perceptible—fleeting milliseconds of quiet before the next thought arises. With continued practice, these intervals naturally lengthen and become more noticeable. This isn't something you force or create; rather, it happens organically as a result of non-interference with the thinking process. These expanding gaps reveal the spacious awareness that exists prior to thought—your true nature as the observer. The silence between thoughts gives you direct experience of consciousness itself without content, allowing you to recognize that peace and clarity are inherent qualities of awareness rather than states to be achieved. This process transforms your relationship with thinking. Instead of seeing thoughts as a continuous stream forming your identity, you begin to experience them as distinct events arising within the field of awareness, with increasing space between them. This spaciousness is not empty or void but alive with presence—the foundation of true meditation.