What do I do when thoughts come up?

One of the most common misconceptions about meditation is that one should not have any thoughts while meditating. Luckily, this is not the case. Thinking is a natural function of the mind, and there is no need to stop thoughts from occurring. When you are meditating and you realize that you have been lost in thought, simply return your awareness to the object of your meditation. That’s it!  You may even use thoughts as the object of meditation, or resting in open awareness, letting thoughts come and go as they like while simply resting in awareness. The key point is that thoughts are a natural part of meditation. As you grow more familiar with meditative awareness, you will see that thoughts are not obstacles to meditation. On the contrary, you may find that thoughts actually can be reminders for recognizing awareness.