Watch Your Thoughts?

When we hear spiritual advises like, ‘go inward’, or ‘watch your thoughts’, some of my friends ask me what does that mean, and how to look ‘inward’ and ‘watch’ the thoughts. There is no place like ‘inward’, and thoughts are not something one can ‘look at’ to watch!.
Quite true. Those who are alien to the techniques of meditation, and those who are not used to praying deep with their eyes closed, may find it difficult to understand these terms. But one can easily start by closing one’s eyes and watching his breath go in and come out. Starting from there, one can become aware of several things happening in one’s own body and mind. Some movements like gas in the stomach would be easily noticeable. Some may be able to feel their heart beat or pulse. Slowly attention can be diverted to one’s thoughts in the mind, emotions felt at the moment and the disturbances popping up from outside as well as inside. In the closed screen of the eye shapes may appear as if on television screen. The shapes may move and change. If one goes along with the thoughts identifying with them, then there may not be any difference between the open eyed normal thoughts and the closed eye attention to thoughts. The idea is not to go along with the thoughts as if ‘I am thinking’, but to look at the television screen before the closed eye waiting for things to be shown, patiently, alertly, anxiously, as if at any moment something new might come up. After a few times one will be tempted to do it over and over again because one does not know what all things might come up!

There are more than one hundred and twenty different ways that I have come across in books, by which one can start practices to go inward. Choosing one that suits oneself is the trick