For me it all started when I was watching His Holiness the Dalai Lama being interviwed on the TV. I noticed that he blinked roughly four times more than I do, so I decided to mirror his blink pattern. As I did it, I realized that my thoughts stopped for a microsecond every time I blinked. This was amazing! I realized I had caught onto the Dalai Lama's 'thought swatter' that would help keep me in a state of lucid awareness. (Some weeks later I was to learn that there was a book, 'Blink,' on the bestseller list, but from the reviews it seemed focused more on intuitive processes than on what interested me).
I then Googled "voluntary blinks" on Google Scholar, which brought up a few articles describing brain scans of people blinking. I wrote one of the authors, who replied that "Yes, indeed, research seems to show that blinks may turn off consciousness briefly."
That was welcome news! You can imagine how excited that last sentence made me! I interpreted it as positive feedback from the scientific community that the blink does indeed swat thoughts. The paper is now available on line in .pdf format: "Vision: In the Blink of an Eye" by David Burr"
ABSTRACT from the article Although we blink every 4 to 6 seconds, we notice neither the act of blinking nor the mini-blackouts they cause. A new study using imaging techniques identifies the neural structures in humans involved in suppressing vision processing and visual awareness during blinking.
Then more recently, when I mentioned using blinks to swat thoughts to the leader of a local meditation group, he said that blinking is taught in the Tibetan Dzogchen tradition as a way of "breaking out of consciousness states." Well, that was good enough for me. I had the Dalai Lama's example, backed both by science and by Tibetan lamas. I now practice blinking away recalcitrant thoughts, even when my eyes are closed.
Try it! I think you will find it helpful!
