Be the Observer of your life, not the judge, juror, and executioner. And boy, does the world ever need this right now!!
I had a few approaches to let go of my negative self-talk and the compulsive thinking that came with it; however, nothing worked over the long haul until I learned how to be the Observer.
Observing - allowed me to look at my high-jack mind through a different lens and perspective. It was a big game-changer.
By observing, I could breathe and watch myself like an actor on a movie screen. All I had to do was watch the movie without trying to change anything, yet everything changed. It's hard to explain; you must try it for yourself.
Observing helped me know; I was not the mind – I was the Observer, the witness, and the watcher. I could then step back from my spinning mind and witness myself from a higher state of awakened consciousness and stop repeating the same patterns repeatedly.
I finally broke the stronghold of toxic shame I had been carrying around since I was a little boy. I could stop the voice of "I am not enough" whenever it came up, and new freedom emerged from the heart of consciousness.
If our view changes, we will change with it because LIFE is about how we perceive reality.
"Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence." ~ Alan Watts
The Observer became the most important discovery on my awakening 20 years ago and still is. It allows us to see the truth more objectively and have compassion for ourselves.
Try it for yourself: sit still and observe the currents of thought that flow through your consciousness, like water flowing down the river or clouds passing in the sky. Please don't do anything, don't interfere; don't stop them in any way. If a thought comes, don't stop it. If it doesn't, don't force it. You are merely an observer.
Trying to stop the thoughts will only keep them because what we resist will persist. Think of them as birds singing on a tree. For instance, "I am a success – I am a failure" are two birds chirping; chirp-chirp. They are just singing – "I am wonderful, and I am terrible” tweet-tweet.
See thoughts as thoughts; the minute you want to kill one of the birds, you make keep them - the point is that we are not them.
These horrible thoughts about myself were the big reason for many relapses in my addiction years. Thank God I discovered the observer.
Satnam ( truth is my identity) Paul Noiles
