"The biggest obstacle to experiencing reality is identification with the mind. This identification causes opinion to become coercive. Not being able to stop thinking is a creepy addiction, but we don't realize it because almost everyone suffers from it, so that addiction is considered normal. Identification with your mind creates an opaque screen of concepts, labels, notions, words, judgments, and definitions that blocks any true connection to reality.
The mind is a remarkable instrument if used properly. However, if used incorrectly, it becomes very destructive. It's not about using your mind wrong - you don't use it at all. It uses you. It is a disease. The instrument has taken control of you.
You are almost someone’s property, by thinking that the entity that occupies you is the same as you are.
The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the entity that occupies you - the thinker. Awareness of this allows you to observe that entity. The moment you start observing the thinker, a higher level of consciousness is activated. ”
Eckhart Tolle
Art: Ryan Amos
When I first read these words, I couldn't imagine "what the writer wanted to say", how and who should I observe? Should I stop thinking and analyzing? But I love to analyze and think, so ... so what should I do if I don't think and analyze ???
Then I began to follow the "patterns" of my thoughts, the constant patterns that recur in my head and disturb me. I first became aware of collective “patterns” of thinking, which represent habits and programs passed down through generations, such as sadness and thinking about the past, worrying about the future, self-pity, comparing myself to others, judging mmself and others, and more. Of course, it was easier to deal with disturbing thought programs that are not just my personal, but those “we all doing that” thoughts.
Then I slowly began to notice my personal "errors in the system." As I became aware of them, first once, then the second time, each time they became paler and more insignificant, because I became aware that it was not me, thoughts are not my identity.
How does it work to "observe the thinker" on a concrete example?
The personal mistake I am currently treating and removing from my system is: "instead of making 10 excuses, do it!"
I became aware of the habit of taking a long time to take action, to start doing something. When I begin then I’m like a tornado, I don’t stop until it’s done, but “before I do” the thought ritual is repeated through almost all of my actions during the day. I decided to observe this process by becoming aware of them.
How does it work? For example, I wake up and the plan is to meditate immediately, and then it starts: “Should I drink coffee first, and then meditate? Should I take a shower first since showering is not recommended after meditation? And I could drink coffee in the bathtub ... and between meditating and taking a shower, I could go to the market ... hmm, what should I cook today? What do I have in the fridge? In addition, countless more actions are done on Facebook and Instagram, including the breaks for staring into space. If I got up at 7, my meditation with these delays would start at 9, and it could be over at 7:30 if my brain did not interfered.
How do I fix this "bug in the program"? I get up with a plan to meditate. My brain is already starting with the first reason for procrastination and I notice it. As my brain continues to enumerate, I am already taking a shower, listening conscious chattering of my brain, which then appears only in the background. It sounds more like changing radio stations, like a background sound that I can turn off “on the button” by becoming aware of what it’s doing to me. And while my brain is still looking for excuses, I am already ready to meditate. I’m done 1.5 hours earlier, and what makes me even happier is that I succeeded to rise above my brain. This is what Tolle calls the higher dimension of consciousness.
I apply the same process every time I notice that my brain is turning on a "radio show about excuses." Thoughts are still there, but there are fewer and fewer of them, they have less and less influence, and while I am already in action, I often smile sweetly at them.
The radio station becomes quieter and I hear less and less of them.
As I get rid of my thought patterns by becoming aware of them, so I become aware of the patterns I have created about others. When the system is completely reseted, the people around us suddenly become what they are, and our relationship with them becomes pleasant and peaceful.
