It’s actually very easy, but the hardest part is remembering to do it. As soon as you remember—that’s already 80%. Imagine that you are not your body, thoughts, feelings, or any of that. All of those belong to the body. What is truly “ours” (and even that, it can only be loosely called ours, and I’ll explain why) is the non-judging, observing wisdom that always knows how to act and that only loves. When you realize that everything you thought was you is actually not you, everything becomes easier, and you begin to gently float just outside your body, near your left ear (or right ear—for me it’s the left) and observe what’s happening.
At first, it will be hard to maintain this because we are so attached to what happens inside of us. But over time, it gets easier. This observer has a great sense of humor—many comedians tap into this observer state when they write their material.
Why do we say our “true self” isn’t really something we own? Because it is imperishable, something that never was and never will be ours in the way we typically understand ownership. This body will die, and with it, thoughts and feelings will disappear too. What remains is a warm, loving wisdom with a sense of humor. And that’s all. But this wisdom is part of a vast whole, through which we feel closeness with others and into which we return when the body sheds its earthly form. We don’t live separately in it; we merge with everyone else into one whole. The body gives us the illusion of separation. Only through this sense of separation can we experience the human condition in its sharpest forms—feelings, sensations… But it is the body that creates this illusion of separation.
If we spend more time in the observer state, we will no longer feel so overwhelmed or detached, and our thoughts will stop having such a powerful grip on us.
