You’re Not Your Thoughts: How To Step Out Of Overthinking

We may know that we are not our thoughts, and yet still get caught up in repetitive thinking and the mind’s stories about the past and the future.
In this talk, I share how we can begin to relate to the mind more gently, without fighting our thoughts or trying to make them disappear. We can thank the mind for trying to protect us, and gently return our attention to the present moment, again and again.
Beneath the movement of thought, there is the awareness and inner silence that we are. I invite you to pause, sit with me, and reconnect with the silence within.

Transcript

Sigh. You are not your thoughts. You're not the content. Of your thoughts. You are not alone. The stories. They are not ultimately true, Those stories. Your mind is telling you about. Ultimately, The content of your thoughts is not true. And we know that. But then there are still moments at times where we still get pulled in. We get pulled into the mindstream, Into the loop. The obsessive thinking that just won't. And we might know that I'm not my thoughts. But in that moment, It's kind of difficult to. . . Remember it in that present moment fully. So let's talk about it a moment. How can we step out of? Especially when they're so loud. But even when they're very subtle in the background. And as always, Most important, I invite you to sit with me and to say, Beer. Being. Be with the silence, Be with the gaps in between. So before we can answer that question, How we step out of thoughts, It's important It's very helpful to understand. How the mind works. It's so incredibly helpful so that we can catch it. When it's happening. So, The human brain, The human mind. Is working on pattern recognition. Meaning it's always trying to find patterns from the past. Even something as simple as language is also a pattern. But it goes down to what people would call emotional wounds. Blame. Whatever, Basically everything is a pattern recognition from our mind. It takes that. And from that it projects into the future. So it bases our sense of self. On the path. And what is the past? The past is ultimately, Ultimately. . . Just thoughts in our heads. The past is ultimately and cheese. In your head. And from that place, The mind is projecting into the future. Why? Well. . . It's trying to keep us safe. It's trying to protect us. And it's thinking that it can do it in that way. By predicting the future based on the past. Based on the past patterns. Now that in itself is beautiful. That is an absolutely wonderful, Incredible skill. That comes with the human form. Bye. In the absolute majority of people in these days. The mind is overactive. And it's doing something it's not equipped to do. It's trying to protect us. From life, From the future. It's thinking that it's only in charge. We can see our mind almost like a three-year-old child. Very lovingly, Very gentle. It's like a little child that is trying to predict the future. It's clinging on to the past. It's creating a huge sense of self. It's investing a sense of self in every thought. It's giving us such an important reason to think every single thought. It always has a very good answer why we need to think this thought right now, Why it's so important. Why we really cannot stop thinking. We need to continue thinking. Not because this is ultimately true. But because Our mind is like a three-year-old child that doesn't know better. If we make it the master, The king, The one who's ultimately in charge, Of our lives. We lose ourselves in those loops. Our life gets very heavy. It gets dimmed. There is a lot of unhappiness. And suffering and anxiety. And regret. So I invite you to look at your mind, Not like an enemy that needs to be overcome. Not even like something that needs to be gone because. . . It has beautiful, Incredibly helpful Guilt. But more like a three year old child we get to take care of. That doesn't need to be the master it was never equipped to be. So how do we step out of it? First by. . . Realizing what we just talked about. Realizing them. And tendencies of the mind. That it tries to cling on to problems. Cling on to thinking. That it clings onto the past, Project itself into the future, It's trying to keep us safe. Doesn't want to stop thinking. We can lovingly look at it and say, Thank you. Thank you for trying to keep me safe. But that is not your job. You can rest now. I've got this. And when we internally do that. You might notice there's a subject and an object. So we're splitting ourselves, Right? A very, Very important first step in spiritual awakening is that you're able to recognize that you're bigger than those thoughts, You're bigger than the mind, You're bigger than the ego. And an important step there is that you're able to see it as an object. So you see your mind like a three-year-old child that is sleeping. Trying to protect you but it cannot and it's just making us suffer. And you are here. And who are you? Well, That's a very good question. To sit with, Right? Know thyself, As it says. Over either temple and belfie. Self-recognition You are the awareness. The unconditioned. Loving all-embracing present. Awareness Consciousness that cannot be grasped, It cannot be defined. We cannot even put a name onto it. The name is just pointing to it. The label is just pointing to it. Right now I'm just using the word, Right? But you might be able to. Tap into that too. By listening to the gaps. In between. So that is the first step. You are the awareness being able to observe. This three-year-old child of mine lovingly that's spinning its wheels and obsessively thinking. And what happens here is something magical because you start to dis-identify. On a grand scale of a week's, Month's, Year's, But as well and I need your skill in every now and moment again. You. Stop believing every thought. You stop clinging on to every thought. You stop identifying, Finding your sense of self, Who you are in every thought. Oh, I'm a person who this and that happened to. My partner did this and that to me. My job or whatever stories it is, Identifications it is. And then. . . You're stepping out of that. Acknowledge it. Say fully thank you. But you also bring it back to its place. And how do you do that? You redirect your attention. To the present moment. You redirect your awareness, Your attention to your breath for example, That is very helpful. The breath is always in the present moment. Here's a loving thank you to those thoughts, Or maybe not even loving, You just say thank you to those thoughts, And you choose. To come back to the present moment. Come back to your breath. That is the choice over and over and over and over again. Maybe in the beginning every two seconds, Every five seconds, Every minute, Every 10 minutes. Or maybe you just remember twice a day when those really loud Obsessive thoughts are there and your thoughts are looping. Even if you remember one time a day, One time a week, Even one time a lifetime. And that is already a huge. Success and I don't use that world word lightly. The more you redirect your attention to the present moment. Your breath. The less you identify with the thoughts. The more you're in the present moment, Because the thoughts are never in the present moment, They're always, Remember, In the past and in the future, Right? So the more you come back to the only moment that's actually real. Which is the now. And the mind will definitely complain. And try to convince you to keep thinking. Try to convince you that the present moment is so boring. And yeah, Feeling the breath, Like, Okay, Cool, Did that five minutes ago. I know how it feels. That is just the mind like a three-year-old child complaining. Whining, Trying to stay in control. But it doesn't, It's not in control and it doesn't need to try to be. And then more in words. This object-subject relationship of the awareness we are observing, Stepping out of the thoughts. The more this relationship will also dissolve and it will become. One or there might be glimpses in between. Where you realize that you are all of it. In your deepest self. Or in your deepest Essence. Beneath the human and all the form of this world. Beneath all the thoughts, The emotions. The life experience that's beneath the person. You realize then. On the deepest dimension. He also won. With that form. With the mind, With the looping thoughts. That doesn't mean that they're true. Doesn't mean we start believing them. Actually probably at that point. Were able to completely step out of thoughts in a way that they go silent. That is possible then. By choice. The mind stops. The noise just. You can turn it off. Not by suppressing it, Not by rejecting it. Mud pie. Embracing this three-heeled, Child-in-mind attitude. So deeply. Coming back to the present moment, Coming back to the breath. Because that will drop you into the deepest dimension. Of who you are. The oneness. That is embracing, Loving, One. With everything. And that is still dancing itself into form. Into separateness. But it's experiencing oneness. Through the layer of separateness. Thank you so much for joining me.