I. Brief Summary
A beautiful book about “you are not your thoughts.” This made me more aware of how my inner voice operates and how I can overcome it. Singer simplifies what it means to live a spiritual life. A practical book on spirituality and how to overcome inner voice which is constantly yapping away.
II. Big Ideas
- The one who watches the voice objectively will solve the great mystery of life. It will unfold to you that you are not your thoughts.
- View the thoughts in your mind as a roommate on the sofa. You wouldn’t tolerate constant unhealthy chatter from them, why accept it from your mind?
III. Quotes
- You see, you can’t fail at this because your “self” is what you are, at all times and in all places. We simply need to sort it out. After all, it can get quite confusing in there.
- And should you choose to devote yourself to the ongoing journey of self-realization, you will develop a tremendous sense of respect for who you really are. It is only then that you will come to appreciate the full depth of meaning in the advice: “This above all: to thine own self be true.”
- Notice that the voice takes both sides of the conversation. It doesn’t care which side it takes, just as long as it gets to keep on talking.
- Why do you even tolerate that voice talking to you all the time?
- If you spend some time observing this mental voice, the first thing you will notice is that it never shuts up. When left to its own, it just talks.
- The same is true for the voice inside your head. Why is it talking? It’s you who’s talking, and it’s you who’s listening. And when the voice argues with itself, who is it arguing with? Who could possibly win? It gets very confusing.
- It’s actually a shocking realization when you first notice that your mind is constantly talking.
- The best way to free yourself from this incessant chatter is to step back and view it objectively.
- No matter what the voice is saying, it’s all the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s saying nice things or mean things, worldly things or spiritual things. It doesn’t matter because it’s still just a voice talking inside your head.
- There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind—you are the one who hears it.
- People go through so many changes in the name of “trying to find myself.” They want to discover which of these voices, which of these aspects of their personality, is who they really are. The answer is simple: none of them.
- If you watch it objectively, you will come to see that much of what the voice says is meaningless.
- The truth is that most of life will unfold in accordance with forces far outside your control, regardless of what your mind says about it.
- Your thoughts have far less impact on this world than you would like to think.
- If you spend your time hoping that it doesn’t rain tomorrow, you are wasting your time. Your thoughts don’t change the rain.
- Eventually you will see that the real cause of problems is not life itself. It’s the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes problems.
- If so much of what the voice says is meaningless and unnecessary, then why does it even exist? ... there’s a buildup of energy inside that needs to be released. If you watch objectively, you will see that when there’s a buildup of nervous, fearful, or desire-based energies inside, the voice becomes extremely active. That voice talks because you’re not okay inside, and talking releases energy.
- This inner world is an alternate environment that is under your control. The outside world, however, marches to its own laws.
- For example, there are myriad things that you see at any given moment, yet you only narrate a few of them. The ones you discuss in your mind are the ones that matter to you.
- Your consciousness is actually experiencing your mental model of reality, not reality itself.
- You’re walking outside in the winter, you start to shiver, and the voice says, “It’s cold!” Now how did that help you?
- This world is unfolding and really has very little to do with you or your thoughts. It was here long before you came, and it will be here long after you leave. In the name of attempting to hold the world together, you’re really just trying to hold yourself together.
- If used properly, the same mental voice that has been a source of worry, distraction, and general neurosis can become the launching ground for true spiritual awakening.
- Come to know the one who watches the voice, and you will come to know one of the great mysteries of creation.
- Your inner growth is completely dependent upon the realization that the only way to find peace and contentment is to stop thinking about yourself.
- You’re ready to grow when you finally realize that the “I” who is always talking inside will never be content. It always has a problem with something.
- The bottom line is, you’ll never be free of problems until you are free from the part within that has so many problems.
- The process of seeing something requires a subject-object relationship. The subject is called “The Witness” because it is the one who sees what’s happening. The object is what you are seeing, in this case the inner disturbance. This act of maintaining objective awareness of the inner problem is always better than losing yourself in the outer situation. This is the essential difference between a spiritually minded person and a worldly person.
- The only real solution is to take the seat of witness consciousness and completely change your frame of reference.
- To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them.
- The first problem you have to deal with is your own reaction.
- The only permanent solution to your problems is to go inside and let go of the part of you that seems to have so many problems with reality.
- If you would like to meet your roommate, just try to sit inside yourself for a while in complete solitude and silence. You have the right; it’s your inner domain.
- Look at this thing. It’s ruining my life. I’m trying to live a peaceful, meaningful existence, but I feel like I’m sitting on top of a volcano.
- Once you’ve seen this, and learn to no longer identify with your roommate, you’re ready to free yourself.
- A good time to watch it talk is while you’re taking a shower. Just watch what that voice has to say. You will see that it never lets you just take a peaceful shower. Your shower is for washing the body, not for watching the mind talk nonstop.
- The bottom line is undeniable: If somehow that voice managed to manifest in a body outside of you, and you had to take it with you everywhere you went, you wouldn’t last a day. If somebody were to ask you what your new friend is like, you’d say, “This is one seriously disturbed person. Just look up neurosis in the dictionary and you’ll get the picture.”
- When you’ve sincerely tried these practices of self-observation and awareness, you’ll see that you’re in trouble. You’ll realize that you’ve only had one problem your entire life, and you’re looking at it. It’s pretty much the cause of every problem you’ve ever had.
- Once you’ve made the decision to free yourself from the mental melodrama, you are ready for teachings and techniques. You will now have a real use for them.
- Yoga is not really about getting your body healthy, although it does that too. Yoga is about the knowledge that will help you out of your predicament, the knowledge that can free you. Once you’ve made this freedom the meaning of your life, there are spiritual practices that can help you. These practices are what you do with your time in order to free yourself from yourself.
- Your will is stronger than the habit of listening to that voice. There is nothing you can’t do. Your will is supreme over all of this.
- If you want to free yourself, you must first become conscious enough to understand your predicament. Then you must commit yourself to the inner work of freedom. You do this as though your life depended on it, because it does.
- This is your life—reclaim it.