Imagine holding a precious gem up to the light. You turn it slowly, inspecting its every facet, its beauty unveiled with each new angle. This is the essence of becoming the effortless observer – a practice that empowers you to navigate your inner world and also the world around you, with newfound freedom.
“In the beginning you will fall into the gaps in between thoughts – after practicing for years, you become the gap.” – J. Kleykamp
“When you’re centered, your emotions are not hijacking you.” – Ray Dalio
These two quotes come together for me beautifully. And then I was recently reminded of this connection by Nathan, so I’ll attribute the next one to him:
“The goal is not to manage your emotions. The goal is to manage how you respond to your emotions.” – Nathan Raaths
If you were not able to change the fact that you experience the emotions that you do… if for the foreseeable future you are guaranteed to continue feeling the exact same feelings that you do… would you be able to make peace with that?
Let me shine the light from a slightly different angle – if you continue to experience the same emotions but you have managed to change how you feel toward those emotions… would that be helpful?
Ray Dalio’s words about not being hijacked by your emotions doesn’t mean not feeling the “feels”, but being in a space where you can take a step back and look at those feelings, without being captured by them. Like holding a gem up to the light so you can inspect it from all the angles.
How do you find that space? The space of freedom in which you can hold up a feeling and take an honest look at it, not to judge it but to understand it?
This is the space that J. Kleykamp talks about: “falling into the gaps between thought”. Realizing that a thought is something we can stand apart from and observe. It is from this space between thoughts – where we realize “the thought is not who I am” – that we can take a look at the thought and the emotion, and become interested in understanding how this is created. And by looking, and understanding, a new/different response to our emotions becomes possible. With practice that space grows bigger until we become the gap, and being the curious observer of our thoughts and feelings becomes our default state. There are many possible paths to this destination, but the most guaranteed route that I know is daily meditation. Becoming the effortless observer of your own emotional state, is a sure outcome if you stick to it.
Mantras for self-reflection:
- I am not my thoughts or emotions; I am the observer of them.
- Today, I will choose to observe my emotions with curiosity, not judgment.
- With each breath, I create space to understand myself better.
By committing to daily self-observation, you’ll unlock a new level of freedom. You’ll become the master of your emotional landscape, responding with grace and wisdom instead of being hijacked by your feelings. Remember, this is a journey, not a destination. Embrace the process, and enjoy the ever-expanding space of awareness that awaits you.
Have a beautiful day gorgeous humans!
– pierre –
Today’s LIVE meditation is: The observer.