WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:03.560 You know, if you sit quietly for a moment and 2 00:00:03.720 --> 00:00:07.639 just observe what's happening inside your head, you'll notice something 3 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.480 rather extraordinary. There's this constant chatter going on, an endless 4 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:18.120 stream of commentary, of narration, of conversation with yourself about yourself. 5 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:22.000 It never stops. Even right now, as you're listening to me, 6 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:25.359 there's probably another voice in your head commenting on what 7 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:29.480 I'm saying, agreeing or disagreeing, planning what to think next, 8 00:00:30.199 --> 00:00:34.600 wondering if you've understood correctly, perhaps even talking about the 9 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:38.560 fact that it's talking. This internal dialog is so constant, 10 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:42.119 so pervasive, that most people don't even notice it any more. 11 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:45.399 It's like the hum of a refrigerator that you only 12 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:48.200 hear when someone points it out. But once you do 13 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:51.640 notice it, once you become aware of this endless internal conversation, 14 00:00:52.039 --> 00:00:56.200 a very natural question arises. Why won't it stop? Why 15 00:00:56.240 --> 00:00:59.200 does the mind insist on this constant talking to itself? 16 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.719 And more importantly, who is talking to whom? If it's 17 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:06.719 your mind talking to itself, then who is the talker 18 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:09.239 and who is the listener? Are there two of you 19 00:01:09.319 --> 00:01:12.640 in there? And if there are two, which one is 20 00:01:12.680 --> 00:01:14.920 the real you the one doing the talking or the 21 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:17.640 one listening to the talking. Let me tell you this 22 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.920 is not a trivial question. This is perhaps one of 23 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.680 the most important questions you can ask about the nature 24 00:01:22.680 --> 00:01:27.840 of your own consciousness, because this internal dialogue, this constant 25 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:32.079 mental chatter, is at the root of almost all human suffering. 26 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:37.280 It's the mechanism by which we create anxiety, worry, regret, 27 00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:40.439 and most of our psychological pain, and yet we're so 28 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:42.760 identified with it that we think it's who we are. 29 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:46.799 Let's start by examining what this internal voice is actually doing. 30 00:01:47.400 --> 00:01:50.079 If you pay close attention, you'll notice that it's doing 31 00:01:50.120 --> 00:01:53.719 several things. First, it's narrating. It's telling you the story 32 00:01:53.719 --> 00:01:57.040 of what's happening. I'm sitting here listening to this. I 33 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:01.359 wonder what he'll say next. This is interesting. I'm not 34 00:02:01.400 --> 00:02:04.719 sure I agree with that. It's like a sports commentator 35 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:06.799 giving you a play by play of your own life, 36 00:02:07.159 --> 00:02:11.639 except that you're living the life and providing the commentary simultaneously. Second, 37 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:16.639 it's evaluating. It's constantly judging everything that happens as good 38 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:21.120 or bad, pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable. I like this, 39 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:24.360 I don't like that this is going well, this is 40 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:27.000 going poorly. I should have done that differently. I hope 41 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.919 this continues. I hope that doesn't happen again, on and on, 42 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:36.439 an endless stream of evaluation and judgment. Third, it's planning 43 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:42.039 and rehearsing. It's constantly projecting into the future, imagining scenarios, 44 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:46.560 preparing speeches you'll never give, having arguments with people who 45 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:51.400 aren't there, worrying about things that might happen, fantasizing about 46 00:02:51.400 --> 00:02:54.319 things you hope will happen. I'll tell them this. If 47 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:57.319 they say that, I'll respond with this, what if this happens, 48 00:02:57.919 --> 00:03:00.840 I need to remember to do that tomorrow. I'll do 49 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:06.800 this differently. Fourth, and perhaps most insidiously, it's maintaining your 50 00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:10.680 sense of identity. It's constantly reminding you of who you are, 51 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:14.319 what your story is, what happened to you in the past, 52 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:18.400 what you believe, what you like and don't like, what 53 00:03:18.439 --> 00:03:22.039 you're afraid of, what you hope for. I'm the kind 54 00:03:22.039 --> 00:03:27.039 of person who I've always been. I could never I 55 00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:31.479 remember when this is just like me too. It's like 56 00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:35.240 a propaganda machine working tirelessly to convince you that you 57 00:03:35.319 --> 00:03:40.280 are this particular character in this particular story. Now, why 58 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:43.319 does the mind do all this? What's the purpose of 59 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:48.159 this endless chatter. Well, fundamentally, it's trying to maintain control. 60 00:03:48.879 --> 00:03:51.159 The mind believes that if it can just think about 61 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:54.400 things enough, analyze them enough, plan for them enough, it 62 00:03:54.439 --> 00:04:00.000 can control what happens. It's trying to make life safe, predictable. 63 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:05.159 It's trying to avoid pain and secure pleasure. It's trying 64 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:08.240 to defend and promote this entity it believes itself to be, 65 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:12.000 this separate self that needs protecting and advancing. But here's 66 00:04:12.039 --> 00:04:16.360 the problem. It doesn't work. All this thinking, all this planning, 67 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:19.959 all this worrying and analyzing and rehearsing, it doesn't actually 68 00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:23.639 give you control over life. Life continues to unfold in 69 00:04:23.720 --> 00:04:27.160 ways you don't expect and can't predict. Things happen that 70 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:31.079 you didn't plan for, People behave in ways you didn't anticipate. 71 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:34.720 And yet the mind keeps on talking, keeps on trying, 72 00:04:35.199 --> 00:04:37.800 keeps on believing that if it just thinks a little harder, 73 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.480 plans a little better, worries a little more thoroughly, it 74 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:46.279 will finally achieve the control it seeks. It's like someone 75 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:48.360 standing in a boat trying to push the boat forward 76 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:51.399 by pushing on the mast. They're putting in tremendous effort, 77 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:54.759 getting exhausted, and yet the boat isn't moving. But they 78 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:58.079 keep pushing because they don't understand that they are part 79 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:00.680 of the system they're trying to move. They think they're 80 00:05:00.720 --> 00:05:03.759 separate from the boat, that they can push it from outside, 81 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:07.160 but they're in the boat. Their pushing doesn't move the boat. 82 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:10.639 It just wastes energy and creates frustration. In the same way, 83 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.959 the thinking mind believes its separate from life, that it 84 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.560 can think about life, plan for life, control life from 85 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:20.639 some position outside of life. But this is an illusion. 86 00:05:21.279 --> 00:05:24.800 The mind is not separate from life. It's part of life. 87 00:05:24.839 --> 00:05:29.600 All this thinking is life, thinking about itself, life, narrating itself, 88 00:05:30.199 --> 00:05:36.800 life judging itself, and it's fundamentally unnecessary. Now you might object, 89 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:40.759 but surely some thinking is necessary. We need to plan, 90 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:45.560 to solve problems, to make decisions. And yes, of course, 91 00:05:45.839 --> 00:05:49.199 practical thinking has its place. If you need to get 92 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:51.560 from point A to point B, you need to think 93 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:54.160 about the route. If you have a problem to solve, 94 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:57.480 you need to think about solutions. But notice something, this 95 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:02.199 useful practical thinking is very different from the compulsive internal 96 00:06:02.279 --> 00:06:06.519 chatter I'm talking about. Practical thinking is focused, It has 97 00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:10.360 a specific purpose. It arises when needed and subsides when 98 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:13.240 the task is complete. It's like using a tool. You 99 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:14.959 pick it up when you need it, you use it, 100 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:17.839 and then you put it down. But the compulsive mental 101 00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:21.040 chatter isn't like that at all. It's not focused. It 102 00:06:21.120 --> 00:06:24.959 jumps from topic to topic randomly. It has no specific purpose. 103 00:06:24.959 --> 00:06:28.519 It's just happening automatically, and it never subsides. It continues 104 00:06:28.560 --> 00:06:30.519 whether you need it or not, whether you want it 105 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:33.800 or not. This compulsive thinking is more like a stuck 106 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:37.279 record playing the same grooves over and over, or like 107 00:06:37.279 --> 00:06:39.480 a machine that's been left running and no one knows 108 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:45.519 how to turn it off. It's become habitual, automatic, apparently unstoppable. 109 00:06:46.040 --> 00:06:47.920 And the reason it won't stop is that you've become 110 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:51.120 so completely identified with it that you think it's you. 111 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.639 You think you are your thoughts. You think the voice 112 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:57.439 in your head is who you are. But I want 113 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:01.319 to suggest something radical. You are not your thoughts. The 114 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:04.639 voice in your head is not you. It's something that's 115 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:08.399 happening to you, like the weather is happening, like sounds 116 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:12.360 are happening, like sensations in your body are happening. Thoughts 117 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:16.160 are just another phenomenon arising in consciousness. They're not the 118 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:20.000 consciousness itself. They're not You think about it this way. 119 00:07:20.759 --> 00:07:24.040 If you are your thoughts, then who is aware of 120 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:28.759 your thoughts? Who is noticing the internal dialogue? There must 121 00:07:28.800 --> 00:07:32.160 be something prior to thought, something that can observe thought, 122 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:36.600 that is aware of thought, and that awareness, that pure 123 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.240 consciousness that witnesses the thinking, that's closer to what you 124 00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:42.439 really are than the thoughts themselves. But we've become so 125 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:47.079 hypnotized by thinking, so identified with this internal voice, that 126 00:07:47.160 --> 00:07:49.920 we've forgotten the awareness in which the thinking is happening. 127 00:07:50.519 --> 00:07:53.800 It's like being so absorbed in watching a movie that 128 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:57.120 you forget you're sitting in a theater. The movie is compelling, 129 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:01.199 it seems real, it seems important, But you're not the movie. 130 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:04.680 You're the space in which the movie is appearing. You're 131 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:09.199 the screen, not the images on the screen. Now, let 132 00:08:09.240 --> 00:08:11.759 me tell you what happens when you begin to disidentify 133 00:08:11.800 --> 00:08:14.519 from thinking, when you begin to recognize that you are 134 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:18.079 not the voice in your head, something quite remarkable occurs. 135 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:23.199 The thinking begins to slow down, it loses its compulsive quality. 136 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:26.879 It's like you've discovered the off switch, or at least 137 00:08:26.920 --> 00:08:32.159 the volume control. This doesn't mean thinking stops entirely. Practical 138 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:36.399 thinking still arises when needed, but the endless, useless, repetitive 139 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:41.200 internal chatter begins to subside, and in its absence you 140 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:45.879 discover something extraordinary. There's a silence underneath all the mental noise, 141 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:50.279 a vast, spacious awareness in which thoughts come and go 142 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:54.200 like clouds passing through the sky. And in this silence, 143 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:59.360 this spaciousness, you're more present to life as it actually is, 144 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:04.759 rather than being lost in thoughts about life. You're here now, 145 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:08.039 rather than being lost in memories of the past or 146 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:12.919 fantasies about the future. You're experiencing directly, rather than through 147 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:16.120 the filter of constant mental commentary. Let me give you 148 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:20.600 an example. Imagine you're looking at a beautiful sunset. If 149 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:24.639 the mind is chattering, it's saying things like, oh, what 150 00:09:24.720 --> 00:09:28.320 a beautiful sunset. I should take a photograph. This reminds 151 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:31.320 me of that sunset I saw five years ago. I 152 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:34.720 wonder if tomorrow's sunset will be as nice. I wish 153 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:37.200 Sarah were here to see this. I should tell her 154 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:40.200 about it? What time is it? How long should I 155 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:43.600 watch this? And on and on and in all this thinking, 156 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:48.320 you're not actually seeing the sunset. You're thinking about the sunset, 157 00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:51.039 but you're not present to the direct experience of it. 158 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:57.000 But if the mind is quiet, you're simply seeing colors, light, movement, 159 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:01.320 the vast sky, the extraordinary display of nature. No words 160 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:05.799 about it, no evaluation of it, no comparison to other sunsets, 161 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:11.000 just this pure seeing, pure being here with what is. 162 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:16.279 And this direct experience is so much richer, so much 163 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.879 more alive, than any thought about experience could ever be. 164 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:23.039 This is what the mystics mean when they talk about 165 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:25.960 living in the present moment. They don't mean thinking about 166 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.919 the present moment. That's just more thinking. They mean being 167 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:32.559 so present that the thinking subsides and you're in direct 168 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:37.600 contact with reality as it unfolds, moment by moment, without 169 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:41.440 the mediating filter of thought. Now you might be wondering, 170 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:45.919 how do you achieve this, How do you quiet the mind? 171 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:50.360 How do you stop the internal dialogue? And here's where 172 00:10:50.360 --> 00:10:53.879 we come to a very subtle point. You can't stop 173 00:10:53.919 --> 00:10:57.240 it by trying to stop it, because who would be 174 00:10:57.320 --> 00:11:00.759 trying the mind would be trying to stop up the mind. 175 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:04.240 The thinker would be trying to stop thinking, and this 176 00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:08.519 just creates more thought, more effort, more internal dialogue. It's 177 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:12.120 like the old instruction, don't think of a pink elephant. 178 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:15.240 The moment you try not to think of something, you're 179 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:18.200 thinking about it. In the same way, if you try 180 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.279 to stop thinking, you're engaging in a kind of thinking. 181 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:25.440 You're creating thoughts about stopping thoughts, and this doesn't work. 182 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.559 It just creates more mental noise, not less. So what's 183 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:34.600 the alternative. The alternative is not to try to stop thinking, 184 00:11:34.919 --> 00:11:38.799 but to observe thinking, to become aware of thinking, to 185 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:42.200 notice the internal dialogue without getting caught up in it, 186 00:11:42.679 --> 00:11:47.000 without believing it, without identifying with it. To watch thoughts 187 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:49.720 the way you might watch clouds passing through the sky, 188 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.799 noticing them but not becoming them, not following them, not 189 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:57.200 getting lost in them. This is what meditation practices are 190 00:11:57.200 --> 00:12:02.320 fundamentally about. Not stopping thought that's common misunderstanding, but becoming 191 00:12:02.360 --> 00:12:06.639 aware of thought, creating some space between awareness and thinking, 192 00:12:07.320 --> 00:12:09.679 recognizing that you are not your thoughts, you are the 193 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:13.440 awareness in which thoughts appear. And when you practice this, 194 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:18.279 when you consistently observe thinking without identifying with it, something 195 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:22.919 very interesting happens. The thinking gradually loses its compulsive quality. 196 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:26.519 It's like you've stopped feeding it with your attention and belief. 197 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:30.360 And when thoughts aren't believed, when they are not taken 198 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:34.440 as absolute truth, when they're not identified with, they naturally 199 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:38.200 begin to subside. Think of thoughts as being like waves 200 00:12:38.240 --> 00:12:41.200 on the ocean. If you believe you are the waves, 201 00:12:41.639 --> 00:12:47.279 if you identify with every surge and crash, life is turbulent, unstable, frightening. 202 00:12:47.879 --> 00:12:50.559 But if you recognize that you are the ocean itself, 203 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:54.320 that the waves are just temporary movements on the surface, 204 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.279 while the depths remain calm, then the waves can come 205 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:02.799 and go without disturbing, being your fundamental peace. Now I 206 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:05.679 want to address something important. The mind won't like this. 207 00:13:06.720 --> 00:13:10.759 The thinking mind will resist this shift in identification because 208 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:13.960 it threatens its very existence. It will come up with 209 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:18.279 all sorts of arguments for why constant thinking is necessary, 210 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:20.879 Why you need to worry, why you need to analyze, 211 00:13:21.159 --> 00:13:24.399 why you need to plan, why you can't just be 212 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.039 present without all this mental activity. It will tell you 213 00:13:28.159 --> 00:13:31.759 that if you stop thinking so much, you will become irresponsible, 214 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.639 you will fail to achieve your goals, You will be 215 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:39.000 taken advantage of, you will miss important opportunities. It will 216 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:41.519 create fear about what will happen if you don't keep 217 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:44.840 up the constant mental vigilance. And all of this is 218 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.679 just the mind trying to maintain its control, trying to 219 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:50.480 keep you identified with it, trying to prevent you from 220 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:53.240 discovering that you are not it. But if you can 221 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:56.639 see through these stories, if you can recognize them as 222 00:13:56.759 --> 00:14:00.639 just more thinking, just more of the same compulsive men chatter, 223 00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:04.720 then you can let them pass without being controlled by them. 224 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:08.360 You can acknowledge the thought, ah, there's a worried thought 225 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.279 about stopping thinking and let it go, coming back to 226 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:18.679 simple awareness, simple presence, and gradually, gradually the identification weakens. 227 00:14:19.120 --> 00:14:21.879 You begin to experience yourself more and more as the 228 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:26.240 awareness in which thoughts appear, rather than as the thoughts themselves. 229 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:32.080 And this shift, though it might seem small, is actually revolutionary. 230 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:35.799 It's the difference between being trapped in a dream and 231 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:39.559 knowing your dreaming. The dream might still be happening, but 232 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:42.840 you're no longer fooled by it, you're no longer identified 233 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:45.519 with it. Let me tell you what life becomes like 234 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:50.360 when this shift occurs, even partially, there's a sense of spaciousness, 235 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:56.559 of freedom. Things that used to trigger compulsive thinking, worries, anxieties, 236 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:00.519 regrets still arise, but they don't hook you this way. 237 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:04.840 They're like clouds passing through a vast sky. They come 238 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:09.159 and they go, but the sky remains unchanged. There's a 239 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:13.440 natural piece that's always present underneath the mental noise, not 240 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:16.320 a piece you have to achieve or maintain, but a 241 00:15:16.360 --> 00:15:19.399 piece that's your fundamental nature that's always been there but 242 00:15:19.559 --> 00:15:22.879 was obscured by all the thinking. It's like discovering that 243 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:26.320 beneath the choppy surface of the ocean, there's always been 244 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:30.799 a calm depth. There's also a freshness to experience because 245 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:35.000 you're not constantly filtering everything through thought, through memory, through 246 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:38.039 comparison and judgment. You meet each moment as if for 247 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:40.639 the first time. A flower is just a flower, not 248 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:43.320 a flower like that other flower, or a flower that 249 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:46.480 reminds me of or a flower I should photograph. Just 250 00:15:46.600 --> 00:15:52.120 this flower here now, pure and immediate, and paradoxically, when 251 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:55.440 you're less identified with thinking, you actually think more clearly. 252 00:15:55.480 --> 00:15:59.159 When thinking is needed because the thinking isn't compulsive and 253 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:07.360 confused and contradictory. It's focused, purposeful, efficient. You use thought 254 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.679 as a tool rather than being used by thought as 255 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.399 if you were its tool. So why won't your mind 256 00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:17.679 stop talking to itself? Because you keep believing it's you, 257 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:20.639 You keep identifying with it, you keep feeding it with 258 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:24.240 your attention and belief. The moment you begin to observe 259 00:16:24.279 --> 00:16:27.720 it rather than be it, the moment you recognize yourself 260 00:16:27.759 --> 00:16:30.799 as the awareness in which thinking happens, rather than as 261 00:16:30.840 --> 00:16:34.919 the thoughts themselves. In that moment, the compulsive quality of 262 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:39.639 thinking begins to dissolve. The internal dialog might not disappear completely. 263 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.919 Thoughts will still arise, that's the nature of mind. But 264 00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:48.080 they'll arise in space, in silence, in awareness, and they'll 265 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:51.279 subside again, returning to the source from which they came. 266 00:16:51.639 --> 00:16:53.919 And you'll discover that you are not the coming and going. 267 00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:56.240 You are the space in which the coming and going happens. 268 00:16:57.000 --> 00:16:59.440 You are not the waves, you are the ocean. You 269 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:01.519 are not the voice. You are the silence in which 270 00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:05.799 the voice appears. And in that recognition, there's a piece 271 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:08.279 that the thinking mind has been seeking all along, but 272 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:11.960 could never find through thinking, because the piece isn't in thought. 273 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.799 It's in the absence of identification with thought. It's in 274 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:17.079 the recognition of what you really are beneath all the 275 00:17:17.079 --> 00:17:20.440 mental noise. It's in the silence that's always been here, 276 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:24.799 waiting patiently to be noticed. So don't try to stop 277 00:17:24.839 --> 00:17:28.039 the voice in your head. Just notice it, observe it, 278 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:31.279 Recognize that it's happening, but that you are not it. 279 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:35.200 You are the awareness that knows the voices speaking, and 280 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:39.400 in that knowing, in that awareness, the voice naturally begins 281 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:43.039 to quiet, not because you've suppressed it, but because you've 282 00:17:43.079 --> 00:17:47.079 stopped believing in it, stopped identifying with it, stopped feeding 283 00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:51.119 it with your sense of self. And that ultimately is 284 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:53.720 why your mind won't stop talking to itself, because you 285 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:56.960 keep thinking you are the voice. The moment you realize 286 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:00.960 you're not, the whole thing shifts. The king might continue 287 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:03.880 for a while out of habit, but it's no longer 288 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.599 your talking. It's just talking happening in the space of 289 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:10.440 awareness that you are, and that makes all the difference. 290 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:11.519 Thank you.