We are not our thoughts
I recently made the statement, "we are not our thoughts" to someone who was beginning the process of learning mindfulness skills. She asked, "If we are not our thoughts, then who are we?" It was a good question that I confess I was not quite prepared to answer and it led me to do some reflection. We are clearly not our thoughts because our thoughts are constantly changing. Moment to moment, thoughts emerge and dominate attention for a while, then recede only to be replaced by other thoughts. What I think today is not what I thought last year or five years ago. But I still experience myself as the same person. Perhaps that is why some Eastern traditions say that the concept of "self" is an illusion. What we commonly think of as self - body, emotion, thought - is in constant flux. Yet there is something that is stable about how i experience my existence. For me, there is a stability in my values, in what I hold important in my life, that is more constant than the ever changing body, emotion, and thought. I am able to be clearer about my deepest values be taking the time for a quiet paying attention. Mindfulness is a tool for reminding myself to choose actions that will foster those values and make my life more in tune with what I hold to be most important. John Weaver, Psy.D.
