Are Most People Talking To Themselves All The Time and Hallucinating That They're The Ones Creating Their Thoughts?
I believe so. How do I know this? I was like this too, and to this day, any day that I don't meditate in the morning, I continue to feel this way. The mind is by far the least understood thing on planet earth right now.
Even though I can monitor my thoughts when I haven't meditated that day, and know that I'm not the generator of those thoughts, they continue to feel as they were my own throughout the rest of the day, regardless of what I know to be the truth.
Unless I sit in the morning and passively watch these thoughts come and go and reassure myself that I'm not thinking these thoughts time and time again by passively watching my thoughts every morning , that they pop up in my brain the same way hiccups pop up in my life, it feels like I'm the one generating these thoughts and it's easy to get caught up thinking endlessly.
If you want a super short guide on how to meditate, you can read my other article on the matter: https://steemit.com/meditation/@entity401/the-super-simple-guide-on-how-to-meditate
If it's still TL;DR, the gist of it is, you sit cross-legged and pay attention to your breath, and whenever you notice thoughts pop up in your head (and they soon will), you simply exercise your concentration and will by bringing your attention back to your breath, and you repeat this process over and over again.
One thing I've found that works incredibly well for me whenever I don't feel like doing something I know I need to be doing, by the plans I have laid out for my life, is to remember that the present moment is the only real thing that exists. Rather than looking back at the ways I've acted in the past and saying to myself, well that's how I am and always will be, I bring the focus of my attention back to the only real moment that exists, the present moment, and act from there.
I say that the present is the only thing that exists because when you're thinking about the past, you're doing that now, and when the past was occurring, that was now too, and when the future happens, that's now as well, so you can really only every do anything now.
Hope this helps some of you out, and I hope you guys have wonderful days!
Thanks for reading!
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Love the post. I think your question ultimately comes down to definition of self. Who is 'I'?
I think so too, going to be writing a few more posts on the self, and what psychology knows about the self, as it's absolutely fascinating, and thanks I appreciate it
The answer to your question is: yes, kinda.
We're not the source of our thoughts, we're the monitor of our thoughts as they arise from the subconscious.
It's true that most people aren't aware of this. However, since we're not the source of our thoughts, we can't talk to ourselves. We can only listen. Our conscious awareness is completely silent.
I agree, technically talking to ourselves isn't actually talking to ourselves since we don't really exist, and whenever you go up one level to try to find out who is the watcher, watching the thoughts, the self goes up another level, always evading our grips
Spoiler: We're like a container that can't perceive itself except through it's contents.
Damn, that's an interesting way to put it
I wonder how to add anything to this, as I like it. I went so far as to pay my way into the TM programme (with a huge discount, but still serious euros) to realise that it is that simple. My problem is totally a lack of practise.
Like I do it precisely never.
What I have found is before and since, my painting process can often lead me into many hours (not pure, or maybe continuous is a better word, with interruptions as you can imagine in a house with twelve animals) of what fills this void.
It is no small part of the reason that I must work to feel even remotely 'happy' in my day to day.
And it doesn't combine well with reading, writing and commentating.
I assume you're talking about transcendental meditation, which many have spoken up about it being a sham, and how many other forms of meditation are significantly better. What I described is called Mindfulness Meditation and is what's most recommended by the top Psychologists and neuro-scientists of today. I have personally tried both, and have never been able to stick to transcendental meditation because I just don't have the patience for it, not yet anyway. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it.
hey yes. It is a scam, although the lovely girl who taught us the method certainly isn't in it for scammy reasons.
She is a true believer.
And I did nothing to let her know I feel like the TM thing is basically a type of... I don't know whether scam is exactly the right word, but you must know.
My own private realisation.
I can't stick to too much, except the working method goes close.
Big hugs
Thanks for letting me know your thoughts, I really appreciate it. <3