the secret guide to knowing yourself

stone head meditation

People make a big deal about getting to know “themselves.” It’s a useful tool to figure out how we tick, why we make the decisions we do and what’s really going on inside our heads.

But can you really ever hope to know “yourself” or are we just mysterious processes the truth of which you can only ever guess at?

I think you can know yourself and it’s very simple but it might not be easy. First you have to make a switch. Instead of trying to know the content of your thoughts, body sensations and emotions, try to know how they occur.

What I mean by how they occur is this:

Thoughts: How do your thoughts occur? Where are they? Do you hear them or see them? In color or black and white? Big or small? How heavy are they? Are they moving pictures or snapshots? What effect does the thoughts have on the rest of you….do they lead to body sensations, emotions, etc.

Body Sensations: Where are they? Do they feel good or painful? How heavy are they? Do they move? Which way? Do certain body sensations cause thoughts or other body sensations? What body sensations cause you to eat or take a nap? How do your thoughts cause sensations and vice versa?

Emotions: Can you pull apart your experience of happiness to see how it’s just a unique combination of thoughts and body sensations? Can you pull apart what it means to feel a craving for a particular food or cup of coffee? Is it possible to examine the thoughts and body sensations that make up the experience of procrastination or resistance to doing something?

For many years I had a problem with procrastination. I still tend to default into putting things off, but if I can catch the experience happening, I can watch the thoughts and body sensations that build up to create that experience. By watching this unfold, I get down to the ground floor of my experience and see the processes that make up this particular experience.

Without trying to control or change, the experience often will roll away and break, like waves against the shore. Then I’m free to take on the project or activity I’ve been putting off. In the process I get a little closer to knowing exactly who I am (a flowing process of words, images and sensations).

Happiness!