'You are not your mind' - Eckhart Tolle

We all identify with our thoughts and emotions. When we are upset about something, we say or think 'I am upset'. The most relevant emotion that people are choosing to identify with in 2020 is 'I am anxious'.

The teachings of Eckhart Tolle, a spiritual teacher and author who says that once we can take a step back from our thoughts (be they negative or positive), we may experience a state of pure being. Being, in Eckhart's book The Power of Now, is defined as 'inner stillness'. When being is experienced, we are able to 'watch the thinker, (and) a higher level of consciousness becomes activated'.

Eckhart Tolle

I don't wish to attempt an explanation of Eckhart's spiritual philosophies better than he does, so I highly recommend you read his book.

This idea that we are not our thoughts, or the emotions which are born out of thought, is one so liberating that it has saved me in moments of intense anxiety. When I am thinking about something that makes me anxious - that usually hasn't happened yet, or might have happened but is therefore uncontrollable - I have found it helpful to imagine my thoughts as a cloud in my mind, just passing through. This practice remind me that, no matter what the clouds look like in that moment, there is always an ever-present blue sky behind them.

When we realise that it is just the thought that is making us feel a certain way, and not something that is actually happening in front of us, we are able to witness our thoughts as a separate entity and just be.

This is the state of higher consciousness that Eckhart talks about. We no longer identify with or, in other words, get caught up in our thoughts as something that we are, but recognise them as something separate from our innate being. Most likely, we catastrophise because our minds think that worrying is in some way helpful, and we get so used to doing this that the behaviour is an automatic response.

So, how do we experience this state of being? Put simply, it is always there. But recognising it is an ongoing practice, and one that must be implemented frequently into our lives so that we may feel the true peace and happiness that lies behind the chaos of our thoughts.