Navigating the River of Thoughts and Emotions: Finding Your Inner Observer

Whether you want to lose weight, build muscle, find a partner, get a raise or find your dream job...I find one thing to be true.

How you think and how you feel about your current life circumstances play a major role in which direction your life goes.

There are infinite possibilities available to you. Which one becomes real hinges on the above.

We put so much emphasis on making decisions, choices. We debate the thoughts in our head, and go through every scenario imaginable in hopes of finding the perfect solution. 

Except this often flawed...

You are not your thoughts. You are not your emotions. You are the one who recognizes that you have these.

I realize this may be an odd concept to wrap your head around, so stick with me as I do my best to illustrate this to you.

Imagine you are standing alongside a river. You watch it objectively flow by you. Think of the water in our example as spirit, soul, life force energy, shakti, chi.

It flows with ease, purity, intention and perfect flow. Nothing obstructs it. It is connected to all things, including you. You, the person observing, are pure consciousness (consciousness: pure awareness of your surroundings). Separate, yet connected to source.

Now lets say that every thought that flows through you is like a raft in the river. It represents the infinite feelings and emotions that you may experience each day. Your soul is what carries them, and you are free to simply observe them from aside.

Some of these rafts are represented as shame, guilt, fear. Others are joy, courage, happiness.  We are separate from all of them, simply free to observe them. At the same time, all are there for us to latch onto at any moment. And we do.

We pick one and we go for that ride. Lets say fear pops into our head. We then decide to hop on that "raft" and we experience our whole life through fear. We find reasons we will fail, cant be successful. Because we have jumped into that raft, fear runs the show, usually until we choose another one to jump into. Then that one will run our lives for a little while. Sometimes the ride is bumpy, and sometimes its joyous. It just depends on what raft (emotion or thought) you latch onto.

This will then affect our choices and decision making. We will jump into relationships to not feel lonely. We pursue exercise to not feel guilt. These emotions and thoughts run everything.

But what if you could step aside, to the shoreline and simply observe all of these thoughts and emotions flow by you. What if you didn't have to jump into any of them, but simply notice they were there and then let them go?

You see, we don't have to follow every thought or emotion and make them part of our whole identity. If we can observe our thoughts and feelings, then we must be separate of them.

This separation comes through awareness, through consciousness. You see, you are the observer.

When you observe you become separate.
When you are separate you can choose.
When you can choose, you can choose with intention.

Its only when we jump into that "raft" that we forget who we really are and what we are really capable of.

With awareness we can keep ourselves from taking a ride in an unwanted "raft" for too long. 

The way around jumping into unwanted rafts is to notice the next time you feel something that is uncomfortable. Maybe you feel shame, or guilt. Maybe fear. 

Notice it. Observe it. But don't take that ride. Feel it and let it go. Don't give it more energy by going through all the scenarios that give it more energy.

More energy = more power over you.

This would be like being in the raft of fear and then simply paddling quicker down the river. Don't feed it.

Instead, disarm it with awareness. 

Say, "oh, I notice you. I feel you. Interesting. I'm not going to feed you, I will simply let you go down the river without my participation."

When you do this with success, you notice you can make choices that align with your ideal health and lifestyle. Eating a certain way becomes easier because it's not driven by shame. You don't go to food to cope, because you've chosen not to go down the raft of guilt.

The same goes with exercise. You exercise from a place of high energy from courage and inspiration and self love. Not apathy, fear of judgment.

As the observer, you have real power to live your life from a better place. 

This may seem silly, but I've noticed these little visuals may be useful in making sense of a complex topic.

I've personally practiced this same concept over and over in my own life.

Specifically when I sold my house in 2021 and left to travel with no plan, no home and just an intuitive nature guiding me along the way.

It helped me lean into courage when I had no proof that things would work out. 

Give it a try next time you feel something unwanted. 

You don't have to get into the raft just because it goes by. 

You can wave goodbye and let it go.

Eliminating any fear or doubt you ever had about how amazing you really are.

I'm curious, does this resonate with you? 

I'd love to hear from you.