I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it for a while now, and yeah, you are the conscious being that hears your thoughts, but how “deep” does that conscience go?
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What would you describe as your ‘self’?
Does it include your body? Does it include your mind? Does it include your self from the past? Does it include your children – do you consider then a part of you? Is your self a combination of some, or all, of these things? What is the self?
The concept that you are not your thoughts is based on theories which hold a very minimalistic perception of the self. According to these models, your thoughts are not your self. The narrative that you tell yourself about yourself is not your self either. According to these theories, think of the self as being more of an observer. This observer is your “true” self. This self can observe the thoughts passing through your mind. Therefore, your thoughts and your self are two separate things, and you are not your thoughts.
Mindfulness is based on a minimal perception of the self. One observes the thoughts passing by in their mind and trains their observer self to not react to those thoughts, thus detaching from them.
For more (fascinating) reading about theories of the self, just search for theories of self, cognition, and behaviour. I believe that this minimal view of self is based on Skinner’s Radical Behaviourism – search that for a good starting place.
Also, Get out of Your Mind and into your Body by Stephen Hayes is a brilliant book that describes this concept much better and more eloquently that I can. Highly recommend that.
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