This is a big one for me. It’s a skill that can get you through any trial you may face. I debated on the title to this post, because it’s tricky to classify this, but it’s one of the basics in understanding who we truly are.
We are not our possessions, nor our thoughts, or our fears, or any other traditional definition of identity. Who we are is the watcher behind our surface-level awareness, the being within who notices everything happening, living simultaneously in a state of constant alertness and eternal contentment.
Attempt to become aware of your thoughts, and the sensory input from your eyes, ears, nose, and skin. Now try to pinpoint your emotions and where your reactions stem from. Notice these are all on certain outer levels of our being, and behind those is the watcher within.
The watcher stares out through your eyes. It reaches through all of your senses. It stays nestled in the core of our bodies. The watcher observes, but does so from a place of total peace and acceptance. Peal back the layers that disguise it. One of the biggest things you can do for your own mental, emotional, and spiritual health, is to become aware of the difference of where your surface-level reactions come from, and the deeper place where your watcher sits.
Our soul—a fragment of our Higher Self (the bulk of which remains anchored on the Other Side), and the true, undiluted part of what makes us who we are—is found within this watcher. We are NOT our sensory and fearful reactions to things. We are the being beyond them, noticing them, recording data. The more you are able to identify the place where your watcher exists, and tap into that place at will, the more you will become aware of truth.
Your soul—the watcher within—does not worry. Ever. Even in dire circumstances. It does not fear or obsess. It only stays alert and absorbs all that is around us. Sometimes it communicates, but only through our intuition or the quiet, insistent voice of gut compulsion. This is why in life or death circumstances, thought falls away and we can react more quickly than seems possible—with confidence, intelligence, and surprising strength. That’s your soul stepping forward and taking the wheel, if only for a brief moment.
A great benefit of becoming aware of this true facet of who you are is that it can show you at any given moment that everything is okay. Your soul is not influenced by the news, or our daily frets, or even the greatest challenges we face. It remains steady and sure. It lives solely in the present moment. For it, future and past are inconsequential. It’s anchored in calm love.
Any time I’m unsure of things happening around me or in my life, I tap into this place and soak in the reassurance it provides. It’s our inner compass pointing us to what really matters. It guides us, always, away from our fear.
Even when we’re not lost in fear’s fog, but only the mist of indecision, the clarity of our watcher can provide direction. And it’s always there. It’s what’s left when all nonsense is wiped away. It’s our constant touchstone through every experience—great and small.
The more you embrace a spiritual awakening, the more you will become this part of yourself. You’ll fall more easily and naturally into a near-meditative state of readiness and simmering joy. Challenges will reveal themselves as fleeting nuisances they are, and you’ll more easily recognize the eternal tranquility from which all of nature springs. You’ll see why animals and plants radiate a type of steadiness humans rarely find.
Seek out this part of you. Embrace it. Live there more often, as long as you can. It’ll bring more happiness to your days than you can possibly imagine.
Love and blessings, friends.