The Untethered Soul
"To attain true inner freedom, you must be able to objectively watch your problems instead of being lost in them."
This quote is from the book, he Untethered Soul, The Journey Behind Yourself, by Michael Singer, un spiritual teacher. He offers solutions to our many problems we face everyday. He teaches us HOW TO THINK virus WHAT TO THINK.
This is most thorough journey of human inner space expressed in words and in a book. Below is a snapshot of his book but reading the book is truly a journey to untravelled places.
Find Your Inner Voice
Our mind never stops humming in the background. It’s always churning out thoughts and interpreting what it receives from our senses.
The very first step towards enlightenment is being able to listen to that background voice, which The Untethered Soul call the “Inner Voice”.
The Inner Voice is our self.
Our inner voice influences our emotions, and our emotions in turn influence how we perceive ourselves. How we perceive ourselves is the personal self. For example if we often feel jealous -the self level-, then we will think of ourselves as jealous persons -this is the personal self, how we perceive ourselves-.
But that’s a mistake.
The Inner Voice Is NOT You
This is the key concept of “The Untethered Soul”. What you think and feel is not the real you. Feelings and thoughts do not define you. Your inner voice is not you.This is also a crucial lesson from Eckard Tolle, another famous spiritual teacher and author of “The Power of Now“.
Getting In Touch With Your True Self
The only way to go past your inner voice is to meditate for 15 minutes minimum. After a while you will notice that your background Inner Voice has disappeared. And that’s when you can get in touch with your true self.
Shield Out Negative: Flow & Pain ResistanceMichael Singer talks about the negative events in our lives, and how to prevent them from leaving a long lasting impact.
And here is an example for you:
Imagine you’re driving and see your ex with someone else. You’ll keep driving, but the thoughts of your ex will depress you for days to come.
That happens at the Inner Voice level, and it keeps pestering us for a long time because we keep holding and blocking the inner voice thoughts within us. The author instead recommends you “lean away” from the negative, painful thoughts. Look at them. But don’t dwell on them and they will not take over you.Meditation will help you achieve the power to pull that off.
Blocking VS Letting Go
Example of blocking are:
Michael Singer says negative thoughts will come anyway, but you we need to let them go instead of holding on to them.
Examples of letting go:
Don’t Attach Feelings To Thoughts
Most of the thoughts in our our mind are not true. They are random, or heavily skewed towards negativity. When we fully entertain them, think about them, and attach feelings to them, that’s when they become real. And that’s when they poison our lives.Learning to let negative thoughts roam without entertaining them and without attaching feelings to them is liberating.
Let Fear Flow The Untethered Soul explains how for evolutionary reasons we give more weight and importance to negative information.
But fear is just another thought of our Inner Voice. It’s not you. It’s not even part of you.
And same as jealousy, instead of bottling it up, ruminating over it and let it consume you, you can accept it and let it go.
This quote is from the book, he Untethered Soul, The Journey Behind Yourself, by Michael Singer, un spiritual teacher. He offers solutions to our many problems we face everyday. He teaches us HOW TO THINK virus WHAT TO THINK.
This is most thorough journey of human inner space expressed in words and in a book. Below is a snapshot of his book but reading the book is truly a journey to untravelled places.
- Stop trying to change the outside world: the shift you need to be happy and peaceful is within you.
- We mostly think negatively: meditate and learn to let negative thoughts go without affecting you.
- Pain is OK. Don’t fight it or you “bottle it up”. Feel the pain but don't dwell in it, accept it, learn from it and let it go.
Find Your Inner Voice
Our mind never stops humming in the background. It’s always churning out thoughts and interpreting what it receives from our senses.
The very first step towards enlightenment is being able to listen to that background voice, which The Untethered Soul call the “Inner Voice”.
The Inner Voice is our self.
Our inner voice influences our emotions, and our emotions in turn influence how we perceive ourselves. How we perceive ourselves is the personal self. For example if we often feel jealous -the self level-, then we will think of ourselves as jealous persons -this is the personal self, how we perceive ourselves-.
But that’s a mistake.
The Inner Voice Is NOT You
This is the key concept of “The Untethered Soul”. What you think and feel is not the real you. Feelings and thoughts do not define you. Your inner voice is not you.This is also a crucial lesson from Eckard Tolle, another famous spiritual teacher and author of “The Power of Now“.
Getting In Touch With Your True Self
The only way to go past your inner voice is to meditate for 15 minutes minimum. After a while you will notice that your background Inner Voice has disappeared. And that’s when you can get in touch with your true self.
Shield Out Negative: Flow & Pain ResistanceMichael Singer talks about the negative events in our lives, and how to prevent them from leaving a long lasting impact.
And here is an example for you:
Imagine you’re driving and see your ex with someone else. You’ll keep driving, but the thoughts of your ex will depress you for days to come.
That happens at the Inner Voice level, and it keeps pestering us for a long time because we keep holding and blocking the inner voice thoughts within us. The author instead recommends you “lean away” from the negative, painful thoughts. Look at them. But don’t dwell on them and they will not take over you.Meditation will help you achieve the power to pull that off.
Blocking VS Letting Go
Example of blocking are:
- God I’m so weak, I gotta get over her
- I need a new and better girlfriend to show her
- I want a revenge on her
Michael Singer says negative thoughts will come anyway, but you we need to let them go instead of holding on to them.
Examples of letting go:
- It will be painful, but I won’t resist and I’ll get over it
- That image will run through my head for a few days and that’s OK.
- It’s just another event of my life, it shall pass
Don’t Attach Feelings To Thoughts
Most of the thoughts in our our mind are not true. They are random, or heavily skewed towards negativity. When we fully entertain them, think about them, and attach feelings to them, that’s when they become real. And that’s when they poison our lives.Learning to let negative thoughts roam without entertaining them and without attaching feelings to them is liberating.
Let Fear Flow The Untethered Soul explains how for evolutionary reasons we give more weight and importance to negative information.
But fear is just another thought of our Inner Voice. It’s not you. It’s not even part of you.
And same as jealousy, instead of bottling it up, ruminating over it and let it consume you, you can accept it and let it go.