You Are Not Your Thoughts

“You are not the voice in your head—you are the one who hears it.”

— Michael A. Singer, The Untethered Soul

Have you ever noticed how your mind never really rests?

From the moment we wake up, a stream of thoughts flows—some anxious, some critical, some completely random. As men, we’re often taught to suppress our feelings, to stay strong and "get over it." But in doing so, many of us start to believe the harsh voices in our heads: You’re not enough. You’re weak. You’re broken.

But here’s the truth:

You are not your thoughts. You are the one who sees them.

🧠 The Great Illusion: "I Think, Therefore I Am?"

We’ve been conditioned to believe that our thoughts define us. But imagine sitting quietly and watching clouds pass in the sky. Would you say you are the clouds? Of course not—you are simply watching them.

In the same way, your thoughts are not who you are. They are mental weather. You are the sky—vast, untouched, and eternal.

Eckhart Tolle, in The Power of Now, reminds us:

 “The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the thinker.”

This shift—from identification to observation—is the birth of inner peace.

🔍 The Inner Critic Is Not You

So many men carry an invisible burden: self-judgment. Maybe we were told as boys not to cry, not to feel, to "man up." Over time, we internalize this into a cruel inner voice—one that constantly judges us.

But that voice? It’s not truth.

It’s a collection of past experiences, cultural conditioning, and pain.

And you are not obligated to believe it.

As Victor Frankl writes in Man’s Search for Meaning:

 “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.”

“In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

You can choose not to react. You can choose to just observe.

🌊 From Reacting to Witnessing

The Bhagavad Gita offers timeless wisdom on mastering the mind. In Chapter 6, Lord Krishna says:

“Let a man lift himself by his own Self alone... for the Self is the friend of the self, and the Self is also the enemy of the self.”

This teaching is profound: Your mind can be your greatest ally or your worst enemy.

The key is to stop identifying with every thought and instead rest in awareness.

Through meditation, deep breathing, silence, or even walking in nature, you create space between you and the voice in your head. In that space, you meet your true self—not the mind, but the witness.

🌱 Healing Begins With Awareness

So what happens when you stop believing every thought?

You heal.

You realize you’re not broken. You’re not behind. You’re simply a human being learning to separate from the noise and return to the calm.

You start to treat yourself with more kindness.

You learn that it’s okay to pause, to rest, to just be—without needing to “fix” anything.

In The Untethered Soul, Singer says:

“You will not be free until you get to the point where you no longer want to be free from your thoughts.”

Because you no longer fear your thoughts. You just observe them, like clouds floating by.

🕯️You Are the Stillness Beneath the Storm

Brother, if no one has told you today:

You are not your anxiety.

You are not your past.

You are not your self-doubt.

You are the quiet presence behind it all.

And that presence—your awareness—is strong, wise, and whole.

Return to it. Rest in it. Reclaim it.

The more you live from this space, the more peaceful your life becomes—not because the world changes, but because you are no longer swept away by every thought in your mind.

🧘‍♂️ Gentle Practices to Start Today:

●Sit for 3 minutes and observe your breath. Let thoughts come and go like passing cars.

●Write down your inner critic’s voice. Then, write a compassionate response from your true self.

●Spend time in nature — no phone, no distractions. Just presence.

"The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master."

— Robin Sharma

Today, begin the journey of becoming the master.

Not by controlling every thought—but by no longer being ruled by them.