You are not your thoughts

For a long time I took every thought that arrived in my head as a fact about me. If a mean thought showed up, I was a mean person. If an anxious thought showed up, I was anxious.

The turning point was noticing that I could watch a thought without becoming it. There's the thought, and there's the me watching the thought. Two different things.

If this is new to you, try this today: catch one thought and just name it. "Ah, there's the thought that I'm bad at my job." Don't argue with it, don't agree with it. Just notice it arrived, and notice you're still here.

That small gap — you, then the thought — is where everything else begins.