The Silent Watcher

Today I spent time talking with an intuitive friend about what was going on in each of our lives. I talked about the weirdness of my life these days. Much of the time I no longer have the background chatter going on in my head. You know, the incessant stream of thoughts worrying about tomorrow, or next week, or about something that happened in the past. In social situations I find myself interacting with folks and catch myself observing what I'm doing or saying. Even when I'm alone I'll observe the thoughts I'm having. It's as if at some level I'm detached from what my personality is doing. Mostly this ability to observe just leads me to laugh at myself. Like the two year old Robert who runs around and learns through falling down and getting up, I see myself moving forward, making mistakes, getting up and continuing to move forward. This ability to observe certainly doesn’t stop me from making mistakes, but being able to view things from a different perspective seems to lend humor to things. I wonder aloud to my friend where this ability has come from and if it will fade. My friend says I've experience a type of "awakening" and that she's experienced it twice in her own life. She suggests I reread "The Power of Now".

In the evening I began rereading the book. I immediately recall how confusing this book was when I first picked it up years ago. A bookmark seems to indicate that I only read half the book the first time. This guy's answer to everything was "be in the Now", and develop the ability to be the silent watcher of you thoughts. He notes that it's a skill developed either through rigorous practice or, more instantly, after experiencing a trauma in your life. Oh, I see.

Now as I read the book I get everything the guy is saying. It's written in question-answer format and sometimes I'm able to read a question and create a fairly accurate response before I read the author's answers to the questions.

According to the concept of Yin and Yang there's a balance in everything - dark and light, moving and stillness. This is just another experience that makes me wonder what else will come out of this journey.