Self-Study Lesson – Becoming the Observer Self
Welcome to the Self Study Lesson on Becoming the Observer Self. There are several lessons on this topic below. Take as long as you want on each lesson, focusing on the action step at the end. Then, go to the next lesson.
Lesson 1: What Is the Observer Self?
Q: What is the Observer Self?
A: The Observer Self is that part of you that I refer to as a spiritual muscle of your Higher Self and, when activated, opens you up to a new vision of yourself, your behaviors, your thought forms, and your emotions. When you activate your Observer Self, it is your roadmap to freedom.
Q: Will observing myself help to rid me of my negative thoughts? How does that happen?
A: It is important every day to commit to observing your thoughts. When you wake up in the morning, commit to observing your thoughts throughout the day. In order to assure yourself that you are observing your thoughts, set an alarm for every 30 minutes, or while driving–whatever helps with this practice. Remember, you are engaging in a new system of operating. Whenever you observe a negative thought form, acknowledge it and then make a conscious effort to change it. Throughout the day, you will experience negative thought forms and little by little you will experience a change in your thoughts. It will become automatic for you to change your thinking or acknowledge a pattern that you want to investigate further through meditation or journaling.
Q: Will observing myself also help me to evaluate my emotions and behaviors?
A: Absolutely. By observing your emotions, you will learn to be in control of situations and experiences that seem to be out of your control. We all have had those moments when, in the middle of a difficult challenge, we wish we had behaved differently or responded differently. By observing your emotions, you will allow yourself to observe that situation from your Higher Self and then give yourself time to respond differently. Over time, you will come to depend on your Observer Self and trust that you are responding appropriately in every situation or experience.
Q: How long will it take me to become an observer of self?
A: It will take the time it takes. Remember, you are establishing a new pattern of observing yourself, and this will take a commitment to do the work and become vigilant every day to observe yourself. Be patient with yourself because the rewards are great.
Q: What can I do right now to utilize my Observer Self?
A: First of all, desire it, practice it daily, and trust that this tool is supporting you on your spiritual journey to enlightenment. Do not give up, OBSERVE!
Action Step: Practice watching your thoughts and emotions. Journal what you are noticing each day.
Lesson 2: Becoming the Active Observer Self
It is now time to develop your Observer Self. The reason this is such an important spiritual tool is because it helps you to observe your behavior and actions with others. By watching yourself in action, you can stop yourself from falling back into old patterns and thus make better choices.
Being the Observer Self is one of the most powerful ways to change your patterns of thinking, thus changing your consciousness and amplifying the light that you are able to shine forth. Think of your life as a play you are observing and watch yourself in action. See yourself as the actor and director watching the “play.” By doing this you can observe your personality in action. Now you can make different choices about how to handle your life situations. As you develop this skill, it becomes a very important ability and supports your spiritual journey in many ways.
Q: What does it mean to be the Observer Self?
Sometimes it means watching your reactions arise in the mind, and letting them pass through your mind without engaging them.
Sometimes it means watching your reactions and making different choices than what those reactions are pushing you to make.
Sometimes it means sensing the reaction stirring and stopping it before it goes any further in your consciousness.
Practice observing your thoughts and feelings throughout the day. Use an outer cue to remind you to be present with your thoughts: Perhaps setting a timer to go off every hour, or every time the phone rings, or at each red light while you are driving.
Action Step: Watch the following video, then journal your responses to the questions below.
Observe Yourself and Embrace Your Changes
- How might becoming the active observer of your emotional states help you stay out of the drama of life? What kinds of emotions and situations could this help you with?
- As you have observed yourself, have you noticed some old beliefs or emotional patterns that might no longer be relevant or serve you? How did you discover them?
- When have you had your world “tip over”, as Jane Elizabeth called it? In what ways did this make you stronger, wiser, and more resilient, capable or determined?
- What is a “comfort zone”? Why is it important to let it go? What might you gain from doing so? Identify some of yours.
- In what ways do you see yourself needlessly defending yourself or making yourself right?
Lesson 3: Benefits of Developing the Observer Self
Q: What is the benefit of using my Observer Self?
A: The Observer Self is one of the most powerful tools that you can use to change your patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. It is that part of you that you can use to watch your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and so gain some control over yourself. Simply by observing how you think, feel, and act, you can dissolve these old patterns. By using your Observer Self, you change your consciousness and so increase the light that you are able to shine forth from within your soul. This frees up new energy and enlivens your entire being.
Q: What does the Observer Self actually do?
It monitors your thoughts, and helps you to observe your behaviors and actions with others. It helps you to make better choices so that you do not fall back into old habits. It helps you to awaken and understand yourself better.
Q: What is the process of developing the Observer Self?
Developing your Observer Self is a process whereby you focus your consciousness in the now moment, removing yourself from your present physical/mental activity. You assess exactly where your thinking is and take stock of what you see. You are looking for a deeper meaning behind your current activities.
Q: What is an example of how I can use the Observer Self?
A: You can see yourself as an actor in your own play or even think of yourself as the director of that play. You can observe the actor and be curious about making changes.
As we move forward on this spiritual adventure, we are beginning to understand the value of being the observer self and why detachment is so important. By now you have begun to notice how emotions play such an important role in your life and color your decision making process. Emotions have great power and we swing back and forth and feel out of control. If we watch this yo-yo effect, we can stop the yo-yos before they get out of control. By taking this action, you will be regaining your power.
Action Step: Continue to practice using your Observer Self. Journal each day about what you are noticing.
Lesson 4: Deepening Your Observer Self Practice
The Observer Self is part of you; it belongs to you and watches over you. It helps you to understand who you are, to evaluate what you are doing and how you behave. It contains many, many possibilities of use that will help you better understand yourself and your behavior. By using it, you will be able to master your emotions.
We are so busy in our lives, running from one thing to the next, that we run on automatic pilot. it is as if you are a squirrel that is running around in your cage, without thought.
When this happens, you can be repeating emotional patterns that will sometimes cause unintended negative consequences.
Your observer self will gradually help you separate from these automatic patterns. It can be useful to give these patterns a name. We often refer to the automatic emotional patterns as ‘the lower self’. Your ability to see these automatic patterns from the observer’s point of view is strengthening your connection with your higher self.
Action to Take: Watch this video, then journal your responses to the questions below:
Emotional Patterns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIkIXmDrix8
- Right now, what relationships or situations appear to trigger your lower self? For instance, are you the “scared little girl” with your boss at work, and then the “demanding tyrant” at home with your spouse or children? Where do each of these show up?
- What label can you use to identify who in you is reacting to different circumstances and relationships? For example, “The scared little girl/boy”? “Little Brian/Jennifer”? “Miss Jane”? “The angry adolescent?” “My not okay self”?
- Imagine that you are able to climb a ladder and look down into your emotional body. What traits and characteristics can you see there?
- How has each lower emotional state caused you trouble in the past? Write down and journal a free-flowing exploration of each one. See where this takes you.
- How can you better deal with these situations in the future? Journaling? Make a commitment to meet these situations from a new vantage point–that of the Active Observer.
- How can meditation help you to detach and separate from the “sticky-gluey” nature of these lower false selves?
Lesson 5: How to Support Your Active Observer Self
Q: How do I activate my Observer Self?
Observe yourself throughout the day and notice what you are thinking. Many of us do observe ourselves at times. However, by stating that you want to observe yourself and making a conscious effort, you will open up a channel to do so. Over time, it will become automatic to observe yourself without thought.
Q: When I am in my Observer Self and recognizing a consciousness, how can I help myself?
Ask yourself these three questions:
- What am I thinking?
- Why am I thinking it?
- Why am I judging things?
Q: Is there a more effective way to be the observer of myself?
There are two ways that people use their Observer Self. First, there is the one who uses their Observer Self occasionally, and when it’s convenient for them. Then, there’s the one who uses their active Observer Self 24/7 every day of their life. The one who is more active is more likely to understand and change their behavior than the once-in-a-while observer.
Q: How else can I observe myself?
A: Become the observer and watch yourself in action. Create some detachment by pretending you are watching a movie. You are the director of this movie, and you are watching the actor play its part. Start journaling what you are observing. You will begin to see a pattern forming around your activities.
Q: What emotional patterns might my Observer self be noticing?
A: As we become the guardian of our inner space, and spend more time in the observer mode, we become more conscious of our feelings and emotions. These are the different forms of emotional pain: resentment, self-pity, depression, jealousy, anger, guilt.
Once we consciously observe our emotions and identify them, a process begins; and we are now consciously participating in dissolving our emotional pain.
Action to take: Identify your emotional behaviors. Forgive yourself for the emotional pattern. Remind yourself of the power within your soul to overcome any problem. Release the emotional energy.
a) Journal about the problem
b) Affirm that you have the power to lift the negative pattern up into the Light.
c) Now imagine releasing the negative pattern.
Lesson 6: How Your Observer Self Helps Free You
Becoming your Observer Self begins the process that allows you to actually erase the karma that you have accumulated over the course of your many lifetimes. By the act of forgiveness, you can release the patterns that have kept you in bondage to your limited self. But first, you must see what is there for you to forgive. That is the role of the Observer Self. Then, by utilizing a releasing technique such as the “Seven Steps to Successful Life Transitions”, you can move inside those old patterns and let them go. (Use the link in the navigation bar above to learn more about the Seven Steps process.) By discovering the relationship between observer self, karma and forgiveness, you will find the key to liberating your soul from limitations.
You are consciously assisting in the evolution of your soul when you become the active Observer of yourself. But you cannot change anything until you can identify what needs to be changed. The Observer Self is the guardian and support system that watches over the personality self, and helps to release that which is not working for you. So by taking responsibility for that aspect of yourself, you are able to take huge spiritual steps forward on your journey of self discovery.
Action to take:
Watch the following video, then respond to the questions below:
Game of Life Part 6: The Observer Self
- How can forgiving another person lead you to forgiving yourself?
- When in your life have you forgiven another person and it led to an experience of greater freedom within yourself? What happened?
- When have you learned something new about yourself by stepping back and looking at yourself more objectively?
- What can you do each day to remind yourself to be the observer of that self? What works best for and what isn’t effective?
- What is the relationship between the observer self, karma and forgiveness? How do you see that process working out in you?
- How can meditation open the inner door to your observer self?
Lesson 7: The Ongoing Practice of the Observer Self
As we embrace a challenge that is before us, we must handle the emotions that arise with it. Emotions can push us off our center if we are not aware of them. Spiritual mastery is learning to be conscious of the emotion rising up and to stay above its pull so that we can choose wise and act clearly.
Q: What do I do when I observe myself in a negative light?
A: Allow yourself to feel these feelings and acknowledge them. We all have thoughts and behavior patterns we want to change. However, you can’t change these thoughts and behavior patterns until you see them, acknowledge them and make a decision to change. Change happens when you begin seeing what needs to be changed and take the steps to make that change happen. Meditation and journaling are your champion tools for observing yourself.
Q: How will meditation help me be an observer of self?
Meditation is your support system as you observe yourself. As you meditate, observe your thoughts as they move through your mind. Some of your thoughts will move in and through you while others will linger. Be vigilant and write down and journal those lingering thoughts. These thoughts will give you the key to unlocking your resistance to change.
Q: How do I know when I am in my Observer Self?
A: You will know that you are in your Observer Self when your emotions do not run you, you are not triggered into judgment, and you are compassionately detached from the situation or person. You will also see from a higher vantage point what is taking place in your life, which affords you the capability to make wise decisions from your Higher Self, rather than the emotional, fear-based ego/personality self.
Action to take: Observe your emotional responses in every situation. Have an affirmation at hand, like “Thank You, God,” and affirm it when an emotional surge rises. This will help you stay focused, in the present moment and open to your intuition.
Congratulations! You are ready to move on to the next topic. Remember that I am here to support you. janehart@cfenlightenment.
Proceed to the Self-Study Lesson on JOURNALING.