You have to start by separating your TRUE SELF from your thoughts and your feelings. Your psyche is constructed of 3 entities: the first is the animal side, which acts on a subconscious level. Acting on a subconscious level means that you don’t actively think about what you’re doing, you simply do. For example, you don’t think about breathing, you just breathe. So the animal side of yourself (called the “Id” in psychology) carries out your normal functions like eating, sleeping, and seeking comfort. You are hard-wired to do these things, which do not require active thought.
The second entity in your psyche is the thinker. The “thinker” is the side of your psyche which creates thoughts. In psychology it’s called the “ego”. The purpose of the ego is to give your sense of self a form… it creates the person you think you are. If you think about the question “who am I?”, you’re going to think of yourself in terms of the world. I am a parent, I am an employee, I am a fighter, I am an American, I am tall, I am active, I am extroverted, I am this, I am that. It is also the side of yourself that has tendencies, vices, addictions. It sets patterns for your life according to what you think you want to do. It essentially creates a persona for yourself. It takes those labels that you want to identify with, and adds them to the persona that you created for yourself. It says, “I am an (accountant)” and those thoughts of you BEING that label makes you act like you are the label. Since you tie the term “accountant” to your identity, then your subconscious Id starts behaving accordingly. Accountants don’t wear pink hair, so you don’t wear pink hair. Remember the phrase “you are who you say you are”? This is true on many levels, and is the mechanism through which your ego creates that persona.
The third entity is called “your true or higher self”. Your true self is who you really are. In other words, all of the labels that your ego applies to your self are gone. They do not exist in relation to your true self. Your true self is the side of yourself that powers the other two. Your ego and id act according to what your true self wants. Whenever you say, “I’m having a crappy day but I’m going to look at the positive side of it”, this is your true self realizing that your ego is being negative, and it’s turning around according to what it wants (to look for positive aspects). Your true self is also the entity which is attuned to your spiritual side. Furthermore, your true self does not have thoughts. It simply observes, and acts according to your inner nature. Everybody is born with a hard-wired set of morals. Across all races and religions we observe things like “murder is wrong” and “stealing is wrong”. It is your higher self which motivates you to act in accordance to those morals.
Just remember that the ego is the entity which applies WORDS and LABELS to everything around you. It also applies JUDGMENTS. In other words, when you say you are having a “bad day”, it’s your ego judging it as bad. A day is a day like any other, it is neither good nor bad. It’s your ego’s negative judgment that makes it good or bad. This concept applies universally to all things that surround you. Your ego makes things good or bad. Your ego predisposes you to your moods, and it tells your mind and your body how to digest the things that happen to you.
Now, going back to the initial topic. 98% of the population behaves in accordance to the ego. In other words, the ego is in the driver’s seat, not your true self. As a matter of fact, there is a huge power struggle between the ego and the true self. The ego wants power, it wants to be in control. It gains control through your thoughts and judgments. It subconsciously makes judgments on your behalf. It predisposes you to act in accordance to its will, and makes you live out your life according to the persona it created.
