observer | David M Masters

Become the Observer: When You Find You Are Not Your Thoughts

Most people go through life believing they are their thoughts. Every passing worry, doubt, or fear becomes part of their identity. But here’s the truth: You are not your thoughts. You are the observer of them.

Thoughts are like clouds drifting across the sky of your mind. They come and go, constantly shifting, yet the sky remains unchanged. That sky is you—the real you, the unshakable awareness behind the noise.

99% of Your Thoughts Don’t Belong to You

Have you ever stopped to ask yourself, Where did this thought come from? If you do, you’ll quickly realize that most of the thoughts floating through your mind aren’t even yours. They are echoes of:

- Conditioning: Repetitive patterns drilled into you since childhood.
- Societal Programming: Expectations, fears, and limitations imposed by culture.
- The Energies Around You: Thoughts aren’t confined to your own mind; they are frequencies moving through the collective consciousness.

If you’re not intentional about filtering these influences, your mind can become a crowded room filled with voices that don’t serve you.

The Power of Stepping Back

The moment you step back and witness your thoughts instead of identifying with them, something incredible happens—you reclaim your power.

When you say, I am angry, you are binding yourself to that emotion. But when you shift to, I notice that anger is arising within me, you create space. You separate yourself from the thought and regain control over whether to feed it or let it pass.

This is the difference between being controlled by your mind and mastering it.

Feeling Overwhelmed? You’re Just in Too Deep

If you ever feel overwhelmed by your thoughts, emotions, or life itself, it simply means you’ve gotten too deep into the mental storm. You’ve been pulled onto the stage, lost in the role, tangled in the drama.

When this happens, back off, disengage, and resume the perspective of the observer.

All the world is a stage. Sometimes, you have to play your part, delivering your lines and engaging with the story. But sometimes, it’s okay to step backstage, take a seat in the audience, or even watch from the projection booth, even take a sabbatical.

Life is not about being trapped in every moment of the performance. It’s about knowing when to engage and when to retreat into quiet awareness. The ability to shift perspectives—between actor, audience, and observer—is the key to peace.

The Real You

So, who are you, if not your thoughts? You are the awareness behind them. You are the stillness, the presence, the conscious being who gets to decide which thoughts to engage with and which to release.

Imagine standing in the middle of a river. You can either fight against the current of endless thoughts, or you can step onto the shore and simply watch the water flow by. The more you practice stepping back into your awareness, the more you free yourself from unnecessary suffering.

The Art of Thought Selection

Not every thought deserves your attention. Your mind is like a radio constantly tuning in to different frequencies. Some stations play empowering messages, while others feed fear, doubt, and negativity. You get to exercise the power of your thought choice.

Try this simple practice:

1. When a thought arises, pause and observe it.
2. Ask yourself: Is this thought helpful? Does it align with my highest self?
3. If it doesn’t serve you, release it. Imagine it dissolving like a cloud.

The more you do this, the more you strengthen your ability to consciously direct your mind, rather than letting it control you.

Reclaiming Your Inner Stillness

Beneath the chaos of thoughts, a deep stillness exists within you. This is your true self. The more you connect with this awareness, the less you get caught up in the noise of the mind.

Meditation, prayer, breathwork, and mindful presence help you tune into this stillness. But the most powerful practice is simply remembering: You are the observer, not the thoughts.

The moment you embody this truth, you step into real freedom. You break free from old programming, societal conditioning, and unconscious mental patterns. You reclaim your sovereignty.

Because the real you isn’t lost in thought, you are the one watching. And when life becomes overwhelming, you always have the power to step back, take a breath, and return to the peaceful awareness that was there all along.

You Are the Center of the Universe

You are the center of the universe. Everything that you see, touch, taste, hear and smell, the rocks, the bugs, the birds all the creatures of the earth, from every atom to every star, the vast expanse of space, all the galaxies in the universe and all the life that is out there; all here for you, and without you would not one fragment of any of it exist.

For you, you are the observer and as the center of the universe nothing can be known without your witnessing, experiencing, considering or contemplating anything. Do you know it all? No. But do you sometimes feel like you do? Yes. And in that moment you know all that can be known in that time and space.

As you are open about all the possibilities which may exist in your universe, the universe tends to unfold, revealing more and more of itself to you in ways you may not have previously been able to imagine. The more you are open, the more information is vectored and attracted to your conscious, like a magnet, peeling back the layers of the façade which you previously considered was all there could be.

When you were younger, it was easy to wrap your mind around the idea of life being simple, uncomplicated, certainly not without its struggles or challenges, then one day t he light goes on; and you get a glimpse of what else is out there.

It is in that moment that you rise above the crowd, even for the briefest moment, to see… and you get the idea that maybe things are not as they appear. Things that you once highly regarded as truth, and may have been willing to fight or risk your life defending may not be real at all.

If you are able to resist the temptation to sink back into your place in the crowd, you remain open, and your consciousness expands and you begin to realize that you are the center of the universe. All of this, every part of existence and the hidden treasures of the mysteries which reveal themselves to you, do so because of you. If it weren’t for you, none of this could be known, and none of this would exist.

Then you slap your forehead (or someone else does) in hopes that you’ll snap out of it and go back to living the less complicated life as just another one of them. You might even try going backwards, and while some of us find ways to blend back into the herd of humanity, we know we are only living out our lives in stealth mode, because no one knows better than you that this is not all there is.

The world is full of activities, attention-grabbers, distractions, things that make you feel good for a moment, and things that make you feel bad, stress and strain in the struggle for survival amidst the herd. In fact, there is so much activity going on all around you 24/7 it’s a wonder you got to get a glimpse outside the maze even for a brief second at all. But you did.

But, you say, what about all the other people? They are all here just to support your universal experience. Each person, and any other material object and all that is immaterial, is all here for you and your unfolding life experience.

Sounds a little narcissistic, right?

Don’t bother with the inclination to align yourself with labels. Those labels are only for the sheep who allow themselves to be branded by them. You may have been one of them, but not anymore. (Not that you couldn’t find ways to comingle with them, for after all, they are only here for your amusement, enjoyment, understanding and growth.

You, your eyes, are the eyes of God in the center of the universe, experiencing all that can be from your unique perspective and vantage point. All of this is for you and you alone. Without you, none of this would exist.

But (here you go again),

“What about him? What about her?”

He or she is the center of his or her universe as well.

“What?”

And you start to consider that these words were all in vain, for if I were the center of the universe, all of this is for me, for me only, and none of this would exist without me, then how can that apply to anyone else; that’s contradictory.

All the secrets of the universe appear to be incongruent with herd mentality. This feeling has been programmed into you since your birth, and the feeling that higher concepts couldn’t possibly be right is proof that the programming was successful, but it does not have to be a life-sentence. You can break free from the societal prison of your mind and embrace all that you could be and experience in this life, if you choose.

Is it easy? No.

But if you’re wondering what’s outside the box, maybe it’s time to take a peek?

There is so much authentic, meaningful life and amazing treasures waiting for you outside the box, and all of this was your birthright, which was snatched from you by society at birth.

Are you ready to take back you’re God-given-right to live a better life, your best life, and make the world a better place?

Don’t even think about it, unless you’ve got what it takes…

And you do.

Oh, yes, you do.

Observer Doctor Obb’s Perspective Point of View

If your life is causing you emotional or physiological pain, it can be overwhelming, so overwhelming in fact that you may lose your ability to effectively manage your life. In moments like these, it is worth considering looking at your life from a different perspective.

I mean, think about it. What if you weren’t you at all? What if you were a giant scientist looking at different lives and how they play out on planet earth through a microscope? You zoom into and out of various lives as research, entertainment or pure voyeurism, collecting data for whatever reason you like or deem necessary. What’s the scientist’s name? Doctor Obb.

From the perspective of the observer, Doctor Obb zooms into a particular life (let’s say it’s David’s life) to see what is going on there. Doctor Obb could view any detail of David’s life at any time or place to examine either details of a particular incident or zoom out a bit to see how a particular event fits into the grander scope of David’s life.

Think a different perspective or point of view doesn’t make a difference?

Let’s zoom in and give it a go, just for fun.

Thanks to Alan Thicke’s younger brother, Todd, Bob Saget and Tom Bergeron, America’s Funniest Home Videos taught us how to look at tragic human suffering as something humorous, to be ridiculed and taunt other people as, “stupid,” while laughing our asses off.

From the perspective of the individual featured in the clip depicting their enormous (and embarrassing) fail caught on video, the event was tragic at the moment of impact. The reality of the situation was never more apparent to the star of the video that this might be his or her last moments on planet earth.

While life and death hung in the balance, the person holding the video camera (or cell phone cam) was laughing at the tragic mishap and may have even called the person whose life was at stake for this caught-on-video moment names or made fun of their lack of intelligence while laughing so hard they could barely keep the recording device focused on the suffering.

In the moment, the person featured in the video clip thought death may have been imminent. As they lay in pain, they notice their friend holding the camera laughing uncontrollably; even though in pain and with the thought of facing death, the injured party starts to join in, laughing, at his or her incredible faux pas.

Interestingly, had the person in pain been totally alone, there is a greater chance of actual end of life being the outcome.

Doctor Obb wannabee Todd Thicke and his producers scanning thousands of video clips run across the clip in question. While having some degree of empathy for the person who suffered the pain of the affair, they can’t help but laugh and think, “This might be good for ratings.”

Sometime later, both the star and the videographer as sitting in the audience of America’s Funniest Home Videos with the chance of winning a cash prize for the recording of the mishap watch the clip played before a live audience and millions of television viewers all over the world and join in laughter seeing the humor in the whole affair.

The live audience members are removed another level of observation, so to them it is even more funny to them than it is to the individuals who actually participated in the clip. Another level removed are the spectators watching their televisions (or other media devices) who are able to fully view, yet totally engage from any responsibility because the person who was hurt is not in the room.

By the time the clip makes it to the Internet and social media all bets are off and haters can fully disregard any dignity or humanity as it relates to the individual hurt in the event and can flame-away with their disrespectful remarks full-force.

Dr. Obb sees it all from his off-planet point of view and takes notes.

You, at any point in time, can zoom out to any of these levels of perspective and review the events of your life in review or in real time. You can choose to view any event (or portion) of your life as the participant or the observer.

If you choose to remain restricted by only the view of participant, you will likely subject yourself to a great deal of inner pain and angst, which is likely to affect your quality of life and reduce your potential healthy longevity.