The Practice of the Unattached Observer

We spend most of our lives believing we are our thoughts. When a thought of anger appears we say 'I am angry'. When a feeling of sadness arises we say 'I am sad'. We collapse the distinction between the experience and the one having the experience. This fusion is the source of a great deal of our trouble. It is like being a character in a movie who does not know they are on screen. They believe the drama is all there is.

There is another way to live. A way that does not require you to suppress your thoughts or control your feelings. It only asks you to change your point of view. Vedanta calls this practice Sakshi Bhava. The state of being a witness or an observer. It is the simple recognition that you are not the movie playing in your mind. You are the silent screen on which it is all projected.

The Movie in Your Mind

Imagine you are sitting in a dark theater. A film begins to play. There are dramatic scenes fights and moments of joy. As a member of the audience you might feel excitement or fear but you know it is just a movie. You never confuse yourself with the hero or the villain on screen. There is a clear separation.

Our inner life is much the same. Thoughts emotions memories and plans are constantly playing. The practice of the observer is to simply sit back and watch the show. We usually do the opposite. The moment a dramatic scene begins in our mind we jump out of our seat and onto the screen. We become the character who is angry sad or anxious. We forget we are the audience and get lost in the plot.

This is not a metaphor for being passive in life. It is about being active in the right way. Your actions in the world become more effective when they are not driven by the chaotic plot of your mind’s movie. By watching the movie you are no longer a slave to it.

What the Observer Is Not

This idea is easy to misunderstand. Becoming an observer is not about becoming a cold unfeeling robot. It is the opposite. It is a state of warm compassionate awareness. You feel everything just as fully as before. The difference is you no longer identify with the feeling.

Instead of saying 'I am angry' you learn to notice 'Ah there is the feeling of anger'. This small shift in language reflects a huge shift in perspective. The anger is an object in your awareness not the totality of your awareness. It is a cloud passing through the vast sky of your consciousness. The sky does not become the cloud.

Being a witness is also not another thought. You do not have to think 'I am watching my thoughts'. That is just one more thought a more subtle character in the movie. The real witness is silent. It is the awareness that is present before the thought 'I am watching' even appears. It is the empty space that allows all thoughts and feelings to arise and pass away.

Your job is not to create a clear sky. Your job is to watch the clouds.

This practice is not about achieving some special state of permanent bliss. It is about the simple act of returning. You will get lost in the movie a thousand times a day. The practice is just to notice you are lost and gently return to your seat in the audience. Each time you do this you weaken the habit of identification.

A Simple Way to Practice

How do you actually do this? The easiest way is to anchor your attention to something neutral and constant like your breath. You can sit for a few minutes and just watch the sensation of the breath coming in and going out. You are not trying to breathe in a special way. You are just observing what is already happening.

Your mind will wander. That is what minds do. When you notice it has wandered you have just woken up. You have become the observer. In that moment of noticing you are not your thoughts. You are the one who sees the thoughts. Then you gently guide your attention back to the breath.

Journaling is another powerful tool for this practice. When you write down your thoughts you are taking them out of your head and placing them on the page. You are making them objects of your awareness. The act of writing forces you to look at your thoughts instead of just from them. This creates distance. It makes you the observer.

This is a different kind of journaling than just venting. It is a calm examination. You can look at a thought of worry on the page and ask 'Is this true? What does this feel like in my body?'. You are studying the movie instead of just acting in it.

Why This Changes Things

The immediate effect of this practice is a sense of peace. When you are not caught in the urgency of every thought there is space. Negative emotions lose their power when you see them as impersonal events instead of personal truths. Anxiety is just a pattern of energy and thought. It is not you.

This space also creates freedom. When you are not reacting automatically to every mental impulse you can choose your response. Someone says something that triggers anger. Instead of instantly lashing out you can observe the feeling of anger arise. You can watch the heat in your chest and the angry thoughts that follow. In that space of observation you can decide how to act. This is the beginning of real freedom.

Over time this practice points to a deeper truth about who you are. The thoughts feelings and sensations are always changing. The one thing that is constant is the awareness that is watching them. As we explored in Finding the Self by Subtraction, this ever present witness is closer to your true nature than anything it observes. The practice is simple. Just watch.

— Rishi Banerjee
September 2025