Most of us think that we are our minds and that our thoughts create our identity, or who it is that we think we are.

But this is simply not true; we are not our minds or our thoughts.

Our thoughts do create our desires, expectations, attitudes, and beliefs, and they are what cause us to feel anger, happiness, contentment, sorrow, jealousy, fear, and even hate.

What happens is that we experience our thoughts through the lens of our own social conditioning, which creates a false “self” based on a perception of reality designed by the stories that we tell ourselves about what our experience has been.

There are many spiritual traditions that have practices around “quieting the mind” or “questioning your thoughts” in order to break out of the habit we have of allowing our thoughts to rule our lives.

Some of these practices can include meditation, prayer, breathing, chanting, drumming, dancing, singing, movement, laughter, listening to music really loud, drawing or painting, going on a walk or hike, calling a friend, hugging your kids, screaming into a pillow, or whatever works for you.

There are many ways that we can discover our true Selves: the inner, eternal, pure essence of our being that has nothing to do with our thinking minds and has lived before, in many past lives.

When we are liberated from our thoughts, we are then free to discover who we really are on a soul level.

And then, over time we can eventually learn to perceive others on a soul level as well.

If everyone, everywhere knew that they were not their bodies, or their minds or their thoughts, perhaps there would be no hate or division – only love, peace, understanding, and connection.

It is our awareness that allows us to experience who we are, and it is important to know that we can change that awareness.

In order to change the world, you must first create change within yourself.