A Snippet (Ep 22): You are NOT choosing Your Thoughts (4min)

From the QUALITY OF MIND Podcast

Part of the ‘Not Even 5 Mins Series’ (Ep22)

In this short Quality of Mind snippet, we explore one of the most provocative implications of the Quality of Mind understanding: there is choosing, but no separate chooser ie. we don't have a separate free word or agency. 

It can look obvious that “I” am the one making choices.

I decide.
I think.
I act.
I control.
I make things happen.

But when we slow down and look more carefully, something interesting begins to reveal itself.

There is thinking going on.

There is choosing going on.

There is doing going on.

But can we actually find a separate thinker, chooser or doer behind it all?

In this snippet, Piers points to the difference between turning Quality of Mind into another technique, compared to noticing what is already happening before the mind turns it into a personal task.

The usual assumption is that there is a separate body-mind “me” with agency and control over thoughts, actions, behaviours and outcomes. That assumption is so familiar that we rarely question it.

But but when we look at it differently directly, the picture looks different.

Thoughts arise.
Actions happen.
The body moves.
Words come.
Decisions appear.

And then the mind often claims ownership afterwards.

“I did that.”

“I chose that.”

“I thought that.”

Quality of Mind invites us to look directly at this.

Where did the thought actually come from?

Did “you” choose the thought before it appeared?

Or did the thought simply appear, with the idea of “me thinking it” arriving as another thought?

This is the simple but powerful distinction:

There is choosing, but no chooser.

There is thinking, but no thinker.

There is doing, but no separate doer.

This is not about becoming passive, fatalistic or detached from life. Life clearly continues. Choices still appear. Action still happens. Planning still happens. Responsibility still has practical meaning.

But the pressure of the separate “me” trying to control the whole system can begin to loosen.

And that matters.

Because so much of our stress, striving and overthinking comes from the assumption that there is a separate self inside the system who must get the right thoughts, make the right choices and control the right outcomes in order to be okay.

When that assumption softens, flow often becomes more available.

Not because we have learned a better way to control life.

But because we have begun to see that life was never being run by a separate controller in the first place.

Curious? Want to know more?

This is a short extract from a longer conversation with fellow coach Deborah, where we explore Quality of Mind, flow, self-identification, the illusion of free will, and what it means to notice life happening before the idea of a separate “me” takes ownership.

Full episode:
Here

Follow-up resources:

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3-Minute Quality of Mind Quiz:
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Audio Intro Short Course:
A short introduction to the understanding behind Before Psychology:
https://qualityofmind.online/courses/qomaudiointrocourse/

Video: Why Do We Describe Quality of Mind as Before Psychology? — clear short intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y99iy9yiCeM

Watch past clients talk about the power of Quality of Mind:
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