Observing Yourself - The Mental Attitude

As you observe yourself, you will naturally find the task rather daunting. Before you know it, you're already in thinker mode again, thinking things like "this is impossible" or "I can't possibly succeed at this".
Being able to constantly remain in observer mode takes practice, and usually when you start doing this, you would travel back and forth between thinking and observing. Thats great, it's the natural course of things.
As Tolle puts it "The moment you realize you are not present [in thinker mode], you are present [in observer mode]". Paraphrased, we can say, the more you 'realize' you aren't observing, the better. So just keep on realizing and realizing.
When I started observing myself, one key that proved really useful was plain acceptance - to accept that my state of mind was simply as it was. To be 'impartial' about it. Without judgment.
So doesn't that kill the purpose you may wonder? Well consider this. Say you are trying to observe your mind but you find your mind is bloated with thoughts of all kinds. Being irritated about it would really get you nowhere - in fact it would add more thoughts to the already bloated mind. For example, if you're observing, and you see the bloated mind, and think, "what a bloated mind I have", then you have just introduced a new thought through the 'back door', and you have returned to thinker mode.
To conclude, when you are observing yourself, the best is to accept, let go, and realize when you have fallen back into thinker mode. Trust me, when you have this positive mental attitude towards your practice, its effectiveness will increase significantly.

Observing Yourself

Did you know that it's possible to observe yourself? The ability of self observation is one quality that distinguishes us human beings from animals. Unfortunately, it's quite evident that in todays world, not much attention is placed on this profound skill.
This self-observing-the-self is easily put in words,but I've discovered (based on my own experience, and the experience of some of my friends trying it), that it's not that easily done. What does it mean? How can the self be an observer of its own self?
It can, no doubt about it - and it's nothing new. Freud called it something along the lines of "the interested yet unmoving observer/witness".A well known contemporary figure, Eckhart Tolle has described it beautifully as "watching the thinker". When I studied computer sciences, I learned about 'metadata' which is data about data, and I used to associate it to "metathinking" - thinking about thinking.
This is very pragmatical; when I say it can be done, you don't need to believe me - just try it for yourself. Personally It was a huge eye opener for me to hear Tolle's description, and that helped a lot.
If you have never done this, try it, watch your thoughts.
Okay, now you may be wondering "well how do I watch my thoughts?". Thats what happened to me too. I used to be perplexed as to what it would be like to watch my thoughts. Finally, what I did was I used to visualize "pulling back from my mind into observer mode, and watching my thoughts like watching a movie".
Thoughts come in pictures and also inner voices. For instance, in a films we may see a brokenhearted man in silence, but we also hear a voice (his voice) speaking "she doesn't love me anymore". Bingo, thats the inner voice. I'm sure you've heard these voices in your head before, but you we're never aware that you we're observing. And that is a crucial factor - awareness. Now you're 'aware' that you can observe, you can observe whenever you like.
Therefore it can be said that we have two modes: the well known 'thinker mode', and less common 'observer mode'.
This is the true meaning of "free your mind" : enter Observer Mode, enter MetaThinking.

First post

Hello. This is my first post, but perhaps you'll also probably guess that this is my first attempt at blogging due to the cliche nature of the post's name. Oh well, no worries, over time, creativity with the titles will improve.
The name of this blog was taken form Robert Anton Wilson's Prometheus Rising, one of my favorite books as of late. (Edit: this blog was initially named "What the Thinker thinks, the Prover proves"). For those of you who aren't familiar with the book, suffice it to say (for now) that it has a lot to do with the mind - and thats precisely what I'd like to write about in this blog - 'mindful' matters.
I'm not a psychologist - I actually have a degree in computer sciences which seems somewhat remote to the issues that are to be written about here. Nevertheless, I possess deep interests on issues concerning the mind, and based on experience I've acknowledged that you are what you focus on and what you love to do (just like you are what you eat).
The mind may indeed seem like a broad topic, but due to its broadness, it can therefore be expanded to many different endeavors of life - relationships, spirituality, health, and even music (yes music). But most of all life itself.
All that said, I'm no expert at what I'm to write about, and this really isn't some kind of self help. I'm just a student of life, excited on sharing my views, and hoping that whatever I write on may prove to be of some value to you.

I've faith that I will seek, and henceforth I will find.