##### 🔑 Thoughts come from parts If we spend much time in [[🕯️ Meditation 🧘|🕯️ Meditation]] circles, we're likely to hear the phrase, "You are not your thoughts," but the spacious, loving [[💡 Presence|Awareness ☀️]] to which these thoughts and feelings arise. What we call thinking or having automatic thoughts or [[Intrusive Thoughts]], we might reframe as hearing [[💡 Parts|Parts]] talking to us and to each other. We can’t control [[💡 Parts|Parts]]. If we spend even a few minutes practicing [[🧘 Samatha Meditation]], we will learn experientially that thinking is a happening and not something that we are doing. When we're identified with thought ("I'm angry; I don't like this; I think x,") we're [[💡 Blending|blended]]. By recognizing our thoughts as [[💡 Trailheads|trailheads]], we can [[🕯️ Unblending|unblend]] and interact with the [[💡 Parts|Parts]] they come from. Instead of "I think x," we recognize "A [[💡 Parts|Part]] is telling me x." Most of us spend an enormous time lost in thought, which is to say sitting among our parts as they talk to each other and to us, without being aware of it. We identify with those parts. When we notice ourselves getting wrapped up in thought, we can unblend a little by just observing them, listening the same way we would listen to another person speak. If you've ever experienced a [[Flow State]], you'll notice one of the main characteristics is a lack of thought, yet we're are fully capable of having a conversation or performing a task. Flow States are Self States. However, not all thoughts come from parts. Some thoughts are just impressions, residues, or echoes of experience, and there’s no one there. ###### See also - [[💡 Cognitive Distortions]]