I met some new friends today, and we shared our lives and hobbies. I shared how I practice Jiu-Jitsu and listened as they talked about bouldering, which I found quite interesting. They explained how they got into the sport, how they train their upper body, and the different levels of bouldering (from 1 to 15, with level 1 being the easiest), as well as the various types of bouldering competitions. To them, this knowledge and experience are normal since they’ve been doing it for a while, so there’s nothing new, but I listened with fascination because it’s new to me and piqued my interest. I realized it’s the same when I shared about Jiu-Jitsu—most of what I said is common knowledge to me but very new and interesting to them.

That reminded me of an idea I came across during meditation: being an observer. When you are an observer, you just need to observe—you don’t need to overthink or overanalyze. You view things through an unbiased point of view, simply watching or listening as they come across, acknowledge and respect them as they pass by, and let them be.

I find this quite useful if you remember to be an observer in your day-to-day life, even when making an important decision or reflecting on yourself. In your day-to-day life and decision, there’s the subconscious self with its logic and ideas, the analyzer determining the pros and cons, the pessimist and optimist in you arguing with each other,.. I encourage you to take a step back and introduce the observer. Imagine watching yourself as a character in a book or movie, viewing it from a third-person point of view, appreciate what you’ve done and have been doing, and look to the future with a less troubled and clearer mind.