This is one of my very favorite quotes from the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. “You soon realize: There is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I AM realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind.”

If you can totally understand this you are more conscious than most people on the planet. The wisdom of this statement if fully realized will forever change your view of the world.

This wisdom is in direct contradiction to what the vast majority of people believe. They actually believe their thoughts are real and falsely think the ego mind is who they are. From ego-mind there is no watching, there is just lots of thinking and judging.

The “I AM” nature talked about here is also called the wise mind, Higher Self, or Spirit or by other names in different traditions. This divine aspect, which although usually not realized is in many human beings, represents the true knowing beyond the ego-mind.

You may not be aware there is a presence in you that has nothing to do with your thoughts. You also may not be aware there is a knowing in you that happens beyond your ordinary thinking.

No worries because if you now understand this higher nature within you, you have welcomed in a higher level of consciousness. Higher consciousness means in this moment you have left who you were in the past and become a more self-realize person. Your awareness of your “I AM” nature causes an expansion in all the ways you experience yourself and the world.

The higher mind in you is free of judging and has the ability to see the world as an objective observer, as an impartial watcher. This capacity is a gift waiting in you to be fully activated. The best way to make this “I AM” nature part of your life is to sit quietly with the above quote of Eckhart Tolle until you can walk in the world with the full expression of this knowing.