Whatever metaphors or images we find helpful for describing the nature of the mind and of our relationship to our thoughts and emotions in meditation and in everyday life, it is important to recognize that they themselves are also thoughts.
If we fall into the thought-stream and get caught up with various thoughts, especially if we self-identify with them — saying to ourselves: that is “me” or that is “not me” — then we are really caught. For this is where the ultimate attachment arises, with the identifying of circumstances or conditions or things with the personal pronouns, namely “I,” “me,” and “mine.” Sometimes we call this habit of self-identification selfing, the tendency to put ourselves at the absolute center of the universe.
As we shall see, it can be very helpful to pay attention to how much of the time we are engaged in selfing, and without trying to fix it or change it, simply hold that strong habit of mind in awareness.