Yeah, I tried to assign an image but it just didn't work for me. I just like to see things exactly as they are so for me, no image works.
I've been getting a kick out of learning about my mind the past couple months. Between Tolle and AVRT I'm starting to realize the mind can be quite unhelpful if you don't keep it in check.
I've always felt like of victim of my thoughts and emotions; like they are me and they just have to be true. Now, it seems like a lot of the thoughts and emotions are just nothing really. Just things to fill up space. Somewhere in all of these thoughts is your higher conscious. It's up to your higher conscious, you, to sort through all the crap that wanders into your mind and decide what is truth or not. I think this is why people find peace when they shut off their thoughts; because to a certain extent they are excessive, useless even and can evolve into problems.
I remember all sorts of things I've done in life due to my thoughts starting to connect to each other and it created a snow ball effect until they became beliefs and those beliefs became actions...all spawning from thoughts that weren't kept in check. Eating disorders, depression, self-mutilation, paranoia's. I think a lot of these came to be because my higher conscious, I, wasn't paying attention to what was going on in my mind, just accepting these thoughts and emotions as truth and then things got out of balance.
Parts of our mind can run rampant...it's like if your higher conscious isn't "conscious" of what's going on in your mind, then it's essentially like an unorganized government. It's like your higher conscious is the "U.N." of all of your thoughts and if it's always off playing golf or what have you, thoughts will run rampant...there is no judge around to determine what is truth or not.
And emotions have always been a big thing for me too...it's gotten better with age but I've always taken emotions to be "lasting truth" when really, that's the opposite of what they are. Our feelings can be lasting and true, but something like anger or fear can very much be on false pretenses and leave our consciousness just as soon as they came in. Feelings of depression would always get me because I believed they were fact and that I would ALWAYS feel depressed but that's not true either. It's important that we never believe our feelings unless our higher conscious finds them to be true.
So anyway, for me, AVRT is a little like bringing your higher conscious back out of the chaos of your mind and putting it back on guard where it needs to be and saying, "My drinking is no longer acceptable...go seek out and dissolve all thoughts and feelings related to drinking."