On page 9 you counted the selves that speak in you before noon. Now look at one of them closely.

A self is not just a mood. It is more like a small person living inside you. It has its own way of thinking, with its own arguments and excuses. It has its own feelings. And it has its own body: a posture, a tone of voice, a set of the jaw.

Watch jealousy arrive, for example. A thought or a picture comes first: someone laughing with your partner. A feeling follows, hot and tight in the chest. Then the body joins in. Your voice goes flat, your face closes, your hand reaches for the phone. In a few seconds the whole of you belongs to it. When it leaves, you may hardly recognize what you said.

The tradition calls these selves egos, or “I”s. They are made of fear, desire and pride, and each one is very good at sounding like you. That is their whole power. A self that says “I am jealous” is believed. A self that is seen as “jealousy, speaking in me” has already lost part of its grip.

This part of the book is about seeing them clearly, one at a time, and about how they end. Nothing here asks you to hate them. You cannot end what you refuse to look at.