Look around you. Start slowly moving your eyes from one object to another, naming them silently inside your head. Now imagine all these names as labels – visualize them in any way you like. Then shift your attention to yourself – start labeling parts of your body, articles of clothing. How about your personality characteristics – what qualities do you have that you can name and label? Spend a few minutes doing this.
Now not only objects around you, but also parts of your body, articles of clothing and some of your personal characteristics have labels attached to them. Visualize them in any way you like. Isn’t it interesting that we have a name for everything and if we do not have a name for something, it simply doesn’t exist. For example, we are not very creative when it comes to naming love – there is an infinite variety of feelings that can be labeled “love”.
And now, imagine all the labels falling down and floating away. Look at your environment and take it in with your 5 senses as if seeing every object for the first time. For example, if you looked at a teapot without the knowledge of what it is, how would you experience it? Maybe you would be mesmerized by glittering glimpses of light or by gentle curves of its metal body? Look at yourself and see yourself for the first time. Now look inside of you and go through all the different feelings and sensations in your body without naming, without labeling them – just observe them, experience and let them go.
Does your world look different now? Do you see yourself in a new way? How your perception changed when you removed labels? And now, when you start putting them back, maybe you realize you can change one or two?