Alan Watts is often misquoted online as saying something like “Talk to yourself for three days and you will awaken” or “If you isolate and talk to yourself for three days, something profound happens.”

Here’s what Alan Watts actually meant—and where the “3 days” idea loosely comes from.

Watts spoke extensively about the voice in your head—the constant internal narrator most people mistake for “the self.”

He pointed out that:

You are aware of your thoughts

Therefore, you cannot be your thoughts

The voice talking in your head is an object of awareness, not the subject

“If you are aware of a thought, then that thought is not you.” — Alan Watts

When people hear “talk to yourself,” Watts was really pointing to listening to yourself—watching the inner conversation carefully.

Watts often explained that when:

External stimulation is reduced

Social performance drops away

You are alone with your own mind

…the ego becomes very loud at first, then eventually runs out of steam.

This is why retreats, fasting, or solitude across traditions often last 2–3 days:

Day 1: mental noise, anxiety, restlessness

Day 2: repetitive thought loops collapse

Day 3: awareness separates from the thinker

Not because 3 days is magical—but because the mind exhausts itself when not fed.

Watts described a realization that occurs when you closely observe inner speech:

You notice thoughts appear on their own

You realize you didn’t choose the next thought

You see the “thinker” is just another thought

The illusion of a central controller dissolves

That moment is often described as awakening, but Watts emphasized it is ordinary, not mystical.

“Trying to silence the mind is like trying to smooth water with a flat iron.”

So instead of stopping the voice, you let it talk—until it reveals it has no real authority.

The internet turned Watts’ nuanced teaching into a dramatic challenge:

“Talk to yourself for 3 days”

“Stay alone for 72 hours”

“You’ll meet your true self”

Watts would have laughed at this.

He warned against:

Turning insight into a technique

Making enlightenment a task

Forcing psychological experiments

Because effort recreates the ego.

Not a rule—but an attitude:

Sit quietly and notice the inner voice

Don’t argue with it

Don’t obey it

Don’t try to stop it

Just watch.

Eventually, the realization comes:

That realization can happen in:

3 minutes

3 hours

or 3 days

Time is not the key—attention is.

Alan Watts did not say you must talk to yourself for 3 days.

What he did say is far more radical:

The voice in your head is not you

Watching it honestly dissolves its power

When the illusion of the “controller” drops, freedom appears

Awakening is not achieved—it is noticed

“You are under no obligation to be the same person you were five minutes ago.”

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#CompassionateLiving

Spotify AlbumsMantras to Quiet the Soul

(This is a link to one of my albums on spotify A Place Called Peace)

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mettastateofmind/

Coloring Books: 

Angels are Among Us Coloring Book

#CompassionateLiving #Mindfulness #LovingKindness #MindfulnessMusic 

Thank you for listening!