The Wise Other You’re Looking For Might Be Inside You (Part 1)
CoreSelf Mapping Activates Your Internal Compass; Combine it with AI for the Ultimate External Resource.
We all get stuck.
Sometimes it’s emotional: we feel overwhelmed, reactive, or low on energy, like we just want to escape.
Sometimes it’s motivational: we’ve lost connection to what matters, or we’re stuck in expectations, ours or someone else’s.
Sometimes it’s a lack of direction: we can’t see a best next step and feel immobilized without a clear path forward.
In moments like these, we tend to look outward for a mentor, a decision, or a lifeline. But clarity doesn’t always live out there.
It lives in here.
Meet Your Internal Observer
Inside your brain is something remarkable: a monitoring function that tracks not just what’s happening, but what matters. This Internal Observer holds your story, your experiences, values, patterns, and wisdom.
It’s calm. Curious. And deeply resourceful.
But under pressure, your executive-functioning mind takes over, and it’s focused on urgency, performance, and past strategies. It tries to power through when what you need is to slow down and see.
CoreSelf Mapping (CSM) helps reverse that. It quiets the swirl and invites your Observer to step forward.
What Is CoreSelf Mapping?
CoreSelf Mapping (CSM) is an accessible, reflective tool that activates your Internal Observer. It starts with two deceptively simple, but powerful questions, asked in the context of a single, specific situation:
“Where am I?”
“Where do I want to be?”
This isn’t a life audit; it’s a check-in, focused on one moment, one challenge, one opportunity.
You respond using a 1–10 scale, known as the Energy / Emotion Scale:
• 1 = The Rim: high tension, low energy, emotionally reactive
• 10 = The Core: calm, steady, centered, and ready for purposeful action
“Right now, I’m at a 3…stressed and stuck.”
“A 7 would feel grounded, focused, and able to move forward.”
This scale measures both energy and emotion, giving your mind a mental map. It opens up space for simulated next steps, value-based direction, and real clarity.
Why Am I Stuck?
Use the 3-Sided Pyramid
Imagine your stuck state as a 3-sided pyramid. Each side represents a different kind of challenge, and each gives your Internal Observer a way in.
1. Emotions / Energy
You’re overwhelmed, anxious, or drained.
You’re in a reactive state and can’t see clearly.
Everything feels loud or too much.
Try: numbering the emotion, walking, breathing, or writing it down
2. Motivations / Practices
You’ve lost connection to your “why.”
You’ve stopped doing things that center or energize you.
You’re moving out of habit or expectation, not intention.
Try: returning to a practice that reconnects you (e.g., movement, faith, creativity, nature)
3. Plans / Direction
You can’t see a next move that feels possible.
You feel immobilized or caught in swirl.
And there seems to be no viable option.
Try: breaking it down, talking it through, simulating options, or asking for help
Curious which part of the pyramid you’re stuck in, and how to get unstuck?
In Part 2 of this series, we’ll explore each side: Emotions, Motivations, and Plans, and how to engage the right strategy for each.
Watch for the next article, or grab our book, CoreSelf Positioning to start exploring today.
And Inside That Pyramid?
There’s space.
And inside that space, your Internal Observer resides and is able to see all three sides at once.
This shift in perspective is where transformation begins.
Mirror + Compass: The Partnership of CSM and AI
AI is an incredible external resource. It can simulate, reflect, and suggest.
But it’s not a compass. It doesn’t know your energy, your values, or your priorities.
• AI mirrors your input
• CSM aligns your internal energy to take actionable best next steps
• Your Internal Observer integrates both and chooses direction
A recent 2025 Harvard Business Review article revealed something surprising:
The #1 use of AI across all age groups is not productivity or data analysis.
It’s therapy and companionship.
That finding says something profound: people don’t just want answers. They want to feel seen, heard, and mirrored. They’re craving emotional presence and turning to AI to fill that need.
That’s where CoreSelf Mapping (CSM) becomes a powerful complement.
It doesn’t replace AI; it amplifies your ability to use it well.
CSM channels your internal energy, motivation, and potential toward insight, alignment, and purposeful movement.
You’re not competing with AI.
You’re partnering with it to generate deeper human clarity, resilience, and growth.
From Personal Clarity to Shared Progress
Once individuals get clarity through CSM, they can bring that energy into relationships using CoreSelf Positioning (CSP) by asking:
“Where are we?”
“Where do we want to be?”
This shift supports:
• Better collaboration
• Faster conflict resolution
• Clearer shared direction
Want to explore how this works across partnerships and organizations?
The CoreSelf Positioning book offers real-world examples and a step-by-step method for applying CSP in high-stakes conversations, team alignment, and shared goal setting. Check it out!
Suggested Reading
• Barrett, L. F. (2017). How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain
- Preston, T., & Thomas, J. (2025). CoreSelf Positioning: Getting on the Same Page, Literally. Amplify Publishing.
• Doty, J. R. (2023). Mind Magic: The Neuroscience of Personal Transformation
• O’Keefe, J., & Nadel, L. (1978). The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map
• Hilgard, E. R. (1977). Divided Consciousness and the Hidden Observer
• James, W. (1890). The Principles of Psychology
In Summary
• CSM uses two questions and a 1–10 scale to reduce overwhelm and restore direction
• It’s situational, accessible, and grounded in how the brain maps energy and decision-making
• The Internal Observer is your built-in guide: curious, wise, and values-aligned
• CSP builds on that clarity to help teams and partners get “on the same page”
• AI can mirror insight, but clarity still begins from within
If you’re ready to go deeper, the CoreSelf Positioning book is available in print, audio, and digital formats.
You can also explore free tools, 1-on-1 guides, and upcoming workshops at SimpleNotEasy.org.
Whether you’re navigating a challenge, exploring a next step, or leading a team, there’s a clearer path forward.
About the Authors
Jonathan Thomas, MSW
Whether at the potter's wheel, coaching medical professionals and teams, or in his private counseling practice, Jonathan Thomas has spent his life molding, shaping and creating something beautiful and new.
Tim Preston
As a successful serial-entrepreneur and angel investor, Tim Preston has spent the majority of his life learning, overcoming, and creating, from blank pieces of paper: self, spaces, teams, and businesses.
Together, Jonathan and Tim founded Simple. Not Easy., LLC, a company that developed CoreSelf Positioning™ tools to help companies and individuals to slow down and align energy levels, values, and actions in order to formulate their best next steps.
Learn more about Jonathan, Tim & CoreSelf Positioning.