In the Work we all have a very powerful instrument in us called non-identifying. But how long it takes for any of us to see what it means and to use it. If you are always identified with your inner state of the moment, with your thoughts and your moods, then you cannot change. For you to shift from the position you are in, your must first divide yourself into two.

That is, you must be able to observe your state. If you are your state, then nothing can take place. If you divide yourself into an observing side and an observed side—that is, become two—then you begin to be able to shift your position, to change internally. Do you understand the depth of this idea? It is the way out of the prison of oneself.

Maurice Nicoll, "Identifying” in Psychological Commentaries on the Teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky (Vol. 1, p. 169)