The Gate

Happy New years to you
What does stop them then?

An idea or thought to stop the thoughts stops them and it involves some effort.
if you ask me who makes the effort, there is no doer as far as I can see.

do thoughts put in effort?

Not thoughts. Putting an effort and the awareness of it are the same thing.

When are you not aware when you're not sleeping?

When I believe the story my thoughts are telling me.

Who can believe and who are they referring to?
and is it true that you're not aware at those times?

No one. Thoughts create pictures and stories that become reality.
The awareness is of that imaginary reality.

Thoughts create pictures and stories that become reality.

what do you mean?

When you recall situations from the past, you see the images, hear what was said, all in your imagination... It seems that at those moments awareness is of the products of imagination and not of reality.

so who does daily things like drive the car?

They are done automatically most of the time. If a policeman asks who drives the car, I will say "me" meaning this body and mind. But as we saw already, I am not my body and not my mind. So a more honest answer will be "i don't know"

I wonder who will he give a speeding ticket to...

Im going to ask you some questions you already answered to wrap up the process and get to my people about the progress you have made.

Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form? Was there
ever?

There is no separate entity "self" and never was.