Like me, I’m sure you’ve noticed that you feel radically different at different times.
In particular, I’m talking about my level of confidence, energy, readiness to meet the world, take on big goals, take risks, pursue my most cherished dreams.
There are times when I’m fired up with passion and zeal. And then there are other times when . . . well, somehow I can’t find my zeal, my confidence went down the drain, and I’d rather just quit.
What’s going on? Why the roller-coaster?
We have within us two very different sources of direction, guidance, or operating instructions, that tell us very different things – opposite things. . . .
Our “lower self” or ego-mind wants us, above all, to stay safe. So it will often tell us that we’re in danger, that it’s not safe to take risks. Often, just to protect us from failure and humiliation, it will tell us why we can’t really have what we want, and why we’ll never get it. It does this to make sure we don’t even bother going after it, in case we’ll get hurt. In fact, it tells us to just give up.
This ego voice is our usual default setting, so this is what we hear most of the time!
On the other hand, our Higher Self, if we make the effort to tune into it (and it DOES take intention) will fill us with feelings of love, peace, support, inspiration, expansion, and joy. It will show us visions of what our life could be like if we stepped beyond the restrictive barriers of fear.
Your Higher Self will tell you where your greatness lies and that, if you reach for it, it can be yours.
Sometimes these two sources of motivation collide head-on.
When you have a vision of your highest potential – (and our highest visions are ALWAYS a stretch for us) – your Higher Self will say “YES! GO FORWARD! ALL IS WELL. This is what you are here to do. I will help you.”
But pretty soon your ego or lower self will pipe up. It will sometimes just step on the brakes as it says, “Wait a minute. Stop! It’s dangerous to go forward. That doesn’t look like a good idea. And furthermore, you can’t do that because . . .”
And it will give you very rational and convincing reasons why you can’t do what your soul longs for.
We do have a choice as to which voice we listen to, which voice is dominant in our life. But it takes work and remembering. And we need some tools for working with these voices.
The very first thing we must do is to become conscious of these two voices within us, with their different motivations. We must learn to recognize them, distinguish them, and name them, so we are clear about what we are dealing with.
Most of the time Ego-mind is what we take to be the voice of truth. We are not conscious of it as a voice within us with a particular agenda, which does not have the whole truth. We just plain believe it.
Have you noticed that in your own life?
So the first step is to become aware whenever our lower self is filling us with fear, or our Inner Critic is making us feel inadequate.
Then there are steps we can take. We can interview that voice. It is possible to have a dialogue between the higher and lower parts of us It always helps when a voice or inner part is listened to and gets to say how it feels and what its motivation is.
Maybe there are some legitimate needs that our ego doesn’t want us to overlook. How is it trying to protect us in a good way? And where are its fears exaggerated, coming from its own intrinsic sense of lack and emptiness, and are NOT justified? Maybe the part that is trying to protect us thinks we’re still only four years old and needs to be educated that we’ve grown up!!
An important question to ask yourself is: What is it costing you when you only follow your ego’s suggestions to play it safe? What does it cost you to ignore your Higher Wisdom?
Tell me what you see about this in your own life! I’d love to hear from you.
