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The voices of our personality

Have you ever heard yourself say something like?

“A part of me wants to read this article – but another part of me can’t be bothered and wants to watch that programme on TV.”

“Whenever I upset someone I feel guilty and then I beat myself up for being insensitive.”

Most of us go through our lives under the illusion that we are consistent, singular personalities or ‘I’s’. But implicit in the statements above is the realisation that we are made up of many different ‘I’s’ – also called selves or parts – each of which has a different perspective and voice. To ask, “Who is the ‘I’ that wants to read and who is the ‘I’ that doesn’t?” or, “Who is the ‘I’ that is insensitive to others and who is the ‘I’ that beats ‘me’ up?”, is to begin an incredible journey of self discovery – or more precisely, ‘selves discovery.’ So, where do these selves come from?

Primary selves

No matter into which culture we are born we all share a common human experience: vulnerability. The human baby is born vulnerable and must be taken care of by others in order to survive. This means each of us has to develop a personality that will get our essential needs met from the adults around us. These needs can be summarised as:

Attention – notice me and take care of me
Approval – show me that you like and accept my way of being and doing
Affection – love me

The three ‘A’s’ never go away. Our Vulnerable Self remains with us our entire lives and much of our adult behaviour is unconsciously driven by its core needs. Just think how you would feel today if you walked into a room and nobody noticed you; or if people told you that they disapprove of your behaviour, style, or way of being; or if someone said that they don’t care about you or even hate you! Ouch!! Your vulnerability is hit and this can cause you to feel intense emotional pain.

To handle our vulnerability and get these basic needs met we begin to develop a personality made up of a group of protecting selves. These dominant or primary selves look around and notice what behaviour is rewarded and what is punished. They figure out the rules of our specific family, environment and culture, and have us behave in ways that are most likely to get the adults around us to satisfy our needs.

Our primary selves – which can shift and change as our life circumstances change – are unique to each of us. However, generic examples might be:

• Pleaser: “You must always be nice to others.”
• Pusher: “You must work hard to succeed.”
• Responsible: “You must act appropriately.”

These primary selves – each with it’s own voice – form a powerful operating system. They run our lives and determine our values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. As we grow up they colour the way we see others and also how others see us. They determine what we like and dislike and what we judge and don’t judge. For most of us our operating system is us. We are identified with it. It is who we think we are. But that is only half the picture.

Hidden selves

There is no up without down, no fast without slow, no happy without sad. Life is full of these dualities. So for every primary self that we identify with there has to be an opposite self that we have hidden away, buried, or disowned. Opposites of the above examples would be:

• Selfish: “You must put your own needs first.”
• Easy Going: “Relax, kick back, things will take care of themselves.”
• Rebellious: “Don’t do what is expected of you.”

The more strongly we identify with a particular primary self, the more deeply we have to bury its opposite energy. Remember: the job of our primary selves is to protect our vulnerability. They are terrified that their opposites will come out and cause problems. Their worst fear is that people around us will see these disowned selves and withdraw their attention, approval and affection from us. People will say for example, “How could you be so selfish / lazy / disrespectful?!!”

Using attraction and judgement to learn about our selves

Most of us are so identified with the primary selves that run our lives that we have no idea that these opposite selves are alive and well and living somewhere inside us. Imagine a woman who has developed a very strong Pleaser self. She always feels driven to be nice to other people, help them in any way she can and make sure that they are happy. This was what was demanded of her as she grew up in her original family. If ever she was not nice to other people and put herself first she felt the intense negative judgements of the adults around her.

Typically she might meet a man who is the opposite of her. He will be more self-centred and be able to say “no” to the demands of others. He will be able to set clear boundaries and be able to ask people to do things for him without worrying about their feelings all the time. She may be irresistibly and mysteriously attracted to him. Or she may feel very judgemental towards him for being so selfish, self-serving and insensitive to others. She may even marry him and spend her life alternating between attraction/love and judgement!

What is going on in this example? There is an old proverb that says, “When we point the finger of judgement at another person there are three fingers pointing back to us”. Judgements come from our primary selves. It is the woman’s Pleaser self who judges those “selfish” people. Whenever we feel a judgement towards another person we need to pay attention to the particular trait or traits that we are judging because this will tell us what selves we are identified with and what selves we have therefore disowned.

Through Voice Dialogue we can learn how to separate from our primary selves and find out the rules they have for running our lives. We can learn and understand their demands, hopes and anxieties. This means that we need no longer be overly influenced by their default attitudes, values, beliefs and behaviours. Only then are we able to become more aware of the opposite disowned selves within us and find a space to stand between them where we can exercise conscious choice. This space we call the Aware Ego.

The Aware Ego process

Every time we access and then separate from a primary or disowned self we enter into and strengthen the Aware Ego. For example, if you are strongly identified with your Pusher and then you separate from it, the “you” that began the Voice Dialogue session is no longer the same “you” because you are no longer identified with your Pusher. You are then free to go to the other side and access your Easy Going self, understand its motivation and then separate from it. When you come back to centre you are again a new “you” – one that is now no longer identified with your Pusher or with your Easy Going self. Resting between these two is the Aware Ego.

The Aware Ego is constantly in process – a process of learning to stand in the space between opposites. Since there are literally hundreds of opposite selves, the process is a dynamic one and continually evolving. There is always something new to learn about our selves. It is truly a process of compassion for every aspect of our psyche in which none are judged as good or bad. This inevitably increases our capacity for awareness (the traditional witness position of the meditator), acceptance and appropriate action.

A Voice Dialogue session

A Voice Dialogue session might take an hour or more. The form is quite simple. The client sits opposite the facilitator and moves his or her chair to different places in order to access the different selves that wish to speak. After talking to a self the client moves back to the starting place – the Aware Ego. The facilitator’s skill lies in helping the client experience each self fully and then separate from it. In a typical session the facilitator may talk to three or four different selves.

It is important to understand that Voice Dialogue is not a technique for getting rid of any part of us. Rather, it is a natural and inclusive process that enables us to embrace and respect all of the many selves that exist inside us without making any of them wrong. It is safe because we always talk first to the primary self that is in charge of keeping the client secure – for example, a Protector or Controller self – and get its permission to go ahead with the session. We never try to circumvent or violate the rules of the primary selves. Each session unfolds at the client’s own pace.

Having dialogued with a particular set of selves and given them voice, the client is now able to stand between them with more awareness, not flip-flopping and being pulled first in one direction and then the other. Voice Dialogue gives us an opportunity to find a place of calm consideration and discernment rather than visceral judgement or unconscious reaction. It enables us to step back from our habitual ways of being and doing and therefore have more choice in how we handle what life brings us.

John Kent
Voice Dialogue UK
www.voicedialogue.org.uk

The Dance of Selves in Relationship

Life would be so easy if we were always of one mind. The reality is that we are all made up of many minds or selves. We can recognise this in such statements as: “A part of me really feels very attracted to him/her. Another part of me thinks I should be careful not to get too involved.” These selves develop as we grow up in our particular family and society. They have us behave in ways that keep us safe and get our needs met. For example we might develop a part of us that has us be nice to other people, always putting their needs first (a Pleaser self); or one that has us work hard and be successful (a Pusher self). These protecting selves become our default ways of behaving in life – who we think “we are”.

Why opposites often attract

In order to be identified with these protector selves we have to hide away or disown their opposites. To be nice to other people all the time we have to bury the part of us that would put our needs first (an Entitled self); or to be a hard working, successful person we have to bury the part of us that would kick back and do nothing (an Easy Going self). Although these selves are buried they have not gone away. When we fall in love we see some of them on display in the other person and find them very attractive. Our partner complements us and together we feel whole and complete.

Judgement and the roots of conflict

Relationship is in fact a dance of these different selves between two people. This dance can be exciting, mesmerising and exhilarating when everything is going well. We are swept off our feet, high as a kite, on cloud nine. The Child selves in us feel nourished and nurtured by our partner as if by a caring parent. We can be silly, cuddly, sweet and adoring. Our partner is there for us and we can rest trustingly into each other’s arms.

This idyllic state can last for some time, but sooner or later the stresses and strains of life will intervene. Sickness, financial problems, the arrival of a baby, work issues, tiredness and other every day events can cause us to feel vulnerable. The Child selves in us don’t feel so safe. If we are unaware of this or don’t feel comfortable sharing our vulnerabilities with our partner, things can turn sour.

In this situation, the selves that protect us come strongly back into play. Through the eyes of these selves we look at our partner and find them lacking. Those aspects of their personality that so attracted us don’t seem so cute and endearing after all. Instead of admiring their sense of entitlement we judge them as “selfish!” Instead of marvelling at their ability to chill and relax they now appear “lazy!” Whether silent or spoken, these judgements and counter judgements from our partner’s protecting selves – “You just let people walk all over you!”, “You are a workaholic!” – are very painful and can leave the Child selves feeling bruised, battered and wanting out. The caring, loving parent our partner represented has turned into a withdrawn or judgemental one and the promise of someone who will love, care and honour us seems broken.

Recurring patterns in relationships

Maybe we make up or maybe we walk out and end the relationship. One thing is sure: if we don’t learn the lessons inherent in such conflicts we are doomed to repeat them again and again – either with the same partner or with a new one.

So what are the lessons?

First is to acknowledge that the selves that we end up judging in our partner are in fact our own buried selves. An old Chinese proverb says that when we point the finger of judgement, blame or condemnation at another person there are three fingers pointing back to us. We have to learn how to embrace these buried aspects of our personality and find the gift they can bring us.

The questions to ask are, “What is it that I am judging in my partner that is actually a buried part of myself? What benefit would it be to me if I could bring a little bit of this buried self into my life?” For example, if we can embrace our buried Entitled self we will be able to set boundaries clearly and say no to the demands of others when appropriate. If we can embrace our own buried Easy Going self, then we will find time to relax and not be so driven.

Second is to acknowledge when we are feeling vulnerable and take more conscious care of our vulnerable Child selves instead of expecting our partner to do it for us. No one can take care of us all the time. Such an unrealistic expectation, abdicating our own responsibility for ourselves, will inevitably end in tears.

The questions here are, “Where and why am I feeling vulnerable? What can I do to take care of my vulnerability?” This might mean sharing with our partner how we are really feeling, or maybe taking time out to be quiet and on our own. Getting conscious about this is a big part of creating a successful relationship.

Healthy partnering

Having become clear about which parts of us are reacting to our partner, the next step is to communicate this clearly. For example: “A part of me is happy to take care of everything around the house. Another part of me is angry and thinks it’s unfair and that you should pull your weight.” Or, “A young, vulnerable part of me feels unnoticed when I get home tired from work and you are on the phone to your friends for so long.” When we can talk with awareness of the different selves like this we avoid the trap of making each other all good or all bad.

It is important to set time aside in our busy schedules to have these conversations, a time where we can step back from the demands of daily life, sit down and really connect with each other. This is the time to share what the different parts of us think and feel about such things as finances, who does what around the house, home projects, major purchases, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, the laundry, etc. If they are not addressed, these mundane things can easily become the ammunition we fire at our partner when we get into conflicts: “And another thing! You always leave your clothes lying around and never put the top back on the toothpaste!!”

Conclusion

Relationships are the context in which we can learn about our selves, grow and develop as individuals. Conflicts in relationships will never go away. There will always be lessons to be learned about our buried selves and about our vulnerabilities.

Awareness of the many selves involved in the dance of relationship is the bedrock of healthy partnering. The more we are able to acknowledge and embrace the different selves that emerge within relationships, the richer and more fulfilling life becomes.

John Kent
Voice Dialogue UK
www.voicedialogue.org.uk

Inner Critic: Friend or Foe?

It never stops, that voice in our heads. It has our ear when we stand on the bathroom scales or look in the mirror: “You should lose weight!” it says, “You need to do something about those wrinkles; your hair is a mess!” There are times when nothing we do seems good enough for it: “You should work harder!” “You don’t rest enough!”, “You will never be perfect!!” Meet your Inner Critic!

Where does it come from?

Our Inner Critic develops early on in our lives. Its job is to act as a kind of internal policeman. It enforces the rules of the dominant or “primary” parts of our personality that are responsible for running our lives and keeping us safe in the world.

These primary selves help us adapt to the particular family and social system we are born into. We learn very quickly which behaviours are acceptable to the adults around us and which will incur their disapproval and judgement. For example, if we grow up in a family where we are expected to be good little boys or girls all the time and put the needs of other people first, the chances are that we will develop a strong Pleaser self. Its rule is “always be nice to others.” It will try its hardest to make sure we behave appropriately. It knows that if we do not, our parents or teachers will be upset with us and may even punish us. This will make us feel very vulnerable.

The underlying anxiety of our Inner Critic

Our Inner Critic remembers the pain and shame of having the adults around us withdraw their approval and affection. Its underlying anxiety is that we will be judged and rejected. It fears we will be alone, unliked and unloved and so it tries everything in its power to have us follow the rules of our primary selves and tow the line. Its aim is to ensure that our core vulnerability is protected.

If we even think about defying the rules of our Pleaser and putting our own needs first it will shout in our heads that we are being “selfish!” If we have a strong Pusher self that wants us to work hard and pass our exams to please our parents, it will tell us that we are “lazy!” when we kick back and relax too much. The negatives of our Inner Critic very often mirror those of our actual parents and teachers when they judge us for not following their rules. “You should be more tidy”, “You should be on time”, “You should show more respect.” It is easy to see why “should” is one of our Inner Critic’s favourite words – sometimes whispered sotto voce, sometimes bellowed full force.

As we grow older, more and more pressures are brought to bear on us about how we “should” behave. Adverts set the standard for how we should look, what we should wear, how we should smell, what we should eat, how we should relax. Films show us the perfect male and female physiques, the perfect way to kiss and make love, the perfect romantic relationship we should have. Personal development programmes exhort us to be more sensitive, more assertive, more sensual, more aware. The standards are set so high and there are so many rules to follow. No wonder our Inner Critics are in a continual state of anxiety, becoming ever more powerful the more rules there are to enforce.

At its most powerful, the voice of the Inner Critic can seem like the voice of God. When out of control it can wreak havoc with our feelings of self-confidence. It can make us feel inferior, incapable and inadequate. In the worst case its nagging voice in our heads can lead to despair, depression and even suicide.

How our Inner Critic tries to protect us

The voice of our Inner Critic can sometimes feel like a continual hammering in our heads. At other times, it can be so quiet – like a background hum – that we hardly notice it. One technique it often uses is to have us obsess about a perceived mistake we have made. It will run and rerun a video in our heads of the actions that we have or haven’t done, or words that we have or haven’t said, and make us squirm internally with embarrassment. Our mistakes will be put under the microscope and magnified out of all proportion. Remember, the purpose of this is to make sure we always behave in ways that will keep us safe. Our Inner Critic will do whatever is necessary to get us to follow the rules of our primary protecting selves, no matter how painful that might seem to us.

To be self-critical is felt to be less painful than being criticised by someone else. It is actually a form of defense, a kind of preemptive strike. If we can say “I’m so stupid!” or, “Oh I know how bad I was” or, “I am hopeless at doing that” it helps to shield us against the external slings and arrows of those who would judge us.

Building a working relationship with our Inner Critic

Since we can never get rid of our Inner Critic (drinking, drugs or other distracting behaviours only offer temporarily respite) the best way to proceed is to build a working relationship with it. There are four steps:

1. Become aware of it as a separate voice, noting the tone and content of its injunctions. It can be helpful to write down the exact words on a piece of paper so that we can see them more objectively.

2. Determine the rules our Inner Critic is trying so desperately to have us follow. Write them down as a list of “shoulds” and shouldn’ts”.

3. Identify the particular primary selves responsible for making these rules. Is it our Pleaser, or Pusher, or Perfectionist, etc.?

4. Get in touch with the underlying anxiety that’s driving our Inner Critic. What are its fears and worst-case scenarios – disapproval? judgement? shame? rejection? abandonment? loneliness? What is the core vulnerability it is trying to defend?

For example, our Inner Critic might be telling us that we are too fat and that we should go on a diet, join a gym and lose weight. In this case it is attempting to enforce the rules of the part of us that thinks we should always look slim and fit – the Physical Perfectionist. The anxiety behind this is that if we get too fat, people won’t like us and might even ignore or ridicule us. This would touch those parts of us that feel inadequate and insecure – something our Inner Critic wants to avoid at all costs!

Loving ourselves

It has been said that we cannot love someone else unless we can love ourselves. However, it is impossible to love ourselves until we can unhook from our Inner Critic. Separating from our Inner Critic enables us to listen to it objectively, understand its concerns and choose whether or not to act on its imperatives. The more we can embrace and care for the vulnerable parts of our personality that our Inner Critic is trying its best to protect, the less it will be driven to do this for us.

As we take more conscious charge of our vulnerability we can begin to view our Inner Critic with compassion, respect the job it has been trying to do, and even be thankful for the light it has shone on aspects of our personalities that hitherto we might have been unaware of.
As this happens, its voice becomes less strident and absolute. Instead of our foe, our Inner Critic can transform into a trusted adviser and friend – an intelligent, perceptive and supportive partner in our lives.

John Kent
Voice Dialogue UK
www.voicedialogue.org.uk

Decoding your dreams

For thousands of years people have believed that dreams contain important messages from the unconscious sent to guide both the individual and the group. It is therefore no surprise that current scientific research shows dreaming to be as necessary to our psychological and physiological wellbeing as exercise and a healthy diet.

How to remember your dreams

Your attitude towards dreams affects your ability to remember them. “It was only a dream,” is a common expression used to dismiss dreams as being of no importance. If dreams hold no value for you why would you want to remember them? On the other hand, seeing dreams as friends or teachers – there to guide and inform you – encourages your unconscious mind to generate ever richer and more vivid imagery. The more positive attention you pay to your dreams the more you will be able to remember.

There are several practical things you can do to help you remember your dreams:

• Keep a pad and pen by the bed to write them down when you wake up.
• Alternatively, use a small tape recorder.
• Drink a glass of water before going to bed so that your bladder wakes you up during the night and you can capture any dreams you might have been having then.
• Take time in the morning to wake up slowly instead of jumping out of bed straight away.
• Allow dreams to percolate into consciousness by slowly shifting your position in bed when you awake – on your side, back or front. This helps you recall the dreams you had while sleeping in different positions.
• Jot down key words rather than full sentences – it is not necessary to capture a whole dream, a fragment or a feeling will do.

If you read books about dreams it lets your unconscious know that they are important to you. You are then more likely to recall them. Telling yourself before you go to sleep that you are going to dream that night can also help. The more you train yourself, and the more you practice, the easier it gets.

How to work with your dreams

Taking your dreams seriously allows you to work with them in a variety of ways. Here are a few suggestions:

Keep a dream diary. Write the dream out as fully as possible. As you do this other fragments may emerge. Give the dream a title. Write down any interpretations or associations you might have with the dream story, characters or imagery. Note down your feelings about the dream – feelings you had during the dream and feelings you have as you write and reflect on it. Reviewing past dreams from time to time allows new insights to appear.

Share your dreams with partners and friends. Describe the dream as it happened rather than trying to interpret it. Give your listener the flavour of it rather than the analysis of it. Just sharing your dreams with others in this way can deepen your personal connection with them. If you are asked to comment on someone’s dream, rather than making definitive or absolute statements about it, use a phrase like, “If this were my dream this is what I would think about.”

Elaborate on your dream. Draw or paint the characters and objects in your dream. Make a clay representation of some character or aspect of your dream. Go back into your dream and allow your imagination to take it forward. What might have happened next if you hadn’t woken up?

Dreams and the Psychology of Selves

The theory of the Psychology of Selves says that your psyche is made up of many different parts or selves. You can recognise this in such expressions as “A part of me feels quite disturbed by the dream I had last night, but another part of me thinks I’m stupid for letting it bother me.”

As you grow up you are encouraged to embrace the selves that align with the norms of your particular family and culture. These are called Primary Selves. For example there is the self that might have you work hard to please your parents and teachers – a Pusher; or the self that has you be logical and reasonable – the Rational Mind. To identify with them you have to hide away the opposite selves – in this case the Easy Going and Emotional selves. These are called Disowned Selves.

When you sleep your selves show up in your dreams. All the characters and objects, the landscapes and actions that feature in your dreams represent different parts of your psyche – both Primary and Disowned. Understanding what they have to tell you can greatly impact your waking lives – helping you deal with issues and showing you a way forward in your personal development.

Voice Dialogue and dream work

The Voice Dialogue technique enables you to talk to your different dream selves directly, hear their concerns, and find out what they want and need from you. Let’s say in a dream you are being chased by a lion. You feel terrified and run away, climbing up a tree to escape. On a branch of the tree you see a monkey laughing.

All the characters in the dream – the “you”, the lion, the monkey and even the tree have information for you. In a Voice Dialogue session you can find out what each of the dream characters have to say. The facilitator will first ask to talk to the “you” in the dream – this will usually be a Primary Self. When speaking as that voice, you may find out that it is, for example, your Pusher self that has you work hard. You discover that it is a very powerful force in your life and keeps you safe by ensuring that you earn enough money to live and get approval from your family and friends.

Next, if it feels appropriate, the facilitator could ask to speak to the lion. As a general rule, whatever it is that is chasing us in our dreams represents a disowned self. Here the lion may be the part of you that is easy going, doesn’t like to work all the time and wants to kick back and chill out. It never gets a look in and is a bit angry and frustrated by this – that’s why it is chasing you. It just wants you to notice it and to listen when it tells you that if you don’t ease up and relax you will get sick.

The facilitator might also speak to the monkey and as a result you find out that this is a detached and playful part of you that thinks life shouldn’t be taken so seriously and is laughing at the drama of you being chased by the lion.

Speaking as your dream characters in this way gives you the awareness and the opportunity to embrace and consciously integrate different aspects of your personality and find the gifts that they bring.

Themes and motifs

It can sometimes be helpful to generalise about the meaning of dream images. For example: cars can represent the way we move through life (fast, slow, in control, out of control); houses – our situation in life (big, small, things hidden in the attic, basement); water – our emotions (flowing freely, held back, deep, shallow); falling – we are too up in our heads or too spiritual (from high buildings, towers, mountain tops); cataclysms – very basic changes in our life (earthquakes, volcanoes, nuclear war).

However, dream images are very personal and often when you do a Voice Dialogue session the meaning of the dream turns out to be very different from what your rational, logical mind might analyse it to be. An interesting question to ask is “who is interpreting this dream?” Your Rational Mind will interpret it one way, your Spiritual self another and your Sceptic yet another! Speaking directly to each dream character circumvents these kinds of biased interpretations.

Recurring themes and motifs in dreams usually mean that you are ignoring something in your life that you should be addressing. Nightmares can indicate that some aspect of your psyche is being disowned or deeply buried. This is what is going on when children have nightmares about being chased by monsters, spiders, bad people, etc. These dream images are the aspects of their personalities that they are having to suppress in the socialisation process. So, for example, if their family wants them to be a pleasing, good little boy or girl, then the monster that chases them will represent the selfish, uncaring part of their personality which has to be buried in order for them fit in to their family and culture.

A treasure trove

Dreams give you accurate, non-judgmental feedback and impartial guidance about how you are living your life. They show you where you are stuck and how to get unstuck; where you are out of balance and how to get back into balance; what aspects of your personality you are disowning and how to embrace them. Once you learn how to decode your dreams, you have a treasure trove of information and wisdom relayed to you nightly.

John Kent
Voice Dialogue UK
www.voicedialogue.org.uk