Let's start with getting to know your inner aspects of being'

Our Inner dialogue is made up of a number of ‘aspects’ within yourself, however, we are going to focus on the 3 main aspects of being;

 

• The Inner Critic 

• The Inner Witnesses 

• Your True Self 

 

Each aspect of being has a function along with a distinct voice and agenda.    

 

The Inner Critic  

 

The Inner Critic, just as the name suggests, is the critical voice of your internal dialogue. The Inner Critic was born of the wounds of our inner child, meaning as you went through the process of 'growing up', you quickly learned that certain behaviours elicited more love than others. From a toddler and beyond, if you were made to feel guilt or shame, the Inner Critic took it personally and went into protection mode. It confused what you felt with what you are. In response to feeling the guilt and shame, the Inner Critic sets about creating fear-based patterns, beliefs and behaviours that it believes to be the best way to protect you from your own emotions and the world you exist in.       

 

In developing these negative patterns, beliefs and behaviours, Inner Critic creates barriers around the consciousness of your True Self, the eternal part of yourself, where abundant self-love already exists. Out of a misguided want to protect, the Inner Critic creates a ‘Persona’,  the personality it subconsciously projects to the world to prove its worthiness and lovability.  This persona is otherwise known as the Ego.    

        

The Inner Critic is only one part of the Ego, yet it is a large and dominant part.  The thought system of the Inner Critic is based on a deep fear of not being worthy of love. Its intention to protect comes from a good place, yet the way it goes about it achieves the exact opposite result.

 

Fear and separation can never bring us to a place of inner peace and joy, instead, they trap us in in the mindset of the Inner Critic creating a loop of unworthiness and cultivate illusionary beliefs that deepen feelings of guilt, shame, judgment, defensiveness and separation.  

 

The Inner Critic's main agenda is to keep your attention focused outside of yourself, on the external world. It does all it can do to prevent you from turning inwards to your internal world because it knows if it allows your consciousness to turn inward, you will meet your Inner Witness and True Self.  

 

The Inner Critic is the part of our being that desperately seeks love and acceptance from external sources. However, its thought system of fear is exactly what prevents it from experiencing abundant self-love and unwavering self-worth.     

 

When your attention is focused outside yourself the inner critic is untethered, it has full reign yet no direction, so it just does what it knows how to do - it protects from a place of fear.

 

•  It is defensive and critical 

• It holds grudges and grievances 

• It self-judges and judges others 

• It mocks those it feels superior to  

• It attacks those it feels inferior to   

• It thrives on attack thoughts towards yourself and others 

• It convinces you that you are worthy only if you have accomplished this or that

• It thrives on self-blame and blaming others for what it is experiencing or feeling 

• It will work tirelessly to back up its ‘blame claims’ with ‘proof’ from the past experiences 

• It roams aimlessly between the past memories and the future longings, triggering emotional wounds from your past and trying to manipulate future outcomes. It does this to keep you anywhere but in the present moment.   

 

The Inner Critic's sole agenda it to keep you out of the present moment, to shut out your True Self and to avoid your Inner Witness by keeping your attention focused outside of yourself.   

 

Reading this you may recognize some of the above patterns, beliefs and behaviours as your Inner Critic, and be feeling a little embarrassed and resentful of its behaviour, but don’t let the Inner Critic take you there.  That's exactly where the Inner Critic wants you to go, into self-condemnation looking for ‘proof’ that you have failed and that its fear based thinking is right.   

 

Remember - If the Inner Critic was born from the wounds of your inner child, it needs to be treated like any child - it has to be treated with love to know how to be loving. The goal is never to annihilate, shame and destroy our Inner Critic - your Inner Critic is a part of you, treating the Inner Critic this way is an act of self-condemnation, the goal is to love the Inner Critic back into harmony.  It is the Inner Witness that helps us do just that and guides our consciousness back into the authentic love of our True Self.    

 

The Inner Witness 

 

The Inner Witness is the master observer and peacekeeper of our inner world. When you first begin to draw your attention inwards it can take a while to know who is who, and where to place your awareness. This is why cultivating a daily awareness practice is the first step in getting to know who is running the show inside your head.

 

We access the inner Witness by drawing our intention inwards and without judgment, taking a look at the thoughts, beliefs and inner dialogues running through our mind.  The Inner Critic can be vicious, it can speak to you in a way that you would never dream of speaking to another person and this is somewhat understandable, as the Inner Critic has felt alone and been on high alert for most of its life. No wonder it's suspicions and defensive! This is why it is so important that the Inner Witness observes what the Inner Critic is doing without judgment.  If you find yourself reacting to self-criticism with more self-criticism, your know for sure that it is your Inner Critic in the driver seat, not your Inner Witness.      

 

The more we practice standing still in the space of the Inner Witness, the quicker the Inner Critic relaxes its defensiveness and stills its chatter.  The Inner Critic learns to give over to the wisdom of the Inner Witness which, in turn, gently and lovingly guides is us directly to our True Self.  

 

Meeting Your True Self

 

When the Inner Witness is in charge, it is only a matter of time before you meet your True Self. An event will happen in your life and your instantaneous response will be from your True self, not from the Inner Critic. It will be a loving response both internally and externally. This is when You realize the Inner Critic is tamed!  Your Inner Witness is more powerful then you can imagine, and Your True Self is pure Divinity.  This is a re-ordering of consciousness… This is the definition of a Miracle.

 

When you meet your True Self, it happens in a holy instant!  It is an astonishing realization that you are love and lovable exactly as you are, and you are not the mutterings of the Inner Critic.  It is an experiential knowingness of who you truly are, and when it happens, the beauty of it is… you can’t un-know what you now know!  When you know your True Self... Inner Peace becomes a natural state of being.

 

The belief that you have to fix something about yourself or change yourself to be worthy of love stems from the fearful thought system of the Inner Critic. You do not have to change yourself in any way to be worthy of love, you already are worthy.  All you need do is let the Inner Witness observe the actions of the Inner Critic so it can lovingly help the Inner Critic let go of the false patterns, beliefs and behaviours that it created from misguided intentions of protection.  

Your True Self can only be found in one place - inside yourself!  You can not seek it out; there is nothing you can do or achieve that will magically deliver you into your True Self.  Meeting your True Self is an organic and natural process...it happens when your Inner Critic had been loved back into harmony.   

 

It is very important to remember; you need do nothing other than observe.  Awakening is an organic process; it is not about changing yourself, fixing yourself or searching for your true self. It is about presence - being in the present moment is where miracles happen, being in the present moment silences the Inner Critic, strengthens the Inner Witness and makes space for our True Self to step forward.       

 

~ You know you are living in your True Self when you are living from a place of authentic self-love and unwavering self-worth.~