by Joel Levin, Western Australia
It has taken me some time to track these guys down, but I can now put a name on some characters who do everything in their power to stop The Way of the Livingness becoming my way.
What is The Way of the Livingness? It is simply a way of living that is in deep connection and respect of yourself – so that you bring that same depth of connection and respect to others and everything you do.
The first character that tries to get in my way of living is not very nice and not very easy to get along with. ‘Tiny’ is his name. Tiny just wants me to fit in, to not make waves, to not feel wonderful and to not enjoy the simplicity of life. Tiny is great at using fear and comparison. He baits me with simple questions like ‘what if ‘x’ happens?’, ‘why aren’t you ‘there’ yet?’, ‘you’re not as good as x’…. I’m getting much better at not getting hooked into answering Tiny’s questions. I’ve noticed that if I start answering these questions, it doesn’t take long before it feels like he has put one hand on my head and one on the base of my spine and squeezed me tightly. Tiny is good at making me feel tiny.
I can sidestep his games by appreciating myself more and noticing a similar appreciation of others. Tiny feels tiny… when I let myself feel how huge people can truly be.
This is when Tiny brings in his backup partner. Let’s call him ‘Bruiser’. Bruiser is bit of a bully and likes to push me around, call me names, and make sure I focus on every fault I have. He also likes to remind me of all those things I ‘need to get done’ or haven’t done yet. It can be a real drain to live with him and it can feel like walking through mud on the day I decide to march to his tune, rather than my own.
Strangely, getting around Bruiser can be easier than Tiny because his approach is so forceful. On the days I remember to move at a pace that works for me, it’s easy to see him coming. It doesn’t stop him from trying, but by moving at my pace, and not his, it seems to create a wake around me that Bruiser just can’t cross.
On the days that neither Tiny or Bruiser have any effect on me, they call on their boss, ‘Neville’ (I have just decided to call him Neville to make him sound less sinister). Neville has a lot of pride, and plays every and any game in the book – the ‘wise’ sage, the helpless child, the repentant son and even the willing student.
Neville is tricky and will tell me whatever I want or need to hear, so that I back-off feeling myself, thinking for myself, or enjoying myself. My success in getting around Neville is fleeting, but becomes more of a reality each day I remember to feel myself first.
The moment I feel first (both me and the rest of the world), I know what is true and what is part of his game.
From time to time, these characters and their games still catch me out. After all, they are aspects of me that I created and have chosen to live with – in the strange belief they were somehow there to help me. The cleverest trick of these internal bullies is their ability to make it seem that they are more powerful than me – but all they ever had over me is my own choice to play the game they were offering. All they have had over me is a mis-held belief that life is better when you’re locked in some kind of internal struggle.
Everything I have ever needed to set myself free from this struggle has always been inside of me. It is the deepest truth I have ever felt – my own love – and my own willingness to live that love, and the joy that comes with it in a world where people are battling their own versions of Tiny, Bruiser and Neville.
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
It’s such a great reminder that you say people are also battling with their own versions of Tiny, Bruiser and Neville.
The entrapment of living in struggle- I am coming to observe how when there is no struggle in my life I will create it and bring it in for there to be a greater tension in my life. It is like I can not be at ease in life and so I will draw on things to bring me down or make life hard or create issues in relationships.
If I allow Bruiser to have his way I can get exhausted! Bruiser crushes, caps and can me feel overwhelmed in life but hey I am getting to know him! 😉 I am getting to know him well. I can spot his presence almost immediately and boy this awareness is having an impact on my wellbeing and commitment to life. Sometimes he catches me out when I have been a little hard on myself and although he may try, he doesn’t succeed in having his way in building anxiousness, overwhelm and distraction in life. Getting to know and make friends with him has been a blessing as I continue to expand our friendship and build on the relationship I have with myself developing my awareness of getting to know him more deeply.
An internal bully I’ve been putting the spot light on lately is the ‘caring parent’….this one, to anyone looking on would be justified but in truth it’s not and leaves me on a roller coaster of ups and downs. It likes to feed me lines like ‘you’re doing it for their own good’ and ‘you have every right to do/say that’. It’s days are numbered, as I’m calling it out as best I can each time.
The power of love supersedes any force that is imposed by any self-created character or otherwise. As it is love that defines who we innately are, and living in connection to our love the truth is known, as such our power is naturally lived. When we live our love, who we are is naturally lived and all that is not of love is rendered powerless.
I am back here again to remind myself that if I feel myself first, feel the love I am then nothing can truly distract me from living that love I am.
To feel ourselves first is it, and allows us to address any patterns or characters we’ve previously chosen to be. For they would not exist without our say so, and to know that means we can choose differently.
Joel this is a very powerful piece of writing, thank you. Perhaps the hardest thing to admit is that our power is greater than any perceived adversity, including that which is within us. A great line here is “all they ever had over me is my own choice to play the game they were offering.” We are so very powerful, and it all comes down to what we choose and align to.
Is this a form of Schizophrenia I wonder!?! The way you have written this Joel highlights the characters/thoughts we let in that try to thwart our natural expression.
One way I notice how I make myself tiny is allowing doubt into my mind but every doubtful thought is not who I am but something I have created simply to avoid the power that lies within.
This is a brilliant description of how badly we treat ourselves and the different ways we do it. We would never think it’s acceptable to speak to others the way we speak to ourselves, or treat another the way we treat ourselves – it’s not ok yet I know for me it’s quite normal and I’m just learning to catch the abuse and use these moments of self bashing for something much more beneficial.
To combat any thing that is not us and as perfectly described by you Joel, is being in ‘the moment I feel first (both me and the rest of the world), I know what is true and what is part of the game’.
‘The moment I feel first (both me and the rest of the world), I know what is true and what is part of his game.’ And that sums it up perfectly … discern what is truly there in us and around us. And understand that it is us who empower the bullies in us, and so the more we see and feel them, the more we can untangle the web they create.
Yes at times we entertain many of these characters with many different names but they all evaporate under the light of love.
The biggest bullies around are the one we create ourselves.
ha ha that is very true and we have many ways of doing it!
Brilliant Joel, this is exactly how it is. Yet all these characters have over us ‘…is a mis-held belief that life is better when you’re locked in some kind of internal struggle’, as you say. And great timing for me to read this too. In the last week I’ve been asked by a practitioner to do some homework on what I struggle with in life and after a few days of pondering my answer is well, pretty much nothing – I just make it so. The idea and sense of struggle has become a normal for me, a constant companion, and without it, well, life feels strange. My task now? To accept being struggle-free. A strange state of affairs I know, but that’s the kind of crazy complexity us humans so often with run with.
Characters such as Tiny, Bruiser and Neville (know them well too) are self-created because somewhere we have chosen to self-compromise the truth of who we are in full which is Love, and therefore in the space where we have compromised, characters such as T, B, N and many more get created and they occupy this space. But when we simply allow Love to fill it all, then goodbye T, B, N and all the others! They may come back to visit from time to time, and I do appreciate their dropping by to remind me that Love has stepped out again and to be aware.
Thank you Joel. Just about everyone I assume can understand the difficulties of life you describe, it is clear from you once you claim your power, as in stop giving it away to what the outside world wants of you, as in the three characters, your livingness is secure.
I feel we can all relate in one way or another to Tiny, Bruiser and Neville, I especially know Tiny very well and learning to appreciate and accept myself has allowed me to let go of Tiny and to also observe when his thoughts are trying to enter and to not allow them to take hold in anyway.
The only way to beat those nasty guys is to not compartmentalise yourself to those thoughts in the brain, as you say Joel, and feel your whole body and listen to what it has to say.
I loved what you have shared Joel, we all have versions of the three characters you spoke of, thinking that is who we are but as you shared, “all they ever had over me is my own choice to play the game they were offering.” Once we become aware of their attempt to separate us from the Way of our Livingness these characters lose their power over us.
The genius in what you offer that I really appreciate is that you present it like a story, and it is a story that we allow to have repeated and not real, as are all its characters, and this makes me appreciate that no matter how strong my/their attempt to stop The Way of The Livingness becoming my way might appear at times, when the truth is chosen, their hold will no longer have any power over me.
Familiar characters Joel. Beautifully explored too. This Neville seems to be a rather evil character – which is interesting because it is the heart of his name. How true it is that evil can so often be subtle and just nudge us off track rather than present in more obviously abusive ways. Sometimes it is the ‘nice guy’ we need to be most aware of.
The games we play with ourselves and the quality of thoughts that we listen to, or not – all of it is a choice, in each and every moment. The more I focus on staying present and feeling my body, the easier it is not to get caught up in the momentum of old thought patterns, and see them for what they are – thoughts that have no power over me, unless I chose otherwise.
The embracing quality of love… that dissolves even the harshest thoughts of self-saboteur we may find ourselves experiencing. Great to give no quarter to these dudes, for by their very way their intent is exposed in full.
I think many can relate to what you have shared here – of having ways of being with yourself that focus on the ‘what is not’ rather than getting behind and backing what is true within yourself.
Joel I love your playfulness, and I suspect we all have had a Tiny, Bruiser & Neville that live within us if we allow, guiding us along a path we would rather not walk, and when we no longer give them a voice we are able to clearly see and feel where we are going.
I love how you have not accepted these characters as who you are. How often to we think that our selection of behaviours are just part of ourselves? “oh that’s just me” You have seen them for who they are very clearly and have a way of living that does not allow them (without perfection) to take hold.
I am very familiar with these guys but it is Neville I have to watch. I find he can be very clever and subtle in getting his own way. I have to be brutally honest when he is at play. Even when I think I am feeling me I can be deceived by him. Feeling me first and the rest of the world as Joel mentions in his blog, is a great marker offered that I will put into practice in my day to catch Neville at play. Thank you Joel for sharing your great wisdom with us.
Love the awareness you share here Joel of questioning what our thoughts are actually feeding or impulsing us to behave like. We may have certain ways of thinking that we identify with (like Tiny, Bruiser and Neville) but it doesn’t mean that they are from our true expression – I know that tuning in to get a sense of how my whole body feels helps me to recognise what thoughts are or aren’t helpful.
I know these three all too well, but reading this blog was a great reminder that I also know equally well how to counter their chatter that distracts me from the love that I am and how amazing life can be as I continue to choose to not play their games. Thank you Joel.
Revisiting this blog is a timely reminder of the games we can play that are simply distractions that take us further away from who we truly are.
Love what you have shared in a light and simple way Joel. These certainly are characters that are and have been in my life, it is interesting how you give them names which I feel gives a degree of separation to be able to see and feel them more clearly and be able to not choose to go with them.
These characters certainly make every effort to run my life and try to make me think that, they are who I am. However through The Way of The Livingness I have discovered that when we live in connection to who we are within this lot don’t stand a chance. As from our hearts we know we are the greatness of love through which the steadiness and wisdom of our love is powerful beyond measure. When we embrace the love we are within we can live our joy-fullness freely, as the room for these bullies to manipulate no longer exists for they can only dominate with loveless-ness.
These are definitely characters that I have had in my life and am learning to let go of. I am observing them much more and making a more conscious choice not to choose them.
I supposed I chose my own cast of characters that bossed me around and influenced my every mood, action and decision, not realising I was handing over my life choices to these guys who took ultimate responsibility away from me and despite that I still thought I was living my life, truth is I wasn’t, I was a puppet and they pulled the strings. What an awakening to now recognise these guys for the wayward path I allowed them to lead me down, and now living in the responsibility of making my own choices with a clarity that exposes their game. It’s great to be back and to know my true connections.
I love this blog Joel and the way you have named and exposed these sly, nasty and persistent little buggers!
Well called Joel. I have my own travelling companions to contend with, who are certainly no friends of mine either, different names of course but my Wilma Worthless, Debbie Downer and Betty Betterthanall sound like mates of your tag alongs – Tiny, Bruiser and Neville.
I think these are similar characters I have had in my own life too. Then there is also the- your not good enough character who I have allowed to visit way too much. I am learning not to let this character in.
Coming back to this blog, I love the simplicity of it and how powerful it is to see life for what it truly is and the games we have all played in giving our power away in order to delay our return to the love that we truly are
Great article Joel,
All of the stuff we allow and play ball with that we thought was normal everyday life, so is not when we choose to feel our bodies, and everyone else. Everything changes and we again become divinely powerful.
These characters in our heads only have power over us if we give it to them. When I hear those voices I have a choice – to listen, contract, and feel powerless – or pay them no attention and feel our true power and love. The more I do this the smaller the voices have become – one day they will be gone forever.
Brilliant depiction on the inner struggle most of us live with, and the very practical relatable ways in which we can squish these ‘so called’ friends and make true friendships and relationships with who we are and who others are. I love this Joel, it’s so real… and reveals that there is so, so much more to us and life then the limited forms of struggle we have been sold and bought into.
“All they have had over me is a mis-held belief that life is better when you’re locked in some kind of internal struggle.” And when we can see this for what it is we can stop struggling and allow ourselves simply to be. No expectations, no demands, just being ourselves is limitless.
You are right in saying we all have our own version of Tiny, Bruiser and Nevile and we are indeed battling trying to live with their presence. But as we designed them out of some kind of misguided protection, we can too let them go knowing they are not needed … and free ourselves from the internal conflict and the separation from our true selves that they create.
I certainly have my own versions of these characters and it requires me to be super vigilant not to be caught out by them and find myself veering off course, steering away from my purpose and true love.
Such a timeless blog Joel. We are all indeed battling our own Tiny, Bruiser and Neville, but calling it a battle only gives power to the struggle. As you have shared, when you go at your pace they can’t cross your wake, so our belittling, stress-full, doubt-full thoughts can’t enter us.
I love the way you have named Bruiser and the game he plays. I have spent a very long time beating myself up and much time trying to figure out how to stop . Your write up of bruiser and his traits allows me to see that if I simply do what is true for me I will deprive bruiser of his material. Thank you.
I am used to having the tough guy, I can deal with anything act going on. I find it difficult at times to let this go and open up in case I get rejected or hurt but what’s crazy in this is that I then never fully live as I hold back. I am coming to learn its better to be all of you than half of you.
Tiny has been my friend for way too long, but what I’ve come to realise was that keeping small simply doesn’t work for anyone, not for me and especially not for you. We play a vital part in the universe, imagine if the stars played small – it simply wouldn’t work and we would have no navigation or guide at night or in the darkest of times.
Thank you Joel for naming the bullies that are constantly trying to sneak in and sabotage our connection and appreciation of the love that we naturally are. When you know your enemy you can look it in the eye and watch it shrink.
It is great to realise that there is no need for struggle and there is no need for doubt. We can have the awesomeness that is us right now, it is all there.
Thank you Joel for playfully outing these three and exposing their game. If we stay connected with ourselves they don’t stand a chance.
I just love this blog Joel, so much light-ness in the truth you are sharing. I too can relate to the 3 characters as I have my own versions of them playing around from time to time; life need not be a struggle, but a surrender to our own love, if we so choose.
Great read Joel – I’ve always felt to battle these inner detractors but more recently am feeling their surrender to the gentleness – and I remember that to surrender is not to lose the battle.
I agree Julie, appreciation totally fills the void that these unsavoury characters thrive in.
I agree Julie, appreciation fills the void that these unsavoury characters thrive in.
This is a totally awesome blog Joel! I too know Tiny, Bruiser and Neville well but you have reminded my of the fact that the wisdom we all have within and can choose to connect to at any time is far more powerful than any internal bullies can and will ever be.
Yeah and there is also the other one ‘its not possible for me’ who sees themselves as different to others and thinks that others can be like that but not me, a total denial of who you are.
A brilliant description of the internal personalities that have the potential to pull our strings if we let them, exposing the fact that it’s just through choice that we allow them to have a hold over us because we believe life should be about struggle rather than a surrender to that deepest truth – our own love – and our willingness to live it and simply experience the joy it brings.
Joel this is awesome to read, to name the voices in our head that are ready to sabotage us and create an inner struggle. To know we also have the power within to stop these sabotaging thoughts and to choose thoughts that are truly loving and support us. This is a beautiful reminder to take into my day – thank you.
I agree as I read this it made me stop and consider the thoughts I often have.
Love it Carmel and can really relate to having had an almost constant voice telling me I am not enough/doing enough until I started to work on appreciating the amazingness of me.
Thank you Joel I love the way you have given names to these different aspects of yourself ‘ that I created and have chosen to live with – in the strange belief they were somehow there to help me.’ Great reminder that we always have a choice to live the love that we are and not get side-tracked by the voices in our head trying to sabotage us.
So great to ‘pin’ these habits down so to speak, or rather see them for what they are…in day light. And with humour as well, a lightness and playfulness. Feels great and joyful to read this article.
Another one of Joel’s morning parables. Love it. Turning tradition on its head.
I just love that you have categorized the voices in your head trying to sabotage your way of living and given them a name – disempowering them with their exposure and forever minimising any hold they have over your choices through your commitment to deeply connect to yourself and live the love you are. So very awesome.
These guys you talk about are very known to me, and as they are trying to get me out I more often can get in the lead and not listen to any and appreciate all that i am.
I know these guys as well and for a long time I tried to sympathise with all of them, become friends with them, get them all together at one table and talk (psychotherapy) – they went out of control. I am firm with them now and I learn to not listen to them anymore. They are not my friends!
Thank you, Joel. I love it. I also used to have those ‘close friends’ and for a very long time.They were so close ,in fact for a while I thought they were a part of me. I was very identified by them. Getting to know the true me has allowed me to recognise and see through what they were playing at. They do try to find their way back in every now and then, but the door policy has changed completely and I changed the lock as well, now they don’t gain entry, well, almost.
Joel I had to smile at your description of these 3 saboteurs who are also aspects of me – your light-hearted approach puts everything in perspective – yes Neville is the trickiest one, and once caught by him the other two can gain entry through the back door and have a party. Wonderful reminder to be with me.
Those friends have been knocking on my door over the years too Joel, sometimes I wonder if they’ll ever just go away, then I remember the sound of their knocking doesn’t slam me in ways in used to in the past, as these day I’d rather spend in the joy of the beautiful friendship I’m building with me. Thank you for reminding me of this gold.
I was beginning to see how I have made my life more challenging than it need be when i read your blog Joel and your words ‘the misheld belief that life is better when you are locked in some sort of internal struggle’ were like a great big neon sign for me. Thank you for a great, insightful blog, Joe, Just what i neede to read today.l
Noel, I am also very familiar with Tiny, Bruiser and Neville. I agree Neville is the more tricky one. But the more I let the love for me, and within me, grow again, the less of a chance they have to get a word in.
Thank you Joel. One of the easiest ways to learn is through humour and you have that skill. So from now on I will remember Tiny, Bruiser and Neville and be on the look out for them before they take too firm grip on me and I can remember that I am in charge and can choose what I feel without the saboteurs help.
Delightful Joel to be introduced by name to these three villains. Neville sure is slimy so thanks for the tip about tripping him up about feeling me first – because Neville is so sneaky I have started building an alliance with my body, tuning in to it more and more for my cues. Neville smart and gives my body a good run for its money but its turning out my body is capable of outsmarting Neville.
Thanks for the light-hearted manner in which you expose these 3 characters, and how we can keep them at bay by connecting to, and living from, our true essence.
Awesome to read and feel for myself how I too have my own versions of Tiny, Bruiser and Neville, but how the more I connect to myself and feel from my body the less these aspects of me have any true hold. Thank you for shining the light on one of the ways we hold ourselves back from bringing the true power, love and awesomeness that we are!
I love what you share Joel. For me your way to give the saboteurs inside names feel very practical and also playful. So thank you so much for this insight, this makes it so much more fun to be in contact with them.
I really appreciate your light-hearted way of exposing these wimpy saboteurs Joel. Our love and compassion are way more powerful.
I am aware of tiny, bruiser and neville who are there ready to come in if I leave the door open even a little, bringing with them a box full of doubt, comparison, and disregard. When I am truly feeling the love that I am, there is no room for them and it is like being let out of an enclosed space. Thank-you Joel for another great analogy
Brilliant analogy Joel thank you. The inner-wrestle with these characters is something I am sure we have all experienced. However I have also learned that when I connect to the depth of truth and love that is within me (and equally grand in everyone), my essence, I realise that this love within me is way more powerful than all three characters put together. And as we choose to live the grace of this love that is within each and every one of us, the rough and hurtful games of Tiny, Bruiser and Neville are exposed as such, games keep us from living the truth of who we naturally are.
Those internal bullies do offer a prize when we play their games and let them “win” – the prize is a small life, a seemingly inconsequential life, but a safe one that stops us being noticed. But it is also a life of misery, and in terms that Tiny would appreciate, a life lived on our knees.
Behind those three squabblers is another one, perhaps nameless, but grand beyond reckoning. It is still, yet filled with nothing other than purpose that calls for true action. When we play with it, it demands nothing, yet we can only feel its presence when we stand on our feet and allow its light to be our way and shine through our every gesture. There can be no inconsequential life when we stop struggling with Tiny, Bruiser and Neville, and make this one the one we choose to live with.
Brilliant Joel, so relatable and easy to see and understand how these characters we create sabotage the connection we have with ourselves and the Way of the (our) Livingness. Crazy when you think about it – that WE create them, and then even buy and invest into them making us who we are.
The greatness in your words here are a joy: ” Tiny feels tiny… when I let myself feel how huge people can truly be”. And your words here are a pot of gold: “Everything I have ever needed to set myself free from this struggle has always been inside of me. It is the deepest truth I have ever felt – my own love – and my own willingness to live that love, and the joy that comes with it”. YES.
Sometimes that is how Neville can be portrayed, ‘less sinister’ than the other two who say ‘play it rough and small’ but this character can take us down the longest and most painful roads, the other two like wrote you Joel are far more obvious. If we don’t listen to our inner directions where ever we go is being led by Neville for ‘seemingly’ better or worse. Either way it is still not the path we would naturally go down.
I like how you called Neville, Neville ‘to make him less sinister’ what an honest account of living with inside bullies… It’s makes it clear to me that it’s just things that come in and try to change the way you are and that your not stuck with them.. We don’t have to live with them and can lovingly say goodbye to these not-so-friendly friends we have. I like how you weren’t annoyed by the fact they are still there- your blog seemed like it was just a recognition that they are there. Sort of outing there bad behaviour as ‘friends’ and so etching you once relied on haha
Well exposed Joel, all the ways that negatively influence us. Truly admitted that they are all not as big as our inner strength and that we give them power to influence. Joel I enjoy the light hearted way you tell your story. It is real and I can relate to its honest simplicity.
Tiny, Bruiser and Neville – the guys who are continuously looking for our openings, for words that have an effect on us. Sometimes they succeed and that is a useful lesson for me – it is like three forensic scientists who are doing all the fossicking for me. Thanks, guys!
Absolutely there is always a choice to reconnect to ourselves at every moment no matter what is going on or what we are feeling.
It’s like when we choose that way- ‘the way of the livingness’ to be all of us, to have deep care and respect for ourselves and others then these pesky characters like to bring in all the patterns, traits, beliefs and ideals that we have used in the past to keep us from moving forward with the love that we are now. Commitment, consistency, APPRECIATION and EXPRESSION, I have found are all very useful and supportive keys.
Exactly Julie, it is like a merry-go-round. It’s amazing how appreciation for self and others can not only quieten them down, but if done consistently gives them no room to play their part and their game.
So true Jonathan, they do take a while to identify as 1. being there and 2. how they each play out in each of us. I can see elements of them using different ways and tactics to keep me less when I choose to not be all of me and just stay with my body. They are sneaky and persistent ‘wanna be’s’ who Joel is right in saying ‘they are no friends of mine’
Joel, I love your writing. You have once again playfully provided a story-like analogy to highlight something very real, serious and that affects many of us – a truth. As I was reading – from the beginning to the end, I had a smile on my face, but also my body was going ‘yeah that’s so true’.
Great for me to re-read this today and it was the stop I needed. Thank you Joel 🙂
Joel, an amazing way to nominate the characters and the illusionary games they play in our lives so we can claim back our own power and be who we truly are.
I could read this every day. I’m still getting caught out by these guys, but catching them sooner.
Like you Natalie I can read this blog again and again as I too still caught out by the likes of Tiny, Bruiser and little Neville but I have to agree the amusing way that Joel has exposed the game certainly makes it easier to catch them out.
Hi Joel, I recognise all three of these guys that have popped into my head. They know just when to come in and disrupt my day either when it is going well or going badly. The more aware I am of them the more I can stop them before they get a hold and start running with a story that often can end up being totally ridiculous.
I too can relate to those “ridiculous” stories, that if not nipped in the bud, build up a life and momentum of their own, and take me so far away from myself before I have even realised where I’ve gone. It is slowly getting easier to identify and stop them, but they still manage to sneak in – but thanks to my increasing awareness of the presence of my versions of Joel’s three characters, these times are getting less and less. It’s time to make these guys redundant!
Thanks Joel , great to get a handle on these characters and their efforts to mislead.
Yes. The willingness to live love, and make choices again and again to support that.
So beautiful how you have described and dissected these voices that I’m sure we all all have. I’d just lumped them as one, but giving them names and assigning their traits makes them a lot easier to recognise them for what they are.
I like the way Joel has given them names too, Nikki, and when I tried it, it was easier to identify them, and track their origins. A great new approach for me to use.
Hi Joel, I am sure we can all recognise these imposing voices inside that think they are fixing a problem and don’t recognise that they themselves are the problem. It so wonderful to see them for what they are and let them go.
I love this Nicola, the fact that they present themselves as solutions to problems but in fact they are the root cause of the problem itself.
We all have three characters working very hard from the inside. Their goal is us following their behaviours, ways and thoughts to the point where we end up believing that we are them. This is a really awesome blog. And, yes, totally true, the more we realise that we are not them, and catch ourselves acting and thinking as they do, and reclaim us for ourselves, they all get exposed big time in what they are and what they are after.