Self-talk and The Sleeping Giantess

Just thinking.............again.
One of my mentors was talking on BlogTalkRadio this morning. And of course, you know me,my thoughts got wildly stirred up. She was giving her views on self-talk. She called it telling ourself "stories."

It got me to thinking.

Our self-talk is a two edged sword. It can either make us or break us.

Yap. Yap. Yap, we have a dozen generations of sneaky little voices inside of us that literally run our life. To be sure, they literally save our life, and along with it they usually ruin a lot of good stuff too. Pop culture calls this ancient cast of orators our "self-talk". But it is broader and deeper than that; and it endlessly goes on and on. Very seldom do we debate it, very seldom do we correct it, very seldom do we even hear it.

Really, now. We are so accustomed to the voices inside of us chirping, admonishing, warning, encouraging, praising and spooking their way through our day that we are totally unaware of them. Is that creepy or what!?

It's creepy.

But who cares if we don't hear them? I like meeting them! I like adding them to my list of people who are self aware.  Seriously.

I care, and I started caring the day I got out of High School. I was given a set of books by my dear ol' Dad and started my voyage inside my head. I started to hear the workings of my own head. And it wasn't long before I began to realize that the thoughts that came out of my skull weren't always that productive.

In college and ever since I made the independent investigation of psychology and religion my main preoccupation. I have never been a television or movie watcher, nor have I been a reader of non-fiction or the Classics; I spent an hour or more almost every day reading consciousness raising books and listening to "higher awareness" tapes. That was 40 years ago and I haven't stopped reading, listening and growing since. And I became acquainted with a lot of the folks in my head. And because of my tenacity to stick to the journey I believe I am way ahead of the game of life because of who I listen to and show gratitude toward, and who I argue with.

It is possible for anybody to do this. The key to the whole process is that it can't be done on a mountain top in a blissful meditation; it has to be done with input from other human beings, the kind of humans who have been where you're at now (wherever that is) and learned how to listen, learn and grow.

Whhhhew, heady process indeed!

The process of learning is exciting. And the process reaps incredible rewards. Hearing our inner voices is crucial to creating a decent, uselfull life.

Reading a lot of self-improvement books and attending a lot of good growth groups has the marvelous, almost magical power to develop the most important skill in the world, which is the skill of hearing our own inner voices.

There are too many people in the world who are self "unaware,"and too many who are under-achieving, under-employed, under-nourished, and under-expressed because they are being led by unheard self-defeating voices. Too many people are dying with fabulous potentials buried inside of them because they were "too busy" to make self-awareness a top priority ....

You have just met someone who for the past 40 years has made it hers. That would be me. Nuri! And I would love to be part of your inner voice explorations!

So ......... Your homework today and the rest of the week, if you should accept it,  is to google "self-awareness" and "conscious-raising" and spend an hour or so each day reading and thinking about what's going on secretly inside of you. Go beyond the "I hate my x-lover" rants. Or the "I want more Chocolate" confessions. Get to the nitty gritty under that stuff. The kind of stuff that says over and over again that your ideas are stupid, your house is a mess, your belly is too fat, you should be more organized, that you are a mess. Give these voices some faces. Watch their mouths in particular. Listen to voices that bury you in excuses; or blame, shame, sadness, anger, pride, joy or fear. Put faces on these various voices. And of course listen to your inner debates. Listen to the voices that insist that you're a victim, like it's your own fault. Listen to all the inner enemies that have you so confused it's no wonder you are an under-achiever, underemployed, under-loved, under motivated, or whatever less-than role you are stuck in.

And post your own personal comment on what you think of this exercise.