#52 Inner Voices

Ep 52 Between the Ears - Inner voices
Welcome, I'm Arnold and I enable you to have a better life between the ears because your inner state creates your outer reality. Today's topic is inner voices, your inner voices, my inner voices. We all experience them, I would say, all the time, except when we sleep.

But I have spoken to a lot of people and I experienced that myself as well. Sometimes we wake up because our inner voice wants to tell us something. Well, and that is not something which is nice.

So I want to share with you the various inner voices which we can distinguish because it's not just one voice, it's different voices and it's crucial to distinguish with them and to, well, mix because then you can be more clear like I want to listen to this voice and not to this voice. The most loud, the most prominent voice is what we call the inner critic. The inner critic is that voice inside of you and me who criticize what you said, what you did, what you are doing, what happened, something can be 10 minutes ago, it can be 10 years ago, it can be 30 years ago, but it's mostly all the time criticizing you and the language which your inner critic uses is quite ugly.

I mostly say on interviews when people ask me and I tell them about the inner voice and I say, if we would say to another person what this inner critic says to you inside of you, you would be in a fight or people would be really angry at you. So it's not good, but that doesn't mean that the inner critic is totally useless. No, the inner critic has a role to play and especially when it concerns your safety.

When safety is at risk, your inner voice is stronger and louder, but the main thing is it cannot clearly distinguish between real safety threats or imagined safety threats. The voice of that inner critic with a lot of people and certainly with myself is how our parents talk to us or have talked to us and that becomes how we talk to ourselves. In my case, how my father would criticize me non-stop, that became my inner critic.

There are also a lot of voices inside of you which are not helpful. For a lot of us, especially when we work in companies or in corporations, there's something which we call a mask and that mask impersonates the true self, the true you. There's a voice that speaks to you as if it is you.

I'm anxious, I'm unworthy, it's a jailer, it keeps your true potential locked in forgetfulness. It generates a false identity narrative. I'm this body, I'm my past, I'm my trauma and intoxicates consciousness with compulsive thoughts, emotions, over-identification and attachment to material existence.

In that sense, it's very close to what people call the ego. So when you talk about unconditioning and you wanting to live from your true potential, that makes it key that you start to listen to and see what these voices are resembling. Is it the mask? Is it a false you? Is it your parents? What voice is talking to you? And is that really you? Because your inner monologue is not you, most of the time.

It's a propaganda machine run by a committee of childhood ones and cultural expectations. But what those voices keep telling us, and like I say, it goes on for at least, I would say, the moment we wake up, we have our inner voice. But we have to be aware that the brain listens, and we're talking about the head brain especially, but the brain listens to everything you say.

And the brain hears everything you say, and it acts on everything you say. So you have to be very, very careful what language, what tone you're using with your inner voices. Well, at the same time, you need to understand that your inner speech is the actual engine of creation.

Meaning if you're criticizing, you're angry at yourself, you're frustrated at yourself, that is the inner state which you create. And that is the reality which it will bring forth. On the other hand, if you're enthusiastic, and you change your inner critic into an inner cheerleader, that will be the reality which you create.

And to close this topic, I want to link your inner voices, and yes, there are multiple, and connect them with the three brains, which I discussed in an earlier podcast. We have the head brain, the heart brain, and the good brain. So the inner critic or the ego is primarily linked to your head brain.

And it uses language and logic, and it's like, you should do this, and you should do that, and you shouldn't have done this. Then there is the voice of your heart, your heart brain talking to you. And it's mostly about emotional knowing, about calm, about certainty, about peace.

Then there's the voice of your gut, of your gut brain, which mostly of the time gives you a certain feeling, a somatic sensation. Then there is the witness or observer, and that's an integration across your head, heart, and gut brain. And it's a non-judgmental awareness of all systems.

And then there is your true self or your soul, whatever name you want to give to it. And that's the coherent alignment of all three, head, heart, and gut voices. And that's the wisdom, compassion, and transcendent knowing.

So yes, it's kind of an orchestra inside of ourselves. And you are the conductor. So are you the conductor of a group of voices which creates a noise, or are you the conductor of something, of an orchestra which makes some beautiful sound? That's something which you can learn.

That's something which, if you do it appropriately, will tremendously change your life for the better, and will make you feel much, much better on a daily basis. Everyday beauty. We conclude each session with some examples of everyday beauty, because beauty, and especially moral beauty, like kindness, courage, and compassion, has a very positive influence on your inner state.

Today's example is about a young girl called Ayun from Indonesia, who escaped child marriage to pursue purpose. At age 12, incredibly, if you think about it, she was set to be married off. But a compassionate center director intervened, helping her to escape and to continue her education.

Now Ayun is studying biology on a full scholarship, and Ayun's journey illustrates how one person's integrity, in this case this center director, can alter another's destiny. And remember, your spark is only useful if it lights up the room.