Your Inner Voice

What is holding you back in life? Is it circumstances beyond your control?

How much effort do we put into looking for the answers to these questions? I
believe the answers are within us, if we dare to look closely. There is
one thing we all have in common our inner voice. That voice can hold
great wisdom and can also hold us back.

Do you hear your inner voice? Does it remind you every day how creative, powerful,
and loving you are? Or, does it remind you every day that you are too fat, too
stupid, too unworthy, to have your dreams come true?

This inner voice has several names in self-help literature. Rick Carson, author
of Taming Your Gremlin, refers to Gremlin-Taming as a process in, choosingthe
true love that sustains you over the fear that can destroy you.Other
models call this voice the Saboteuror Negative Self-talkor Inner
Wisdom. Everyone I know has a saboteur. It’s probably one of the
most fundamental similarities among human beings. I’ll use the word saboteur
but you can pick the one that works for you.

Who is making the decisions in your life? Is it you or is it your saboteur? You
can use this inner voice to your advantage. Listen to the saboteur but give it
only enough time to see what truth it may hold. Some say the saboteur has 10%
truth in it. If it never told the truth you wouldn’t listen to it
all! But, let’s not give it too much credence. Let’s look at one
way to evaluate what the saboteur has to say.

What is that saboteur saying to you today? Mine has said, No one will
ever love me because I am too fat.Now, is that really true? Well, a piece
of it is. I am overweight. So that is true. But I’m working on losing weight
and while the progress is slow, the weight is coming off. But does being overweight
make me unlovable?

If I were unlovable, I wouldn’t have such great friends. They love me just
the way I am, overweight and all. So, I AM lovable, even though I’m overweight.
What piece of the saboteur do I listen to? Certainly not the entire negative
message. I just need to keep on my weight loss program and I need to remember
that I am lovable. Every day.

Knowing that I am loved keeps me on the weight loss program. If I really thought
that I was unlovable because I am overweight, I would abandon the program because,
well, it’s hard work and I’d talk myself out of it. Or, I’d
let the saboteur talk me out of it.

When the saboteur just won’t let go, try to pull out the language the saboteur
is using. Let’s see what truth, if any, the saboteur has to offer. I have
a client that has a saboteur that says You’re a loser. I
ask her, Is that true? Really?After a minute, she said, No,
it’s not true. Life isn’t the way I want it to be sometimes but I
have accomplished things and I will accomplish things.Yes! Now we have
the saboteur out in the light and it loses its power and runs away.

You can so this for yourself. Sometimes you need to write it down to really hear
what the saboteur is saying. Drag the saboteur out into the light. Then you can
pull out the little bit of truth, if there is any, and then use that information.
You will make the decisions in your life, not your saboteur.

I believe the saboteur keeps us all from taking risks. It keeps us from moving
forward. It is the source of fear and keeps us stuck. It is the thinking that
prevents learning and joy and taking leaps toward our true selves.

Go on! You know what you want to do with your life. Don’t let your saboteur
run your life. Make your dreams come true!

Contact Information: Roca Welch is a trained Life Coach in Belmont, CA. Call
her at 650-591-2549 or see www.rocawelch.com