HEARING DOUBLE
Practice
hearing double ego practice hearing double ego practice
Let Go of Your Ego
Where do your thoughts go when you’re about to make a choice? Hopefully your answer contains feelings of certainty and confidence. Yet too often it’s usually laced with fear and doubt. The voice you hear when making a choice should be one of reason, not one of condescension. Whether or not you’re making an important, life altering decision or deciding how to reply to a waiter, you’re still choosing how to respond based on your thoughts. If those thoughts tend to be negative or pessimistic, then you’re being influenced by your ego. The ego wants to protect your pride and dignity, but it shouldn’t stop you from taking chances in life.
The goal of this practice is to identify when your ego’s voice has gained power over your own. Once you notice that your self-defeating thoughts aren’t your own, you can learn to acknowledge them and then let them go. You can choose to stop hearing double and put your true, authentic voice in control.
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The first step to empowering your true inner voice is to start noticing both voices. One way to hear the ego’s voice is by truly listening to your inner thoughts. Instead of letting your mind run wild and convince you of your unworthiness, start to second guess what you’re hearing. Do you really believe that you can’t do something? Or is your ego trying to convince you that you can’t because you’ll be judged if you try?
Practice listening to the words your mind uses to label yourself -especially in moments of indecision or fear. Do you hear negative words like “stupid”, “worthless”, or “pointless”? Maybe your negative thoughts convince you to give up before you even try. Challenge yourself to pay close attention to your thoughts for *beginner* a day or *advanced* a week. Write down any negative words, thoughts, or stories that you hear repeatedly.
By listening to what you’re thinking and the words you’re telling yourself, you can start to decipher between the ego and your authentic voice. Once you can hear and distinguish both voices, you can begin to tune out the negative one.
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Once you’ve identified your ego’s voice, the second step is to let it go. When you hear negative thoughts that you’ve decided aren’t your own, or you want to get rid of, you can take its power away. It’s practically impossible to stop them from occurring altogether, but you can use your awareness and energy to help them disappear.
Negative thoughts are only harmful when you listen to them, let them stick around, and then take them to heart. When this happens negativity and judgment begin to define you. If you give your energy to these thoughts they become real. But, you can choose to acknowledge the negative thoughts and then let them pass right through you. You can imagine them as little clouds or balloons. They’re filled with air -nothing substantial- so they’ll blow away or pop just with your intention -your energy. Once you stop allowing the negative voice in your head to affect you mentally and emotionally, you remove its power over you.
Another way to overpower your ego’s voice with your own is through positive encouragement. Utilize the power of your authentic voice by repeating a positive and loving word or phrase to yourself. That way when you’re struggling to quiet the negative voice in your head or let its thoughts go, you can find confidence in the true you.
