There is a Native American folktale told about two wolves who visit a camp. One is a vicious creature who would rip your throat out and kill your children without hesitation. The other is a powerful She-wolf who will protect your camp. In a fight between them, which one would win? The answer is the one that you feed.
We all have Inner Critics and Saboteurs, no matter how successful and confident we may seem on the outside. We also have deeper, wiser selves or Inner Allies (if this wording doesn’t work for you, find something that does resonate such as Inner Guide, Inner Leader, Captain or something else). The problem is that our Inner Critics have us on speed dial and call us directly the instant we feel vulnerable, whereas we seem to have lost the number for our Inner Allies. Every time we listen to the Inner Critic voice without connecting with deeper, inner, conscious wisdom, we strengthen our connection to it, and over time, our neurons wire and it becomes our default go-to.
So my gift to you is a beautiful visualisation taught to me by my teachers at the Coaches Training Institute, which I use with clients to help them to consciously connect to that deeper wiser self that knows and accepts all of you completely, and holds the attributes of wisdom, clarity, compassion and courage. How delicious to tap into that voice. The more you practice it, the stronger the connection grows. So feed that part of yourself, the part that will support and love you.
Enjoy.
P.S. Don’t worry if when you listen to this, you find it hard. Some people always do, perhaps because they are not “visual” people. There are other ways to connect with your Inner Allies, and I’ll discuss them in other blogs. So don’t be hard on yourself.