The Voices of The Self

The four voices of the self include the mind, the ego, the inner child, and the soul.

Each voice takes up a different amount of space and plays a unique part in our consciousness. This means they can affect our thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and the opinions we have about ourselves.

The way they sound will be different for each person depending on the amount of space they take up and the way in which you react to them. Therefore, each voice will have a different effect on those thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and self opinions for each individual.

Each voice plays a different role in your consciousness. Their general role will be the same for everybody. The difference is which one(s) is more outspoken than the others; that will be the difference in people’s personalities and behaviors.

So what are these voices and how can you tell which one is more prominent than the others??

THE MIND

The mind is that endless chatter that constantly tries to take up space during the day. It is extremely uncomfortable with silence which is why it tries to keep your consciousness occupied with constant thoughts.

When the mind overpowers the other voices it may result in anxiety, depression, restlessness, judgment, and discomfort in your own thoughts.

An example of your mind taking over may be when you can’t fall asleep at night. If you have racing thoughts about the day, going over scenarios, thinking about what you have to do the next day, etc., your mind has taken over which prevents you from falling asleep because you can’t relax.

More examples would be seen in someone who has a hard staying present, if you are trying to get into meditation or yoga but have a hard time quieting the mind, or deal with a lot of self-doubting thoughts.

Those examples are all very common and also happen when the mind is the voice that takes over your consciousness.

I’ve had difficulty with my mind taking over many times and it can be very frustrating to not be able to shut it off.

I have found that focusing on feeling and noticing your breath while trying to fall asleep or quiet the mind is very helpful in softening those thoughts. Meditation, yoga, and breathwork are all helpful practices to learn how to shut off racing thoughts and just be in the moment.

This all takes a lot of practice, so be patient with yourself. It took me a lot of practice to learn how to separate myself from my thoughts and think about nothing in order to relax. While you are meditating or however you decide to work on quieting the mind, thoughts may pop up still. That is okay, don’t get mad at yourself. Rather, thank the thought for popping up but allow it to come back later so you can focus on the silence.

THE EGO

This is the part of your consciousness that is constantly looking to prove itself. Your self-esteem, self-worth, and self-confidence come from your ego’s role in your consciousness.

We all have an ego, the difference between individuals is whether that ego is big, small, or just right.

Those who have a big ego may be high in one, two, or three of those areas. However, it is also possible that they are low in all of those areas as well. When an individual is low in self-esteem, self-worth, and/or self-confidence and has a big ego your ego will try to compensate for those low levels by constantly trying to prove itself.

This is when the ego becomes a problem — when it overpowers the other voices to prove it’s worthy.

The ego may also be a problem when it is letting the other voices overpower it. For example, someone with low self-esteem, self-worth, and/or self-confidence and a small ego may also suffer and it is more likely for the mind to come in and overpower the ego with self-doubting thoughts.

To bring the ego to a healthy level it is important to work on your self-love and self-care. At the same time, it is important to practice forgiveness & letting go, practice honesty & openness, surrender your need for control, and practice gratitude.

This will all help to both raise your ego and bring it back down to earth to bring it to a more balanced level.

THE INNER CHILD

This part of our consciousness often gets overlooked and forgotten when we get older.

However, a lot of your current pain is likely to stem from your inner child not feeling validated or unprotected. This is usually related to the pain you suffered as a child that never got resolved.

When this voice overpowers the others the pain from your childhood may be unconsciously holding you back in life and creating unhealthy habits and behaviors in current relationships and situations.

In order to equalize this voice with the others, you will need to do inner child work. This can be done by yourself or with an inner child specialist. Part of this process involves, going back to any time during your childhood, listening to your inner child, and feeling everything they are feeling. Then acknowledging the event and forgiving everyone or everything involved, including yourself.

If you want to look more into doing inner child work this is who I recommend: https://www.edensustin.com/

THE SOUL

The soul is the quiet and serene part of your consciousness that provides a deep clarity throughout your body. It also provides a comforting peace within that allows an individual to reset and clear the mind of that endless chatter.

This voice often goes unnoticed by many people but is a pivotal aspect to our overall emotional and physical health.

Without the soul being balanced with the other voices it is hard to find any inner peace and calm in life. When the soul is overpowered by the other voices times of chaos, stress, and anger will be more intense because you have no boundary between that and yourself.

It is very important to incorporate the voice of your soul into your daily life because it will also help to bring your mind, ego, and inner child to a balanced level as well.

This can be done by using meditation to practice silence in your thoughts and get more intune with yourself at the soul level.

All of these explanations can be applied to most people. However, the voices of the self can sound different for each person depending on how much of that space they take up.

For example, some people may hear the mind most as constant worries about the future while others may hear it more as a subtle inner dialogue.

However the voices sound to you it is always helpful to notice what they look like for you so you can become more aware of your relationship with yourself, others, and your thoughts.

It can also help you to understand what you need to work on and what your consciousness focuses on in the day time and night time.

Sincerely,

Skylar Sustin❤️🌻

Follow my Instagram for more soul enlightenment, mental health, and personal development — @skylarraeblog