We all have a sense of who we are as a person. This is your sense of self or self identity.
If your self identity does not reflect your true self, it can totally sabotage your life.
Do you have a self identity that is creating self sabotage instead of success?
What makes up your identity
Your identity is made up of assumptions and beliefs about what kind of person you are. Some identities are helpful while other identities create problems. Who do you believe you are?
We can look at two categories: role identities and self image identities.
Role identities describe the roles we play in life such as mother, father, businessman/woman, athlete, or blogger. Self image identities describe who we are as a person, such as confident, successful, stupid, or never good enough.
These identities are really trance states, not your true self. According to Stephen Wolinsky, (Trances People Live: Healing Approaches in Quantum Psychology (1991)), “these identities have boundaries to them _ but the being does not. This means that in order for you, the being, to take on an identity, you must take on the corresponding boundaries and limitations. Once you fuse with the “boundaried” state and believe that “This is me”, you experience all the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sensations of that limited state/identity.”
Self image and role identities can limit you in many ways.
How role identities cause self sabotage
All of us have roles in life. They can create self sabotage or they can be helpful.
If you can “take off” your role, then you have not become identified with the role. That role can be helpful. If you cannot “take off” the role, then you have all the limitations of the role.
Trance identities limit you in three ways
First, you can’t think outside the box defined by your role. When you have problems, the best solutions may be outside the box, but you won’t be able to find them.
Second, what happens when your role goes away? If you are identified as your job, what happens when you lose your job? If you are identified as a parent, what happens when your child leaves home? If you are identified as a success, what happens when you fail?
Finally, your identity may be the main cause of your self sabotage. If you identify with “I’m not good enough” or “I’m not deserving” or “I’m not lovable” your life will be a mess.
What can you do?
You formed your identities early in life. Wolinsky tells us that these identities were “created by the child as a means of self-preservation and to handle various problems and traumas.”
You can’t think your way out of these identities. They are deep inside your unconscious mind. Each identity is held in place by a strong emotion.
To free yourself from a limiting identity, you need to release emotions that are holding it in place.
The poetry of emotion process can help you release the past and reclaim the emotion you were meant to have. Start with your limiting self identities, then move on to identity roles you can’t take off.
To read more click on “Are You New to the Site?”
Are your trance identities sabotaging your life?
(Image: gunckx @ Flickr)
