Do you regularly find yourself having silent raging arguments with yourself or imaginary others as you go through the motions of your daily life? If so, you’re not alone. Many, if not most of us, of us walk around in a semi-dissociative state. We are living our lives in the present moment but in our minds we are somewhere else: fighting epic invisible battles. Children engage in such battles as a form of play, a healthy processing mechanism, but as we grow older we lose the ability to do this. For adults, engaging in epic internal imaginary battles quickly becomes an exhausting and stressful way to live.
This kind of internal warring is not about processing trauma or resolving conflict. It’s a dissociative state that prevents us from being present, keeps us from noticing and connecting with the world around us — a kind of mental torture prison we create for ourselves, not out of a wilful impulse to harm ourselves but sheer unconscious habit. Negative thought loops repeat and repeat, spinning us further away from ourselves, our work and the people and things that we love. Internal states of conflict make us less self-aware, distancing us from our deeper emotions, like vulnerability, empathy, curiosity, pleasure, contentment, confusion and discomfort. They wall us off from nature, connection and the simple pleasure and sheer joy of being alive.
In internal conflict, your opponent (whether it’s your partner, your boss or Elon Musk) aren’t actually present adversaries, literally or figuratively. They are mental apparitions, stand-ins for other parts of yourself. You are both the superhero and the super villain. Your ego states have separated and are engaging in a war of attrition in which no one wins and everyone dies (or ends up exhausted and unhappy).
Once habituated, patterns of internal conflict can lead to all kinds of real problems in the real world. They make us angry and distracted, less productive and able to connect with our loved ones. They lead us to mistreat ourselves and others and numb ourselves with substances to drown out the noise.
The good news is, through hypnosis and guided meditation we can train our ego states to put down their weapons. In the audio above I walk your unconscious through a peace-brokering journey that will give you the gift of peace and calmness of mind.
Listen, enjoy and I hope it helps you to raise the white flag in your own mind.
Love,
Leah
Share this post