Can someone explain this - “listen to your inner voice” and “you are not your thoughts”? They contradict each other. We’ve all been told since we were little to listen to our inner voice yet in the sober community “you are not your thoughts.”
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Good Morning Heather! I’ll take a shot at trying to explain this. I’ll start with “you are not your thoughts”. I think this a bit easier to grasp. I have thoughts that I know I shouldn’t act on. They can range from wanting to drink, wanting to buy something I don’t need or can’t afford, desiring a woman etc. I also have thoughts that I’m not good enough, I’m not wealthy enough, I’m not smart enough etc. these are all just thoughts. I don’t have to act on them, and I don’t have to believe them to be true. I can recognize that this is my sick mind sending me negative messages that are not true. Does that make any sense?? As far as listening to my inner voice… I think it takes awareness and honesty to sit quietly and acknowledge what I’m feeling…what messages my mind is telling me. If I sit and listen, then I can pause and choose not to compulsively act, or pause and give myself some positive affirmations to counter my negative thoughts. My inner voice can also me my intuition. As I’ve grown in my sobriety, live is starting to slow down, and my inner voice is more calm. It’s not so loud and crazy. It’s not always negative. It’s a process and it takes time. I feel like I’m just starting to benefit from listening and doing all of the daily suggestions that I’ve been given. Be patient with this. It does take time.
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Excellent question. I wondered about that myself. Maybe to ‘listen to your inner voice’ just means to be aware, not to necessarily believe what you are hearing or to act on it. This way it jibes better with ‘you are not your thoughts’. Hope this makes some sense?
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Makes sense to me. I believe my inner voice is my conscious. I do believe that if I pause and listen to it, it knows what is wrong or right. The problem is I muzzled and numbed that inner voice because I was controlled by my addictions and thoughts. I believe our inner voice is connected to that so called “power greater than ourselves”. Our thoughts are more of our ego or “self” that was controlling us. If we can pause enough and listen to our conscious rather than act on our thoughts, we will begin to live a better life.
Yes well put! It’s often tricky to tell who’s talking, the ego or the conscious, isn’t it? That’s why that little pause before a knee j**k reaction is so helpful.
Just keep it simple and don’t overthink things. We as addicts tend to mind f ourselves. K.I.S.S.
So true!
1 is our addiction (our will). The other is our conscience (gods will).
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I feel like my addiction likes to take over my mind (logic/thoughts). My soul resides in my gut and my heart. This is where my truth comes from. When my heart and my mind are in conflict, I follow my heart. It doesn’t lie to me as much as my mind does. If that makes sense at all. lol
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Interesting to think about. I think about the “thoughts” as simply clouds passing by, noticing, not trying to hold onto them. My inner “voice” makes me think more about listening to my gut, my spiders sense, my intuition.
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It’s the Holy spirit inside of you, that is your inner voice. Pray, and your initiation which is your inner voice is a derivative of your spiritual side , this holy spirit
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Your inner voice and your thoughts are different things. The inner voice is more like a gut feeling, an intuition. Thoughts are the stream of consciousness noise your brain generates that aren't always useful or even true.
I hear alcohol, drugs, food and other things that I need to stay away from and I hear them say come hang out with me I will help you to feel better I won't hurt you "
And I will reply to the voices saying " your not my friend you have never been my friend all you want to do is laugh at me by destroying my life ".
I told my family doctor and my psychologist does talking to myself in this way mean I'm deranged and they both said no.
It's
What I am learning is there will be arguments like having an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. And whatever you may give the voice a name like bully, instigator or destroyer the most important thing is to remind ourselves of the were are all put together to create a positive mentality and to practice self destruction.
Not to practice self destruction.
Sorry for the typos as I don't have a lot of experience with text messaging.
Does anything I say make sense?
If not please help me to understand. Your voice matters as much as anybody's.
Carl G. Jung was an understudy of Sigmund Freudand worked with Bill W. and Dr. Bob at the beginning of the A.A. movement.
Carl Jung believed that the conscious and unconscious are connected. I am not claiming to be a doctor but there is a deeper understanding of oneself to be had.
Nothing can take the place of looking at the psyche it is what drives us to do the things we do.
Stop
Observe
Breathe
Evaluate
Respond