When unfortunate events in one’s life or a negative label are internalized by the individual, the person comes to identify with the incident or label. If the person isn’t aware of what he’s doing and stays in that state of mind, the process of becoming insane will begin. This leads to a wide variety of issues, including issues of insecurity, which are common in the coaching profession.
If we can separate our sense of identity from the sum of our skills and experiences, we can better connect with our true selves. Then your true self can lead and direct your every mental, emotional, linguistic, and behavioral outpouring.
Identifications, Korzybski (1933) said, are the root of insanity. Over-identification with any aspect of yourself or your situation that is subject to change is problematic. As a result, you become narrowed and reduced to that single event, concept, person, role, occupation, etc. The first step towards insanity is making the identification your master. When this happens, you take on the characteristics of the persona you’ve adopted, be it a part, a mask, an emotion, a concept, a belief, etc. To paraphrase, this “tends to make us static and crystallized… prisoners.” (1933, p. 121). When someone has developed an unhealthy obsession, try this pattern on them. Make use of it to sketch up a mental image of your ideal, more enlightened self. [This appeared in print for the first time in NLP World, Hall, 1997.]
1) Start with the supporting belief— I am more and different from my experiences.
Do you know that you are more than your expressions as well as your circumstances?
Stay with and notice what happens inside when you make the distinction between self and the expressions of yourself?
Feel the shift from confusing and identifying self and these facets of mind-body to make this more empowering distinction.
2) Dis-identify linguistically.
How does it feel when you use the linguistic phrase, “I have… but I am not…” ?
How easily can you frame your powers and functions and circumstances as not you?
“I have a will, I am not a will.” Do this with—conscience, emotion, thought, choice, etc.
3) Dis-identify in trance.
Access a comfortable state and induce yourself into this transcending state about your psychological and physiological powers to deepen the distinction of these levels of experience.
“If I lost any of these powers, my core self remains.”
“Every time we identify ourselves with a physical sensation we enslave ourselves to the body … I have an emotional life, but I am not my emotions or my feelings. I have an intellect, but I am not that intellect. I am I, a center of pure consciousness.” (Assagioli, p. 117).
I put my body into a comfortable and relaxed position with closed eyes. I now affirm, ‘I have a body but I am not my body. My body may find itself in different conditions of health or sickness; it may be rested or tired, but that has noting to do with myself, my real ‘I.’ My body is my precious instrument of experience and of action in the outer world, but it is only an instrument. I treat it well; I seek to keep it in good health, but it is not myself. I have a body, but I am not my body.
‘I have emotions, but I am not my emotions. These emotions are countless, contradictory, changing, and yet I know that I always remain I, my-self, in times of hope or of despair, in joy or in pain, in a state of irritation or of calm. Since I can observe, understand and judge my emotions, and then increasingly dominate, direct and utilize them, it is evidence that they are not myself. I have emotions, but I am not my emotions.
‘I have desires, but I am not my desires, aroused by drives, physical and emotional, and by outer influences. Desires too are changeable and contradictory, with alternations of attraction and repulsion. I have desires, but they are not myself.
‘I have an intellect, but I am not my intellect. It is more or less developed and active; it is undisciplined but teachable; it is an organ of knowledge in regard to the outer world as well as the inner; but it is not myself, I have an intellect, but I am not my intellect.
‘After this dis-identification of the ‘I’ from its contents of consciousness (sensations, emotions, desires, and thoughts), I recognize and affirm that I am a Center of pure self-consciousness. I am a Center of Will, capable of mastering, directing and using all my psychological processes and my physical body.'” (Assagioli, pp. 118-119).
“‘What am I then? What remains after discarding from my self-identity the physical, emotional and mental contents of my personality, of my ego? It is the essence of myself—center of pure self-consciousness and self-realization. It is the permanent factor in the ever varying flow of my personal life. It is that which gives me the sense of being, of permanence, of inner security. I recognize and I affirm myself as a center of pure self-consciousness. I realize that this center not only has a static self-awareness but also a dynamic power; it is capable of observing, mastering, directing and using all the psychological processes and the physical body. I am a center of awareness and of power.'” (Assagioli, p. 119).
4) Solidify the self and function distinction.
As you recognize more fully how that each power, function, facet, circumstance, etc. differs from your core self, how does that feel? What happens inside you?
Do you now have functions rather than identities so you can express yourself without over-identifying with these expressions?
5) Swish your brain to a transcending identity.
Think about the you who exists above and beyond these powers—the person who is unconditionally valuable as a person, the user of the powers. This is your the state of “pure consciousness.” What symbol or word will you use to anchor this?
Now imagine this higher self as a stable center — a stable center out of which you can live and express yourself.
Curated by Danielle Tan.
Reference:
- [Certified_meta-coach] 2023 Morpheus #27 THE DIS-IDENTIFICATION PATTERN by L. Michael Hall, Ph.D. Executive Director, ISNS.
