Tag Archives: Conflict

Our Battle

Winning The Battle In Each Of Us

Winning the Inner Battle

Inside every person in the world, there exists a conflict between your two selves.

Students of psychology have several different names for these “voices.” Some refer to them as your ego, or perhaps your superego, but I will address these two voices as FalseSelf and True-Self for my purposes.

These two entities are constantly battling for control of our thoughts and actions.  If you don’t believe it, who answers you in your head when you ask the simplest question?  One voice asks the other one answers.  It happens all of the time.  Now let’s get to meet your two voices.

Sometimes You’re Hard On Yourself

Too-much-EgoSelf I(ego, primitive self, jerk, whatever you want to call it.) is your stern voice. It is a know-it who does nothing but issue commands and judges every result.

This is the voice that will tell you that you are stupid for trying, or that will never work, or call you an idiot when things don’t quite turn out the way that you hoped.  This voice has been building inside you since you were born to protect you from disappointment, to keep you safe.

It doesn’t mean to stagnate your growth or cause you to carry around an impossibly negative attitude towards everything and everybody.  You will see this voice in evidence in people who continually judge others and always believe that their way is the best.

Now their way maybe, in fact, the best way, but if this voice dominates someone, they will never seek anything outside of their experience because to do so would put at risk the status quo, and that would be too scary for them to deal with.

Fear of the unknown can make many individuals cling to their old ways and habits, simply because although they may be bad, they are a known entity, and better to feel bad continually by something that you know than to risk something new.

Raising your level of hope that things can get better only to be disappointed is just too scary for most people.  It is much safer never to try and not know how you would fare than to try and fail.  Failure is only one more step to success, and without taking steps, you may never find it.

Say Hello to your true self.

Self II is the voice of your subconscious mind, the absolutely human part of your mind that subconscious-mind-powerwill create creative scenarios and ideas for you to follow.

This voice will urge you to pursue your talents and try to create something great, ignoring the critical “Self I” voice and all of its defense-minded musings.  This voice will tell you about all of your natural potentials and inform you about the skills and capabilities that you possess that will enable you to act and achieve almost anything that you have put your mind to accomplishing.

This ability to rely on ourselves and continue to develop and release our potential, I think, is what most people are looking for in life.  We have the skills and talents to achieve most things we set our minds toward doing if we allow our true talents to shine through the naturally negative expectations of ourselves and others.

People who have achieved greatness in any field, to some degree, and at some point in their life were able to find, listen to and follow this positive inner voice.

Simple Path to Success

success-sketch
I love this picture! Thank you, Google Images!

The simple path to success involves recognizing your own limiting voice and choosing to ignore it and listen to your inner positive voice, allowing you to succeed in the path you should follow.

Finding your ability to hear your own positive voice will enable you to continue to grow as a person and release your nearly unlimited potential to do whatever it is you set your mind to.

Ignoring the negative voice in you that says nothing but negative and judgmental things will allow your positive attitude to bloom into whatever you dream for it to be.  Being the best that you can be is within you.

All people have the ability within themselves to be great and powerful person including both you and me.

The following song is for all of the “Boxing” we do with ourselves.  We all do it, and it is unnecessary we are all on the same team.

The Forty one Year Fight

Mike Martin and I have been friends for forty one years.  There are not many people in the

41 year fight
Even though Mike is always wrong, he still argues with me all the time. He is so stubborn.

world outside of your family that you have known your entire life, and still call them your friend. I am fortunate to have had a friend for most of my life, who is cantankerous, stubborn and is often not right about anything! He would tell you the same thing about me.  We work together right now and that leads to many conflicts about virtually every subject.  When I started this new Picture Project I was in between two of these conflicts, so it only made sense that the first picture should be a symbol of the fights we have on most days.  These “fights” are more philosophical battles, where we do not agree on much of anything.  But when the chips are down, I know I can count on him and he on me.

The core of our conflict has boiled down to the essence of our philosophies, and all of our conflicts stem from this premise:

My Philosohpy: That there is a right and a wrong, that everyone deep down knows it and that morality is definite and binding.  (he refers to this as black and white)

Mike Martin Philosophy:  That life is lived on a continuum of gray area, sometimes things are right, sometimes wrong depending on the circumstances.  (I refer to this as the whatever way the wind blows philosophy)

I could go into each of he specific debates that we have had over the years but when I write about it I seem to be even more clearly right than when the original argument occurred.  Needless to say that we have argued over philosophy, thought, morals, honesty, choices, how to stop drug addiction, and even judgments of others.

Needless to say these arguments have traveled with us from Belgrade all over the State of Maine as we have gone to different locations for work related stuff.  There are a few things we do agree on though.

*Greenville was a great place to grow up

*Our parents were pretty good people

*The Patriots and Red Sox are awesome

Having had some experience with people that are friendly to you face, but not really a friend it is good to know that even though we argue all the time, it is good to have at least one friend that I can count on, no matter what happens.

So this argument has been going on for 41 years and even though I am always right, it still continues, some day he may even get the last word.

But not today because as usual I am right!!!!!

fortyoneyearfight
Always appreciate your real friends.
  • On Fighting
  • No, you’re not entitled to your opinion
  • Keeping Sartre, and other passions