How to reconcile your subpersonalities?
Tatyana Sosnovskaya, teacher
Working with subpersonalities is a fairly popular and used method in psychology. The concept of subpersonalities actively entered into psychological practice thanks to the Italian psychiatrist R. Assagioli and his theory of psychosynthesis. Subpersonalities are substructures of personality that have a relatively independent existence, which are personified into internal images and elements of human behavior.
The most common subpersonalities are associated with a person’s fulfillment of social roles. These are, for example, “wife”, “mother”, “daughter”, “employee”, “grandmother”, “friend”. It is important not to confuse them in social life, because even with an adult daughter you cannot always be a friend, sometimes you need to include “mother”. And when a tired husband comes home from work, it would be good not to forget to temporarily “turn off” the “hostess” and “turn on” the “wife”.
But it is possible to identify subpersonalities that are responsible for a certain behavior and state of a person. For example, in one person the “Eternal Brake” subpersonality and the “Hustler” subpersonality can simultaneously live and contradict each other. Or, within one individual girl, “Business Woman” and “Ideal Housewife” may conflict. There are not only two subpersonalities, but many more.
The task of the psychologist is to identify the most relevant and conflicting subpersonalities at the moment and make them work together. After all, the problem is that all these internal entities constantly quarrel, interfere with each other, appear in the wrong place and at the wrong time. To stop the internal conflict, it is necessary to reconcile the subpersonalities within a person, to show their importance and necessity. Make sure that they do not interfere, but help a person in realizing his life, appear at the right time in the right place, and do not waste all his energy on useless internal dialogue and exhausting struggle with each other.
But who in this theory will have to coordinate this internal crowd of uncontrollable individualists, who will manage the “negotiations” of subpersonalities? This difficult task is called upon to be solved by the True (or Integrated, or Higher) Self, which must be found in the process of working with subpersonalities.
True Self - where are you? - Mission Impossible!
How to find it and what is it, my True Self? Where is it located? And which of these strange creatures living inside me has anything to do with my True Self? The theory of psychosynthesis states that it is important to understand that I am not my subpersonalities (the technique of disidentification has been developed for this).
But if I am not my subpersonalities, then what am I?
The theory of psychosynthesis gives a vague and completely incomprehensible answer:
“I” is you yourself in all the fullness of your potential. It is your inner being that is the driving force behind all your actions.”
What is my inner essence? What is my potential? The circle is closed: again the same questions, and again without an answer.
Not subpersonalities, but vectors!
The theory of psychosynthesis was one of the first in psychology not to typify personality, but began to work with the diversity of human manifestations, calling them subpersonalities. But the reasons for multidirectional desires within one person remained unclear.
The explanation was found by the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, who discovered that a person’s psychological manifestations depend on a set of properties and desires given from birth (called vectors), which, depending on the development and implementation in each individual person, are expressed in a strictly defined way. There are eight vectors in total, and each of them has its own characteristics. A person can be the carrier of any number of vectors (on average from three to five), and depending on their combination, certain desires and personality traits will manifest themselves in him.
As an example, let's look at some internal contradictions caused by the presence of different vectors in a person.
Business Woman and Ideal Hostess
The desire for a career, the desire to earn money are the desires of the skin vector, aimed at achieving property and social superiority. A woman with a skin vector is bored sitting at home, she is drawn to work. Such women are excellent at doing business; they are cold-blooded, logical and calculating. And this does not always fit into traditional concepts of “female behavior.”
Women with an anal vector, as a rule, are ideal housewives. They always have first, second and compote, the linen is ironed, the floor is washed, the closets are in perfect order. Home and family always come first.
In the right combination, these vectors allow a woman to keep up both at home with three children, a husband and a dog, and at work with subordinates, plans and reports. And there is still a little time left for rest and friends. In the wrong way, you don’t get anything done at work, you rush between hundreds of things you have started, and at home there is dirt, disorder and a dissatisfied husband, if you have one. The result is anger, irritation and guilt. Understanding your vectors, their characteristics, manifestations and methods of implementation in life helps to reconcile these two forces.
Eternal Brake and Shustryak
Another well-observed contradiction between the skin and anal vectors within one person is observed in the ways of responding to a situation and the speed of decision-making.
The peculiarity of the skin vector is high adaptability, variability, mobility, adaptability to new conditions, the need for novelty, quick reaction, flexibility in decision making, good logic.
The anal vector is characterized by perseverance, meticulousness, consistency, the need for stability, perseverance to the point of stubbornness, a cautious attitude towards everything new, delaying decision-making, perfectionism, analytical abilities, rigidity of the psyche, its focus on the past.
Obviously, this is more than a contradictory combination. If both of these vectors are present in one person, then they often come into conflict. Instead of reacting to a situation that requires making a quick decision “in a skin way,” a person falls into a stupor and begins to “slow down” (reacts with the properties of the anal vector), and when the work needs to be done efficiently and thoroughly (in an anal way), he rushes and fusses uselessly (skin-like).
The knowledge of system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan not only helps you understand your conflicting desires, but also allows you to learn how to “use” your vectors for their intended purpose: cutaneous for making quick decisions and laconic answers, anal for thorough and high-quality work. In this case, the productivity of any activity and the feeling of satisfaction from life increases many times.
Inner Woman and Inner Man
These are one of the most popular subpersonalities that both men and women want to reconcile. System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan shows that what is called the Inner Woman is provided by a cutaneous-visual combination of vectors, which manifests itself in special sensuality and emotionality, the ability to appreciate and create beauty, the inability to cause pain (and therefore to defend oneself), the need for protection .
Moreover, the cutaneous-visual ligament can occur in both women and men, but it will manifest itself slightly differently - depending on the degree of realization of innate properties. From dancers in strip bars to great actors. From hysteria and panic attacks to selflessness and the highest manifestations of love.
The inner Man in a woman can be called manifestations of a variety of vectors. These can be manifestations of the urethral vector (female leader), and anal (criticism), and skin (the ability to logic and earn money), and sound (abstract thinking and detachment from everything earthly). They will be expressed in completely different ways and therefore there is not and cannot be a single recipe - “how to accept the Inner Man within yourself”.
You need to understand your internal structure and the question will disappear by itself.
Shirt Guy and Gloomy Introvert
Another combination of vectors, not so rare in one person. If a person has an oral vector, then it is impossible not to notice it, or rather, not to hear it. He is a joker and toastmaster, a loudmouth and a brawler, a wonderful storyteller and the best party host in the world.
The sound vector in the same person will make him thoughtful, silent and distant. He was just having fun with friends and suddenly, leaving everything behind, he goes off into the snowstorm to think about the meaning of life and death.
It is impossible to resist these multidirectional desires, and only a deep awareness of the needs that underlie them can reconcile.
What about the Inner Self and the True Self?
System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan states that every person is born to perform a specific task in society. This task is determined by its features through a vector set given from birth. If he fulfills his task, then through a complex biochemical mechanism he receives a reward in the form of pleasure from life, a feeling of happiness and fulfillment. If he does “not his job” or “does not do his job,” then he suffers, feels “out of place,” feels the emptiness and meaninglessness of life.
You can understand who you are only by realizing your inner structure and your place among other people. Looking for your “Higher” or “True Self” in isolation from society and your role in it is an absolutely meaningless and empty exercise.
System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan provides mathematically accurate tools in knowing oneself and knowing others, helps to realize oneself in society not at the expense of people, but for people. You can sign up for free introductory lectures.
The article was written using training materials on system-vector psychology by Yuri Burlan
Tatyana Sosnovskaya, teacher Section: Psychology
Subpersonalities: who are they, why work with them?
Depending on the situation, mood, subpersonality manifests itself in us to a greater or lesser extent. It happens that we notice our different reactions to basically similar events in life. Our reaction, by and large, depends on what kind of subpersonality manifested itself in us at that moment.
Subpersonality is foreign energies acquired and nurtured within a person. They manifest themselves in the form of reactions, emotions, actions. On the subtle plane, I see them as certain types of energies, not the kindest, most rosy and good.
Simply put, these are certain programs written in a person, thanks to which a person moves away from himself, from his real self. The more such subpersonalities there are, the further a person goes from his true path. Moreover, each person has a different set of subpersonalities and they all look different.
Subpersonality
Subpersonality (English: subpersonality) - perceived by consciousness as something separate from oneself, as well as an internal image attached to these elements. Subpersonalities arise at different stages of human development and provide his protection, fulfillment of his needs and allow him to live the way he lives. The basic idea of the method of psychological research of personality “Dialogue with Voices” (English Voice Dialogue, authors: Sidra and Hal Stone) is the position that a person’s personality is not single, but consists of many separate “I”s, which are called subpersonalities. (Fig.1)
Subpersonalities can be at enmity, talk, negotiate, be friends...
The concept of subpersonality was introduced into scientific use within the framework of psychosynthesis (psychotherapeutic system), developed by the Italian psychiatrist and psychologist R. Assagioli. In accordance with his ideas, subpersonality is a dynamic substructure of personality that has a relatively independent existence. The most typical subpersonalities of a person are those associated with the social (family or professional) roles that he takes on in life, for example, with the roles of daughter, mother, son, father, grandmother, beloved, doctor, teacher, etc. Subpersonalities manifest themselves indirectly, for example, when a person talks to himself or conducts an internal dialogue. The voices that speak, ask questions and answer in the inner world of a person are a manifestation of his subpersonalities. The qualities, abilities and skills of a person that he demonstrates in his life are also manifestations of his subpersonalities. In the structure of consciousness, the creators of “Dialogue with Voices” distinguish three levels:
- Level of observation or awareness.
- Level of subpersonalities.
- The Ego level is the golden mean, which lies between the “primary selves” (subpersonalities) and the “detached selves” (observation) of a person.
Observation differs from the mind in that when perceiving the world around us at this level, a person does not give any assessments or draw any conclusions. According to the theory of Sidra and Hal Stone, subpersonalities that arise in the process of maturation of the human psyche serve to protect the “inner child” from vulnerability and defenselessness and allow one to achieve goals set in life. (Fig.2)
The inner voice is the voice of our parents. A visual representation of the subpersonalities of Parents and their interactions with each other.
Subpersonality is a popular psychological metaphor that says that within your big personality there are many small living beings, many small personalities. Calling personal characteristics subpersonalities makes it possible to work with them as with living beings: fight with them, talk with them, negotiate... Subpersonalities are another name for personal characteristics, desires, aspirations and habits.
In therapeutic practice, subpersonalities are usually endowed with abilities and advantages that significantly exceed the abilities and advantages of the client. Namely, according to the will of psychologists and psychotherapists, the subpersonality is a very living, active and creative being, able to run into the past, climb deep into the Unconscious, establishing informal and active contacts with other subpersonalities, capable of knowing what the client himself does not know, able to take care of client, who always has only positive intentions and is able (sometimes) to act according to the principle “In order to, and not because...”.
“Subpersonality is a convenient model that allows us to deal with the driving forces of personality, but we must not forget that this is just a model that does not claim to be an original. When they talk about subpersonality, they mean a certain set of attitudes, behavioral stereotypes, beliefs, drives, etc., which takes on a holistic, discernible form only in our consciousness.”
Roberto Assagioli.
The number and characteristics of subpersonalities can be different for different people, and this depends both on the actual personal characteristics and on the person’s imagination, the person’s readiness to assume one or another subpersonality.
The use of such a working metaphor as “subpersonality” has taken root in psychotherapeutic work. This naming of habits and personal characteristics as subpersonalities for people with developed metaphorical thinking makes it possible to briefly and succinctly describe a rich behavioral set in one word. A developed subpersonality develops its own ethics and aesthetics, as well as its own peculiarities of physiology, posture, movements, intonation and facial expressions. This creates a more serious attitude towards what is happening in the client and motivates him more.
Personality is a basic concept not only in psychology, but also in sociology and philosophy. And in everyday life you can often hear “odious person”, “interesting person”. What does this term mean? This will be discussed in this article.
What and how do subpersonalities influence?
In this article you will learn:
Why can’t a smoker quit smoking, but a fat one can’t lose weight?
A different look at ordinary things!
Greetings to my readers. Oksana Manoilo is with you. In this article I will share my knowledge and my understanding of the topic of human subpersonality.
We'll look at:
- What are human subpersonalities?
- How subpersonalities manifest themselves in everyday life.
- I'll tell you what they are like.
- What do subpersonalities influence?
- How to get rid of subpersonalities.
Personality structure
To better understand the term, it is worth considering its structure.
The structure of personality can be understood as the interaction of its component parts (character, aspirations, will, abilities, emotions). These parts (components) characterize a person; they can be called her traits. To structure these personality-defining traits, the following levels are distinguished:
- lower,
- second,
- third,
- higher.
The lowest level is the mental characteristics of a person determined by gender, age, and innate qualities.
The second level involves individual characteristics depending on innate qualities and their development (memory, thinking, abilities, perception of the surrounding world).
The third level is formed throughout life and is associated with socialization. It defines individual experience (knowledge acquired throughout life, habits, skills).
The highest level reflects the worldview, inclinations, beliefs, character traits, the so-called personality orientation. The highest level is most dependent on the social environment in which the formation of personality occurs. Education has a strong influence on the formation of this level. This structure gives a generalized idea of personality. Each person is multifaceted and the differences between people at each level of the structure discussed above are determined by individual experience, beliefs, character, and knowledge. This versatility and individuality often becomes the reason why it is difficult to understand an opponent and avoid conflict situations.
To better understand others and yourself, you need to have an idea of personality characteristics, be aware and observant.
Psychologist Sergei Klyuchnikov
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Real self-management begins from the moment a person has done some work on himself, identified his main subpersonalities and made a decision on which positive ones to rely on, which ones should be completely abandoned, and which ones can be kept for oneself subject to re-education.
Working with subpersonalities is working on your own personality traits and qualities.
We must begin by studying and subsequently changing precisely this, higher level of the psyche, and not vice versa.
It will lead to changes in psychological states towards the positive and will ensure a more harmonious flow of mental processes - stopping the fussy play of emotions, curbing the chaos of thoughts, activating brain and mental activity.
Every person has his own set or combination of subpersonalities or roles in communication.
To start working with subpersonalities , you need to identify them, think carefully, observe yourself and make a list of your little “I”.
They surround a person’s deep self and are located at varying degrees of distance from it, depending on the degree of their own perfection, awareness and purity.
The less perfect this subpersonality is, the more shortcomings and negativity there are in it, the further it exists from the spiritual Self.
And vice versa, positive subpersonalities associated with the desire for improvement are closer to the center - the higher self.
Some of the subpersonalities are aimed at the inner world, others - at the external world, at other people.
Understanding this means understanding how to work correctly with subpersonalities in communication.
We all play many roles in our lives, which means we alternately identify with one or another subpersonality.
The transition from one role to another and the very process of alternate identification with one subpersonality and then with another resembles rotation, circling around the center.
This is how it should be - the planets revolve around the sun.
Working with subpersonalities will sooner or later lead us to the understanding that any of our subpersonalities thinks in a certain direction and generates many thoughts.
Created thought images revolve in human consciousness around the centers that gave birth to them, sometimes moving away from them in the direction of those goals and people to whom they were sent, then returning to the person who gave birth to these thoughts.
When the need to act comes, a person chooses a solution that is closer to the subpersonality that is strongest at the moment.
Therefore, a coward who is accustomed to avoiding danger in the next threatening situation will most likely again reflexively “jump” into the subpersonality of fear and flight, even if he once thought that it was time to behave confidently, while a fearless, accustomed person, on the contrary, will go towards death, although the voice of a cautious, prudent subpersonality will try to stop him.
The more your conscious observer practices observing how subpersonalities struggle and replace each other, the stronger it will become, and the process of observing yourself and your communication will be easier and more enjoyable.
Working with subpersonalities assumes that you will carefully observe them in communication and see how certain subpersonalities react to people and situations.
When you see your mistakes and weaknesses, it will not plunge you into great discontent and despair as at first.
You will be helped by a growing feeling of confidence from within that the internal enemy has been discovered, which means victory is close.
understand how to work with subpersonalities in communication if you closely observe yourself in a variety of situations.
You will be able to see your mistakes in communication, stop yourself from doing things that you simply couldn’t prevent yourself from doing before.
You will have the energy to correct in yourself such emotions, attitudes, habits and psychological qualities that previously all the time were clearly pushing you in the wrong direction.
Working with subpersonalities will definitely lead you to streamline your consciousness and better understand yourself.
Having accumulated strength and become stronger, the observer will gradually turn into a real ruler who will remove from the personal space all the negative subpersonalities that interfere with him and combine the remaining ones into a new, more perfect combination.
It must be said that communication is a process that is largely spontaneous, natural and spontaneous.
If we take the call to observe ourselves literally and do it like yogis, Taoists or enlightened masters every second, then we will notice that attention will deplete quite quickly, since we, unlike these advanced and specially trained people, do not have enough energy.
Trying to continue this practice at any cost will cause us fatigue, irritation and reluctance to engage in this very useful activity at all.
Therefore, it is necessary to observe moderation in everything.
Stay natural and common sense and build up this strength gradually.
Then self-observation and the practice of mindfulness will be a pleasant and even joyful task of life for you and an opportunity to grow and improve every second.
Social Like
Main characteristics
In psychology, personality characteristics are understood as those mental phenomena through which an individual manifests himself in communication with others and in everyday activities. The following main personality characteristics are distinguished:
- capabilities,
- will,
- temperament,
- character,
- emotions,
- motivation.
Capabilities
When it comes to a person’s successes and achievements (for example, studying at school), abilities are considered to be the criterion for assessing this success.
Abilities can be called properties of the soul, uniting all mental processes and states of a person. They also mean the totality of all the skills of an individual, thanks to which he successfully performs certain actions. Simply put, ability is both the ability to do something well, for example, to draw, and to experience strong feelings, for example, love or compassion.
Abilities are divided into:
- complex and simple
- practical and theoretical,
- educational and creative,
- general and special,
- communicative and subject-active.
Complex and simple abilities
The simplest include innate abilities based on the activity of the senses and elementary motor activity. For example, the ability to distinguish colors, sounds, walk, sit, and so on.
Complex abilities are understood as skills related to human culture (painting pictures, the ability to solve difficult problems in physics, etc.). These are not innate abilities; they are socially conditioned.
Inner child
Many people are familiar with the inner critic, but sometimes they are less familiar with their inner child.
If you have an inner critic who constantly criticizes you, then the part of you that is criticized and hurt is your inner child.
Our inner child stores our memories and emotional pain just like a child does.
Most of us can only remember some important events from our childhood.
As we grow older, we usually push our inner child into the background, developing our subpersonality as an adult.
However, our unresolved internal painful feelings that we carried through childhood remain in our memories and body memory, whether we are aware of it or not.
Think back to a recent time when someone's words triggered an emotional reaction in you.
You may have felt upset or angry about this, or experienced some kind of bodily discomfort. Ask yourself: “Why am I so convinced that they are right?” If you rationally know that the other person is wrong, why did you still react? This is because part of you (your inner child) is convinced that this person is right.
In the early years of our lives, our brains form beliefs about ourselves, and as adults we continue to harbor our painful experiences.
As an adult, you may understand that criticism is unfair. But from the point of view of your inner child, this person is right. Ask yourself: How did I feel as a child when someone in my immediate family called me lazy, stupid, and worthless? How did I feel that my parents were constantly busy with their work and did not give me the attention I needed?
When we were children, we didn't understand why our parents treated us the way we did, and we took the blame on ourselves.
If there was no one nearby who could help us deal with our emotions, then we could not learn to cope with guilt, anger, and fear.
So we continued to carry these unvented emotions into our adult lives, forgetting that we once suffered as children.
If you're having a hard time feeling your inner child right now , that's normal.
Temperament
Temperament is those properties of the psyche that are responsible for its processes and human states.
The following main types of temperament, defined by Hippocrates, are distinguished:
- melancholic,
- choleric,
- phlegmatic,
- sanguine.
A melancholic person is characterized by a tense inner life. People with this temperament are usually gloomy, vulnerable, and have a high level of anxiety. They are restrained in communication, get tired quickly, and give in to difficulties.
Cholerics are quick-tempered, impulsive people, persistent. They have difficulty restraining their emotions, but quickly calm down if they get their way. Such people are true to their interests and aspirations.
Phlegmatic people are efficient and patient, they know how to control themselves perfectly. These are cold-blooded people who are difficult to disturb, but if this happens, it is difficult for them to calm down. Those with a phlegmatic temperament have difficulty adapting to new things and do not easily get rid of old habits.
Sanguine people are cheerful, optimistic, sociable people who love to joke. They are open to new things and easily adapt to changes, they are disciplined in their work and are able to keep their emotions in check.
This is a general and incomplete classification that gives general ideas about temperament.
You need to understand that a person can combine traits of different temperaments and that these types are not often found in their pure form.
Character
In psychology, character is understood as the way a person interacts with other people and the world. It is formed depending on the social conditions in which the individual is located and raised.
Character is manifested in the reaction to the actions of other people, in the manners of the person himself. Many character traits can be grouped into three groups:
- strong-willed,
- business,
- communicative,
- motivational,
- instrumental.
As it is not difficult to guess, strong-willed character traits determine a person’s will and its accompanying qualities (perseverance, determination, compliance).
Business traits are how an individual behaves during work (conscientiousness, laziness, responsibility, tendency to procrastinate).
Communication traits determine how contactable and sociable a person is, how he communicates with others (openness, kindness, politeness, rudeness, isolation).
Motivational traits mean those qualities that encourage action, directing it. Instrumental traits give a certain style to human behavior.
Emotions
Emotions in psychology are defined as individual experiences that arise when vital needs are satisfied (dissatisfied). They may be pleasant or not.
A person is capable of experiencing a variety of emotions, but the main ones include the following:
- the simplest emotions
- mood,
- affects,
- feelings.
The simplest emotions, their manifestation, are associated with the satisfaction of physiological needs.
Mood is a set of emotions that can describe the state of an individual at a certain moment.
Affects can be called strong short-term emotions that have...
By feelings, psychologists understand an individual’s experiences caused by a certain object.
Emotionally, people are very different from each other. These differences consist of different intensity and direction, and the duration of the experience of emotions.
Emotions influence decision-making and specific actions. This is why it is important to control your feelings.
Motivation
Motivation is a set of reasons that can explain an individual’s behavior. It depends on the following factors:
- motives,
- incentives,
- needs, needs
- motives,
- intentions.
Motive determines the purposefulness of behavior. It is based on either a psychological or physiological impulse.
The stimulus can be an internal or external factor. Under its influence, an individual strives to achieve a certain goal and solve a problem. Motive and incentive jointly control human behavior.
Need can be understood as a state in which something is missing for the normal functioning of both mental and physical.
In psychology, motivation is understood as an individual’s not fully conscious, perhaps not fully defined, desire for something.
Intention is a conscious, thoughtful decision based on the desire to perform a certain action.
Motivation is what makes a person not stand still in his development. It is important to understand that for each person the “driving force” will be different. And what motivates one may not “inspire” another at all.
Personality is a complex and multifaceted concept. But basic knowledge about it will help you better understand yourself and those around you and build more harmonious relationships.
Between Persona and Shadow
A much greater variety of internal inhabitants is found in the theory of Carl Gustav Jung and his followers. In this concept, everyone has not only a personal, but also a collective unconscious, which is made up of universal mental structures - archetypes.
Jung himself said that everyone has a Persona, a subpersonality demonstrated to the world; A shadow consisting of shameful and rejected qualities; The Divine Child, the Wise Old Man, as well as the Animus and Anima, the inner man in a woman and the inner woman in a man.
Post-Jungians began to “populate” a person’s personality with an increasing number of characters and talk about their positive and negative qualities. Robert Johnson, in He, She, and Us, described the danger that people in romantic relationships are not really loving the real person, but their inner man or woman. Marie-Louise von Franz dedicated her research to “The Eternal Youth. Puer Aeternus" to modern young men, captured by the beautiful and infantile archetype of the Eternal Boy. And Clarissa Pinkola Estes in her book “Who Runs with the Wolves”, more poetically than scientifically, substantiated the urgent need to actualize the archetype of the Wild Woman.
Due to the infinite extensibility of the collective unconscious, some authors have created entire systems of role archetypes that make up a person’s personality. In the domestic school of fairy tale therapy, it is believed that depersonalized fairy tale characters live in everyone - Tsar / Queen, Peasant / Peasant, Warrior / Warrior, and so on, the strengths of which a person must learn to use competently. Thus, the peasant needs to be “turned on” for patient work, the Warrior for healthy aggression, the Tsar for management and responsibility, the Merchant for earning money for pleasure, and the Monk for self-immersion and reflection.
The collective of subpersonalities of Jean Shinoda Bohlen and Galina Bednenko, who showed the inner world of a person populated by images of gods and goddesses of ancient Greek mythology, is structured in a similar way. Apollo and Athena, Poseidon or Hera, in all the diversity of their qualities and functions, can manifest themselves in a person with different strengths and equally lead him to success or failure.
Such visualization of human qualities, aspirations and needs is a fairly convenient way to understand your feelings and desires. For example, having noticed perfectionism and snobbery in yourself - the properties of Apollo, you can immediately remember his opposite Dionysus and think about how to bring more spontaneity and fun into your life.
Bolen compares the system of role archetypes to a committee, where normally everyone is allowed to speak and where a healthy ego leads the process. That is, normally a person sees all the richness of his social roles, motivations and characteristics, and also knows how to manage them: let someone go forward, hold someone back, make peace with someone. However, with a weak ego - the chairman of the committee (you can think of it as will or as awareness) endless conflicts can begin or a one-man takeover of power can occur. Therefore, a person who behaves in all situations, for example, like a Warrior (speaking in terms of fairy tale therapy), will mostly act to the detriment of himself and others, despite the certainly vivid image.
A little about our inner child, parent and adult
A little about our inner child, parent and adult
Aleynik A.I. (psychologist, master of metaphorical cards)
Surely you have noticed that a large number of different “I”s coexist within us. These different parts of us, in different situations, can seize control and begin to dictate their will.
For example, weight loss fighters know that it is better not to eat before bed. The rational part of us says: “Don’t eat at night, you’ll gain even more weight, and sores will appear.” But then another part of us appears and says, quietly at first: “We only live once!” And then more and more insistently: “I’ll stop eating on Monday, let’s go unload the refrigerator, going to the refrigerator is the same movement...”.
And you find yourself at the refrigerator, frantically and greedily emptying it.
How many people are familiar with this situation? This is an example of how our subpersonalities manifest themselves.
But oddly enough, subpersonalities try to make our lives more comfortable and safe. It’s just that the methods they choose for this are not always optimal for the current situation.
Surely you have met people who get offended for no reason!
In childhood, these people developed a subpersonality that loves to be offended and upset. Apparently in their childhood, there were situations where they were saved by frustration - their mother did not buy a toy and paid little attention - they began to cry, get offended and the situation was resolved magically - the toy was bought, and even if not, then the mother’s attention was definitely attracted, even if even it was expressed in swearing and irritation. And then, automatically, this subpersonality unconsciously turns on, trying to help in similar situations, although not taking into account that the child may already be over 40 years old.
The subpersonality always wants the best for us! But he does not always know how to bring good into our lives, and often uses methods that are not correct and do not work. More precisely, these methods were working when the subpersonality arose. But now we have different resource concepts, different resource states, a different position in the world.
People have subpersonalities that are unique to them and subpersonalities that everyone has in the same society and cultural environment. Their imbalance greatly affects our lives.
Some of the brightest representatives are our inner Parent, Child, Adult
The “Inner Child” is the most vibrant and emotional part of our personality. Thanks to him, we can not only create, love, admire, enjoy life, but also grieve and be sad. Everything related to emotions and their expression is connected with our inner child. His motto is “I want.” If it prevails within us, then there are many desires, but there is no strength to realize them, a lot of manipulation, lack of commitment, maximalism, and inability to concentrate on a specific goal.
The “Inner Parent” is our controller. Likes to control the behavior of the Inner Child, educates him. The parent is trying to protect the child from real, and in fact more often imaginary dangers. As a rule, the formation of this part of the personality occurs in preschool age. This is a collective image of all those who participated in our upbringing - father, mother, grandmother, teacher, and even a completely unfamiliar adult who scolded or “punched” the child’s ears for some childhood sin. The Inner Parent wants to subordinate everything to its power and establish total control over a person’s personality. His motto is “I must.” The predominance of this subpersonality leads to an inability to enjoy life and have fun. Everything is too bleak, ordinary and boring. Constantly looking back at what others will think and say about you. Do/not do with an eye on what is customary, how others do it. Very often people who are stuck in a childish position begin to attract people.
“Inner Adult” is our common sense, our life experience. It is he who makes it possible to behave not only “as is customary among decent people,” but also in the way that is most reasonable and effective for us. If a child lives with dreams, that is, the future, a parent is guided by the norms of behavior developed by society earlier, that is, the past, then an adult is that part of our personality that lives in the present, here and now. His motto is “I can”. When an adult dominates, a person cannot stop and do nothing, does not hear himself and may make stupid mistakes.
These three subpersonalities are important in our lives. The main thing is that they do not interfere with each other, can agree with each other and go together in the same direction, and not behave like a swan, crayfish and pike
When they are not balanced, they are in confrontation with each other, then an internal conflict begins, usually the internal parent tries to subjugate the child, in response, the child enters into a fight with the parent, and no one notices the internal adult, he somehow lives on his own. When our subpersonalities conflict, this prevents us from achieving our goals, since they cannot agree among themselves and on the child’s dreams, the parent will impose prohibitions, and the child will resist the parent, defending his boundaries.
A very effective way to “reconcile” and balance these subpersonalities is to work with metaphorical cards. By describing the cards that symbolize these “I”s, a person realizes the reasons for such a relationship, who and when brought interfering beliefs and programs of destructive behavior into life. After “reconciliation,” these subpersonalities begin to interact with each other, the person’s duality goes away, and energy appears to realize his goals.
When working with clients, I discovered that usually a “favorite” is chosen, who may not be liked, but all the same, the person holds on to him - he is who he is, he wants the best for me or everyone offends him, I need to protect him... Hyper responsible the client usually has an inner parent among his “favorites” - he agrees that he must follow some, often unnecessary, rules that were instilled in him in early childhood, and that due to hyper responsibility, perfectionism, he experiences psychological stress, relationships with loved ones are not working out, this is of course not good, but not so important compared to what I owe! And to whom it is owed – there is often no understanding. He has driven other parts of his Self so far away that he doesn’t even notice them. And when a person looks at the cards symbolizing these parts of himself, he is surprised to realize that his hyper responsibility harms his dreams, desires, and takes away his vital energy. Having identified and relieved this tension, achieving reconciliation within himself, a person is surprised to notice that his life begins to change, relationships with loved ones, colleagues improve, and most importantly, he begins to notice new opportunities that are right next to him!
What types of subpersonalities are there?
There is another type of subpersonality, these are a kind of causes of addictions, causes of bad habits
The subpersonality of an alcoholic is drinking alcohol.
It is she who pushes a person to certain actions, whispers to him, controls him, and over time the person loses his appearance, turning into a completely dependent, controlled, inadequate drunkard.
Such a subpersonality takes a person into his reality and gradually destroys him. Rid a person’s energy of such a subpersonality, and it will be easy for the body to give up alcohol.
Glutton subpersonality - eats excessively
Then the person cannot stop and control his appetite. And it’s easy to lose weight; by removing this subpersonality from the subtle plane, a person becomes in control of his appetite. It turns out that you don’t want to eat as much and your body doesn’t need that much food. And by restoring and pumping additionally the Live chakra, which is responsible for the will, you can immediately lose weight.
When the will is strong, we are our own masters and can easily limit the amount of food we eat, which is the key to losing weight.
Subpersonality of a smoker - makes you smoke
She, who smokes, suppresses the true desires and needs of a person, changes consciousness. She puts out her tentacles, and the person becomes a puppet, a performer. Many smokers are well aware of how harmful it is to inhale carcinogenic smoke filled with hundreds of poisons and yet continue to smoke.
Others resort to self-deception, as if it doesn’t harm me, or that smoking calms me down, or that there is no other way at my job. All this is said not by the person but by his subpersonality. By removing it, expelling it from the body, quitting smoking is much easier. Removing it with the help of a healer is much more effective.
Personality types: child, adult, parent and subpersonalities
Today we will talk about the person closest to us - ourselves. Very often you can encounter a situation when we seem to be pulled in different directions, and we cannot decide what we want. Or rather, we want different things that mutually exclude each other - and these desires pull us in different directions, preventing us from focusing on something specific. Let's look at why this happens.
Either God created us this way, or through the process of evolution, but the human brain is designed in such a way that it makes us want completely different things at different times in our lives. This is often due to our age, but not always. It is not without reason that they say that there are people who behave like children even at 60 years old. Throughout our lives, we are accompanied by our subpersonalities - which are conventionally called: child, adult and parent. They exist in each of us at any age, and it is precisely which of the subpersonalities that dominates at a given specific moment that determines our basic behavior in society.
Take the test: child, adult, parent
Demons or helpers?
The Church also did not ignore the subpersonality of a person. Usually parts of the soul that she does not like are declared “demons”, “devil”, etc. Some churches have been practicing the destruction of human subpersonalities for many centuries. The experience of the Catholic Church is especially “successful”; in the Vatican there is an entire department dedicated to the extermination of human forms it dislikes (the exorcism procedure). At the same time, no one wonders what happens to people who have lost part of their personality? Have the colors of life faded for them, have they become happier as they approach a plant existence?
What do subpersonalities want?
- The child wants, first of all, to have fun and entertainment. He wants to be loved, to buy him toys, he does not take responsibility for the lives of other people, he does not even manage his own life. All our dreams, the fulfillment of which is not directly related to ourselves, are the desires of a child.
- The desires of an adult, of course, differ. First of all, this is the desire to prove to everyone around you that you are a necessary part of society. Aspirations to climb higher on the social ladder, career growth, wealth, to be in demand among the opposite sex, to be needed by other people - these are the desires of an adult. When this subpersonality dominates, a person begins to take responsibility for his life, for what he does.
- A parent's priorities change. The main thing becomes safety, material security (as opposed to wealth), respect. The willingness to take responsibility for the lives of not only oneself, but also other people, is the main distinguishing feature of a parent. And it doesn’t have to be children, it could be other relatives or complete strangers - it doesn’t matter.
Let's take an example to see how the same goal will sound to different people dominated by different subpersonalities. A child can imagine it like this: “I want to live in a good house.” For an adult, it may sound like this: “I want to earn money and buy a good house.” In this case, one can see the responsibility that one takes upon oneself for realizing one’s dreams. But for a parent it might be something like this: “I want to build a good house for my family.”
Why do we need all this? First of all, to understand what your desires are responsible for this or that subpersonality. Try to abstract yourself from the others and determine what each of them wants separately - their desires will be exactly different, and often opposite to each other. And all you need to do is for them to agree among themselves, but at the same time, do not lie to yourself. Determine which subpersonality is the main one at the moment - and focus on those goals that suit it best. This means that the fulfillment of such desires will be more comfortable and effective for you at a given time. Then everything can change, when this happens, you will understand for yourself.
Now go and arrange a meeting for three - with your three selves, an interesting conversation is guaranteed to you.
Which personality type is dominant in you now?
Take the test: child, adult, parent
Subpersonalities and roles
“Without knowing and understanding oneself, a person does not control himself.” Roberto Assagioli.
“No, you don’t need to do that, it won’t lead to anything good, but will only aggravate the conflict.”
The brain tries to cool down emotions. But from within you seem to be pushed by some force opposing your reason. And you say unnecessary words, throw out anger, give a slap in the face. And then you seem to sober up: I don’t know how this happened, why I said this, I didn’t want it... I think, one way or another, many have encountered this. When you understand that you don’t need it, but you can’t stop, and you succumb to a sudden impulse of love passion or an irresistible desire to interfere in the family of an adult child with your own attitudes, or you buy a car by borrowing money, although you understand with your mind that such a waste is unreasonable and will put you in debt for a long time , but are unable to control their desires: they, and not the mind, dictate actions.
Those who control us at such moments are our subpersonalities.
There are many of them living inside us, and each in a suitable situation acts on behalf of our whole Self, although in fact it is just an autonomous part of the psyche.
The very concept of subpersonality entered the scientific world in the first half of the 20th century thanks to the Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis. But Sigmund Freud and Carl Gustave Jung were the first to talk about the plurality of our psyche in their scientific research. In particular, Jung believed that personality development is based on the interaction between five main archetypes: Ego, Self, Persona, Shadow, Animus and Anima (i.e., the inner man in a woman and the inner woman in a man.) The most significant subpersonalities (or archetypes) – Persona and Shadow. The Persona, according to Jung, is our ideal idea of ourselves, an external demonstration of ourselves, and the Shadow concentrates our shameful qualities.
American psychologist and psychiatrist Eric Berne, for example, divided personality into three main subpersonalities - the inner Child, the inner Parent and the inner Adult.
But, of course, there are much more of them. They determine our roles, which we manifest, live and change depending on situations: parent, child, brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter, grandmother, grandfather - in the family; leader, subordinate, teacher, student, athlete, mentor, friend, buddy, patriot, animal defender - in society.
Each subpersonality expresses some desires and certain vital aspirations of the whole personality.
We initially perceive ourselves as a whole person,
but in reality we express ourselves through our subpersonalities, which concentrate in ourselves
our attitudes, feelings, behavior patterns.
Subpersonalities also differ in their emotional manifestation: active, passive, arrogant, aggressive, proud, loving, gentle, offended, inspired...
When the emotional role is combined with the social one, we can get an even more diverse range of subpersonalities. For example, the leader is arrogant or inspired; father aggressive or affectionate; the student is active or offended.
How do subpersonalities arise? Some of them have genetic roots going back to our parents and grandparents. Some are formed in the process of life, first from family attitudes (good girls don’t do that; a boy should not be afraid of anything), then as he fulfills certain social roles. Some arise as a consequence of psychological trauma. For example, if at school a child, going to the blackboard, was the object of ridicule, in an adult his subpersonality, defending himself from ridicule, will avoid public speaking and inhibit the manifestation of himself as an individual; if a girl has been sexually abused, she can closely connect with such a role and continue throughout her life to satisfy the needs of the mistress subpersonality.
In our time, a follower of the Jungian school, American psychoanalyst Jean Shinoda Bohlen, in her books “Goddesses in Every Woman” and “Gods in Every Man,” reveals archetypal subpersonalities in us, personified by various gods and goddesses, their characters and life scenarios. It turns out that our subpersonalities are much older than just coming from childhood; they are inherited from generation to generation and often work for us as life scenarios that are difficult to avoid.
We somehow don’t think about why we so often feel internal conflict. And all because each subpersonality has its own needs, and, as a rule, they are poorly consistent with each other.
For example, a tired director, coming home, wants to lie on the couch, relax, watch a light movie, while an active director, with a persistent inner voice, demands to watch a political talk show in order to keep abreast of events. At the same time, the caring father reminds him that he needs to pay attention to his son, draw and check his lessons. And the responsible owner drills his brain: for the third day you promise to nail the shelf. And a person usually chooses from a chorus of voices in situations of choice the voice of his dominant subpersonality and watches, for example, a talk show.
In addition to expressing themselves in such everyday situations, subpersonalities often bring us problems when making important decisions, push us to inappropriate actions, force us to make choices that will harm the whole personality, and motivate us to manipulate ourselves and people. That is, they become dangerous and harmful when they control the whole Self.
Many of us, having unconsciously chosen and internalized our roles and subpersonalities to the point of automatism, have become fused with them throughout life. In fact, roles have become our essence, our character. But circumstances change, and our previous habitual role can become destructive. For example, an adult who behaves like a child, sitting on the neck of his parents; or a mother who is trying to take on the functions of a wife for her adult son; or a father who continues to command at home, as at work; or a grandmother who is trying to be a mother to her grandchildren...
We exploit some roles as our life strategy and get our benefits from this: “It’s all because of you, I told you so,” sounds the voice of the accuser. “Only you can do it so well,” “No one knows better than you,” the flatterer ingratiates himself. “Well then, I’ll do the same,” the blackmailer threatens. “I won’t be able to do it like you,” “I can’t cope with this,” the incompetent excuses himself.
By activating such roles in ourselves, we benefit, justify our position, and become manipulators. If such roles are actively used by the people around us, then we find ourselves victims of manipulation.
Automatic, unconscious roles can also bring restrictions into our lives: I am not one of those (who goes to resorts, goes to concerts, spends time walking...); I am too (busy to go to exhibitions, meet with friends; old to attend trainings; emotional to participate in a TV program); This is not for me (long business trip, charity ball, change of profession). The result of such restrictive roles is unfulfilled dreams, unfulfilled hopes, the quality of life that our subpersonality chose for us, and not our higher self.
“It is not surprising that without knowing and understanding oneself, a person does not control himself, revolving in the circle of his mistakes and shortcomings,” said Roberto Assagioli.
Depending on how aware we are of our subpersonalities, they are obvious or shadow for us. At each moment of time, one of the subpersonalities always dominates, then it is called actual.
When we realize whose voice is now whispering inside us and pushing us towards our goals, we understand which of the voices in a particular situation can be helpful and which tend to harm, when we learn to manage our subpersonalities, we become able to consciously choose which of the subpersonalities and in what situation to give the floor to, and not to give them the right to command our I (after all, it is he, as the commander-in-chief, who knows our real highest goals and meanings of life). Then we will gain a sense of inner confidence, stability and harmony.
We can consciously not only limit the influence of subpersonalities, but also activate them to solve our problems. Our many subpersonalities and, accordingly, our many roles, when used correctly, allow us to effectively interact with other people, achieve our goals, not limit our capabilities, feel the fullness of life, and be successful. By activating various subpersonalities, we are able to change - our thoughts and desires, values, worldview, and external behavior change.
If you are interested and important to understand your diversity, honestly look at hitherto unconscious roles, develop the best of your subpersonalities, we are waiting for you
at the training “Many Faces of Man.” What roles do we play in life?”
and training “Full SET. Social, Emotional and Bodily Intelligence.”
Our articles will help you explore this topic more.
Social intelligence
Am I a Parent? Child? Adult?
Emotional intellect.
Bodily intelligence.
Imagine that you have lost your wallet. Some experience childish annoyance and regret and even guilt, as if a strict parent will punish them for this, others hear how, after the voice of an internal accuser, an internal lawyer comes in, justifying your action. At some point, you become an arena in which a discussion takes place between parts of your personality. Have you noticed similar dialogues in yourself, when many voices appear in your mind at the same time? Often they come into conflict with each other, and you find yourself in a situation of internal conflict that causes you some inconvenience. You can hear within yourself the voice of a whole crowd of voices inhabiting your inner space. But who are they, these voices, independent from us, defending their interests and proving their point of view? They are called subpersonalities. These are projections of reflections of parts of your personality that inhabit your subconscious. They are subjective reflections in our psyche of people, animals, objects and phenomena that inhabit your inner world. Subpersonalities have their own opinions, their own fears, their own goals, their own vision of methods for achieving these goals, their own attitude to certain events, to certain people, and in general behave as separate individuals. In each of us there is a crowd. Here there can be a rebel and a thinker, a seducer and a housewife, a saboteur and an esthete, an organizer and a good-natured person - each with his own mythology, and all of them are more or less safely squeezed into one person. We create these projections and subconscious minds ourselves, in different situations creating a certain corresponding image of ourselves, a system of postures and gestures, feelings and actions, words, habits and opinions, or mirroring into our subconscious images of people significant in your life. The most typical subpersonalities of a person reflect projections of his ideas about the social (family or professional) roles that he plays in life, for example: parental selves, maternal selves, paternal selves, child selves, your inner critic, sage, rational, etc. Woven into them are projections of images of your inner child, parent and adult. As you understand, every person carries subpersonalities within himself, which are a reflection of his ideas about parents, friends, neighbors; those. a reflection of his perception of people significant to him. These ideas may not significantly coincide with the real person, since the subpersonality is just a reflection based on the subjective perception of these people. From time to time, in corresponding situations, one or another subpersonality is activated, comes to the fore, as if taking control; and then the person outwardly behaves as if he were this subpersonality, that is, a switching of subpersonalities occurs. Subpersonalities may be in a suppressed or inactive state. There is a special subpersonality called the Administrator or Ego, which is responsible for ensuring that other subpersonalities come out or remain suppressed by it. It is with it that the outputs of subpersonalities and their switching depending on the situation are coordinated. If the subpersonality with its desires and interests is suppressed for a long time, tension accumulates in its energy charge, due to which an internal conflict may arise. However, all conflicts between subpersonalities can be resolved by establishing a connection with them and harmonizing them. In the next meditation you will learn how to do this. Every time you sleep, you are immersed in the environment of your inner world, inhabited by these same projections, in a theater where in every act of your dream, subpersonalities play roles according to the script of your subconscious, transmitting its messages to you. If you want to learn to understand the language of the subconscious, learn to decipher the symbolic meaning of each subpersonality and its message, since each subpersonality carries the imprint of a certain charge, experience associated with its origin. When you learn to do this, you will be able to communicate with your subconscious during a dream, without losing consciousness, managing subpersonalities, then from the unconscious level of dreams, you will rise to the level of lucid dreams, and new opportunities will open up for you. Transformation of subpersonality
Working with a subpersonality is a process of its awareness, acceptance and transformation, aimed at harmonizing relationships in a person’s inner world. The task of transformation is to change negative subpersonalities that create internal conflict. Remember the rule of the inner world: “Death does not exist” - which means that the subpersonality cannot be destroyed, but you can change its purpose by transforming it, giving it a new role. Let her be reborn and appear in a new quality. To do this, remember the basic tools of transformation and the rules of the inner world.
The transformation of subpersonalities is carried out by the power of your intention through acceptance and Love. To work with a subpersonality, you need to get in touch with it, find out its essence and tasks, understand it and accept it, recognizing it as a part of yourself and then, with the power of intention, direct a ray of love emanating from your heart chakra into it and fill it with bright light. In your inner world, you are the Creator and can carry out any transformation. The energy that subpersonalities are made of is like plasticine, you can create anything from it, but remember, changing the subpersonality will entail changes in your inner world. Not a single subpersonality in you dies, but when transformed, it changes its properties and tasks. A person goes through these transformations constantly. The training will teach you the basics of transformation and allow you to identify your main subpersonalities. You will have to get to know yourself from the inside, not what you think about yourself, but what you really are.
Two sides of the same coin (mirror subpersonalities)
Each subpersonality has its own opposite aspect. Thomas Aquinas also said: “There is exactly as much good in a person as there is just as much evil, light and dark, devilish and divine.” Each of our qualities, each subpersonality has its own shadow side, regardless of whether we realize it or not. What is commonly called “good” and “evil” is just a reflection of two extremes of opposites, and it is precisely going to extremes that leads to a loss of balance. If you begin to overdevelop one of your aspects in opposition to another, disharmony occurs, but your inner world strives for balance, therefore a strong deviation of the pendulum in one direction will entail a deviation in the opposite direction, until a golden mean is established. The unity of internal harmony and the complete release of internal potential occurs only in the zone of the golden mean. Unfortunately, sometimes people go through life without realizing it, struggling with the extremes of their “I”. In order to know oneself, a person must realize and accept both sides of himself, thereby realizing their integration. You are not one-sided, one-sided beings with one expressed quality, not white and not black - you are a spectrum of colors created by life and woven into your individuality. You are the border between light and shadow, the scales of universal harmony with the cups in equal weight. The energies of two opposing qualities provide a spark and encourage you to choose and thereby discover yourself. Everything inside you is sacred: sacred is light and sacred is darkness, both of them constitute the unity of opposites of the One Creator, in whom there is nothing good or bad, right or wrong, there is only expediency. Look at nature, there is neither negative nor positive in it, there is only balance. Each person is a sacred child of the cosmos, combining the energies of his two sacred parents. It is darkness (the female Yin energy in the image of Eve) that makes us doubt and choose not blind faith, but knowledge, it is light (the male aspect of Yang, reason and logic, that makes us act. Their union gives birth to life and its new beginnings, is an act of creativity and birth of new universes within you. But as soon as you go into one aspect, its opposite immediately begins to act on you, trying to restore the lost harmony. The word Satan means opposite (enemy): as soon as the harmony is broken, your own Satan interacts with you and only balance, and not force, ardent prayers, faith and pressure can defeat it. Imagine the scales and the subpersonality, which, in your opinion, needs energy balancing. Divide its opposite energies into bowls and weigh, and then, balance the bowls. Be You may have to give up something or, on the contrary, intensify the work on yourself in order to balance the forces.One way or another, with such work, balance is restored and inner harmony is found. This Harmony has a healing effect, it is capable of healing the inner world, endowing a person with new strength, the power of the Creator, in whose service there are two opposites.
Evgenia Beinarovich nimratraining.com