The Two Selves

Collin Wilson, the influential British writer had a humble beginning born to poor parents in Britain. Though he had the ambition to become a great scientist he was forced to quit school at the age of sixteen.?

Working as a laboratory assistant. he fell into despair and decided to end his life by drinking acid. At the moment before what was supposed to be his final act, he came to a realization. There were actually two Collin Wilsons. It was like two people living in the same body.? One was a boy idiot filled with self-pity. The other was his real self.?

The boy idiot, he realized, was about to kill them both.?

The best way to identify your self-1 is to pay attention to your inner voice. That voice is an expert in giving you the running commentary. On a typical work day, it might sound like this as you are getting ready to start your day. "I need to join the stand-up at 9.00 AM, I think I have time to prepare a cup of coffee, I'm drinking too much coffee these days but I'm also going to the gym, it should be fine maybe I should switch to juices, who drink juice in the morning!, Coffee is getting over, I have to buy coffee,? it is also becoming expensive. everything is becoming expensive .... ".? This is one kind of monologue that is relatively harmless. There is another type of inner dialogue which is very critical and impacts your performance. For example, you might have come out of conducting a session or presenting to a group of people. A typical inner dialogue sounds like "Did they like my presentation? why there were no questions? was it good ?, No, they were just polite. I'm not good enough, I need to improve".?

It instills doubts, questions your ability, and gives a verdict that " you are not good enough". it is critical and negative. It is mostly a default state for many people unless they have done a deliberate practice to ignore it.?

Your true self has no language, it has the ability to understand and experience but it takes the help of Self 1 to communicate and take action.? Self 2 is slow, responsive, and thoughtful.?

Many people as soon as they become aware of the concept of Self 1 and Self 2. They try to shut down the Self 1 or try to ignore it without much success. There is no need to do that. In fact, self-1 is part of your identity that you have created over a period of time. It is also required for you to perform your day-to-day activities. Most importantly it is required by Self 2 to communicate.?

The best way not to get tricked by your Self 1 is by accepting it the way it is. Start to observe its dialogue like a spectator and don't get involved in its drama. Once you keep distancing yourself from that Self-1, you will start experiencing the true power of your Self-2.

We all have an innate ability to exercise the "choice". ? Between a stimulus and response, there is a special ability to choose your response. That is unique to humans and the most powerful ability of all. With some practice, you can overcome the constant commentary and influence of Self-1 and operate more from Self-1.