Making Room for Your Inner Authority

Today I'm pleased to share a guest post from Dr. Roxanne Howe-Murphy of Deep Living Institute.While it’s not something talked openly about in “polite” conversation, there’s one thing that everyone in the world has in common—the inner critic. It is found in every hard-held opinion and judgment, in every comparison, in the loud inner voice or the nearly inaudible buzz that fills up our inner space.When you feel stuck or find yourself procrastinating on something really important, the Inner Critic is active. It’s also at the core of many interpersonal conflicts and unresolved racial, ethnic and religious/secular relations.There is no question, the way we experience ourselves is intimately related to the amount of internal space we give to the inner critic! Whether you work hard to bolster your sense of worth, or carry a certain resignation that simply being enough will forever evade you, you know the Inner Critic is active.It can’t help but affect your relationship to yourself and to others, to the decisions that shape your life, how you do life, and how you lead.Left to operate on its own, it exacts a heavy price that’s ultimately paid by a scarred and deadened soul.With such profound consequences, our Inner Critic presents perhaps some of our most significant opportunities to open our eyes to the truth of who we really are.Here’s the kicker, while it can show up under any and all circumstances in life, the Inner Critic becomes particularly activated and accelerated when an individual is on the path of real change and growth.If you ask, “What can I do to make a positive difference in my own life and in my interactions with others?” one of the most tangible and potent places to focus your energy is in changing your relationship to the Inner Critic.You can begin by learning to decrease the amount of power you give to it. As you do so, you make room for your more authentic inner guidance and authority.Not surprisingly, the Enneagram offers enormous insight into the Inner Critic and its relationship to the experience of inner authority that is possible for each Type. When your relationship to the Inner Critic shifts, you have more energy and momentum for your life purpose and more room for what your soul and heart are destined to express.On Wednesday, Jan 23, I’m presenting a two-hour tele-conference workshop, From Inner Critic to Inner Authority: Healing Your Relationship to the Inner Critic Shifts Your Relationship to Yourself based on a chapter from my new book, Deep Living: Transforming Your Relationship to Everything That Matters Through the Enneagram. The teleconference is hosted by Enneagram expert, Wendy Appel. Click here to register.Dr. Roxanne Howe-Murphy is a pioneer and global leader integrating the Enneagram and coaching. She founded the Deep Coaching Institute, a leading Enneagram coaching school that serves an international student body, and the Deep Living Institute for spiritual and life practice. She is the author of Deep Coaching: Using the Enneagram as a Catalyst for Profound Change, which has provided guidance to thousands of coaches around the world. For information on Roxanne’s work, go to www.deeplivinginstitute.com.