IGX

Emerson wrote that our moods do not believe in each other. First thing in the morning me and way late at night me agree on what the right thing is, but the rest of me has to live with that choice, just like I've been living with bad choices I made years ago. But I wonder, who is the real me? Who is the real anyone? Maybe the philosopher poet Pete Townshend had it right and there is no single, simple answer. Maybe people are too complicated to reduce down to a core self which is more real or more revealing. Up early with three hours sleep I saw things one way, now I think something different. I used to think I had to be on an even keel, now I realize that I'm in the fog all the time if I try to do that, that my manic-y phase and my depressed phase both reveal things that I can't see at other times. But there is a real, physical person who has to bear the brunt of the choices made by any of the Mes. If they would put me on death row or Devil's Island there would be one clear choice but as it is life is more complicated. But as Micheal from Vsause would say, Or is it?

What do you guys think? Who are you?

I highly recommend No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz. He’s a therapist who developed his own approach, Internal Family Systems, which views us as having dozens of selves.

He talks of how this contrasts with typical religious views where you have one-self besieged by temptations.

He believes every one of these micro-selves is created for a purpose. One of these might lash out at people to protect ourselves from betrayal. Another may talk too much about our accomplishments in attempts to earn approval.

His solution is to approach each with love, kindness, and compassion, then sit with it and ask what it wants.

I have done this—literally having a conversation in my head with a specific micro-self—and noticed an immediate positive change.

Thanks, I'll pick it up on my next book buying spree.

I hate parts of myself. But that hasn't made them go away or even stop doing their thing. I'll look into the approach you suggest.