RECOGNIZING SUBPERSONALITIES

Psychology: Exercises: Subpersonalities 1

3 - As soon as the image has appeared, give it the chance to reveal itself to you without any interference or judging on your part. Let it change if it tends to do so spontaneously, and let it show you some of its other aspects if it wants to.

Get in touch with the general feeling that emanates from it.

4 - Now let this image talk and express itself. Give it space, so to speak, for doing so; in particular, find out about its needs. Talk with it (even if your image is an object, it can talk back to you; anything is possible in the imaginary world).

5 - Now open your eyes and record in your notebook everything that happened so far.

Then give this sub-personality a name - any name that fits and will help you to identify it in the future: example, "the Complainer" - "the Artist" - "the Bitch" - "Santa Claus" "Jaws" - "the Clown" - "the judge" - "the I Told You So" and so on. Finally write about its traits, habits and peculiarities.

6 - After you have identified and exhaustively described one sub-personality you can go on to the others. But take your time and work on each one alone until you feel finished. The process requires merely picking a few more of your prominent traits, attitudes, or motives and going through steps 1 to 5 for each one. (Take one sub-personality per week and OBSERVE the unfolding of its energy very carefully and in an impersonal and impartial way).

Read more on subpersonalities, click on : What are SubPersonalities?

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Psychology: Subpersonalities - Archetypes 2

SPIRITUAL PSYCHOLOGY

EXERCISE - Page 2 SUBPERSONALITIES

In order to work with subpersonalities, we must first try to understand their separate qualities. We can consult many good books on archetypes, some of which are listed below. We may find them useful in determining the different dynamic roles they have in the forming of our ego.

Examples of subpersonalities INNOCENT

This subpersonality is developed in childhood when the infant/child is dependent upon others for survival.

The innocent wants to be loved and to be a part of things, to be socially acceptable, to fit in and to make others love and be proud of us.

ORPHAN

This subpersonality tries to protect us from being abandoned, hurt or victimised by helping us to recognise and avoid situations that are 'likely to hurt us'. This may or may not be useful. The Orphan uses phrases like 'I don't care' - 'Leave me alone' - and may manifest itself as a rebellious attitude.

WARRIOR

This subpersonality is responsible for getting things done. Acting in terms of our own self-interest or to help others. It may manifest in the form of the shadow warrior, which will 'do' at all costs whatever it things will help to avoid negative feelings and the influence of other subpersonalities.

CAREGIVER

In its shadow form, the Caregiver wants to take care of everyone. Like the mother, who does everything for her children at the expense of herself. A healthy expression of the caregiver may be witnessed in nursing others when they are sick or providing opportunities for children by paying school fees and the like. A healthy caregiver is one step back from the recipient of the care as true nurturing means allowing room for others to grow.

SEEKER

The seeker can be witnessed in the child who continually asks 'why?' The seeker is always searching for something as life feels meaningless and empty. The goal of the seeker is to find our true purpose in life, what will really make us happy.

DESTROYER

The destroyer is responsible for quitting jobs, leaving spouses and ending unhealthy friendships. In a

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shadow sense the destroyer might get out of control and destroy some of the things we'd be better off keeping.

CREATOR

The artist, writer, poet types the maker of dreams, the inventor that discovers ways of making new things and of unfolding new dreams. The creator subpersonality will assist you in making your life less stale, more flowing, in conveying your ideas to others, contributing to the collective dreams of humanity.

LOVER

The lover is gentle and reaches out gently to others. Following a loving acceptance of ourselves, we may gently reach out to others, contributing ones unique abilities for the greater good of all. This subpersonality can be activated, when love comes to us in the form of romantic or idealistic love somehow to help us transform the fear of losing the taste of living, at the superficiality, cruelty and indifference around us.

Integrating this personality can help us to find a way forward as true human beings, loving and nurturing one another.

FOOL

The fool makes us laugh when things are bad. The fool is the observer of the illusions of this man made world, he is a kind of an outsider who is not touched by responsibilities. He can get away by being

sometimes nasty, critical and childish in a funny way… because he is the “fool” people cannot “touch” him.

He is the subpersonality that teaches us how to laugh at ourselves… Examples, when we have to work all day at a job we don’t enjoy doing, the fool kicks in to find a humorous way of accepting and working in that situation… the fool helps us transform a stale or negative situation into something different. The Fool is open, an outsider that has some magic attached to itself because he feels free from conditioning of any kind. A very useful subpersonality.

MAGICIAN

The Magician could be symbolised by the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly through its cocoon.

The magician winds a protective cover around itself, reorganises the elements of the personality and emerges, renewed, energised and somehow truer.

SAGE

The sage is quiet and stable and holds the quality of knowingness. A good subpersonality to draw on when feeling stressed and caught up in the flow of life. Hold onto the calm centred knowingness of the sage and progress calmly, quietly and reliably through your journey.

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