Beware of the voice in your head
Stand up with your Bible in your hand
Put your Bible on your seat behind you.
Remain standing and put your SELF on your seat.
Confusion!
WHY?
The challenge was that while I can separate objects from who I am, there is not as much clarity when I am asked to separate my SELF from ME. If I speak to my SELF, we are not the same.
Why, then, was it so challenging to separate my SELF from ME?
The truth is that I have been lulled into accepting all that goes on within me, is in fact ME. The reality is that like you, I am a victim of identity theft. An imposter has slipped in and taken up residence under the guise of being the real ME.
The problem is that the identity theft has been so slick that most of us do not even realise that there is a false self in place. I mistakenly see this imposter SELF as ME. I think: “This is who I am!” I live that lie to the point where, in some instances, the two are indistinguishable.
The failure to recognise the imposter gives him more strength. The imposter thrives on the ignorance and lack of attentiveness, and takes over more and more of what should be ME.
The imposter is usually identified as the EGO. I like to bring it closer home by identifying the imposter and identity thief as the voice in my head (VIMH). That VIMH seeks to control my every thought, word and deed. The VIMH seeks to filter and modify everything that comes in and goes out of me. The VIMH seeks to achieve nothing less than to shape my entire reality.
VOICE IN MY HEAD IN CRUISE CONTROL
You park in MY space, so I scratch your car with my key.
I should have been asked to speak, so I will boycott the event.
Think of King Herod and Hitler and the murder of innocents.
Friends, as you shake your head at ill-advised actions, reflect on whether you have ever been deceived by the VIMH and did something you regretted?
The VIMH is so slick that it lulls you into virtual unconsciousness and in that state, you fail to identify it as being different from the uncorrupted YOU. You fail to recognise it as an imposter, and it grows in strength and makes its theft of your identity more and more complete.
OWNERSHIP
In that state, we are quick to take offence and to defend the VIMH. ‘Me’ and ‘Mine’ move to the centre of our vocabulary. Offend or endanger anything related to me or mine at your peril. Hit my car and it’s war!
We live out the identity that the VIMH has created for us and mistake it for us. That way, we give it total freedom to run wild!
A few of us get an awakening and start to question the VIMH. The level of this consciousness determines the degree to which we actively monitor and separate ourselves from the imposter self.
DANGER
Make no mistake! An unrecognised VIMH has the potential for great harm. Imposter VIMHs have been responsible for millions of lives through wars and murder, genocide. Unchecked, false SELFs have caused, and continue to produce untold pain and suffering. A failure to identify and take control of this SELF that wants you to think it is YOU is a grave error. The VIMH is at the centre of domestic violence!
VIMH AGENDA
The VIMH is dysfunctional and has a hidden agenda. That is why Christ requires of us to deny SELF (VIMH).
We must be alert to the wiles of the VIMH. Its mission is to seek supremacy for itself (the imposter you).
The key drivers are: Need to stand out, to be special, to be in control, to have power, to get attention, to get more.
Alternately, the VIMH feeds the need to be different. “I am not like that”.
If you are the same, how can you stand out?
YOUR RESPONSE
Know who you are not. You are NOT the VIMH. Beware its wiles!
Triple check every ‘feel like’ and ‘don’t feel like’ prompt.
When VIMH is leading, you give in to what you are feeling. Watch what you do, to recover the real YOU.
Trevor E.S. Smith and the Success with People Academy team prepare and certify leadership professionals and coach/mentors and develop engaged, high performing teams. Hire Smart with their recruitment solutions. Now enrolling leader/coaches in the ICF/SHRM-accredited certified behavioural coach programme. Email: info@successwithpeople.org.