What is Voice Dialogue?

Voice dialogue is a powerful do-it-yourself skill that quickly helps you gain and grow your self awareness. It is a natural skill, open to anyone, not a form of therapy and not a theoretical model dreamed up by academics. It is a practical skill, easy to do and it works. The more you use it the more it increases your sense of self empowerment which in turn assists you in your own natural self-healing.

Voice Dialogue and Self Awareness work developed from the understanding that we all have within us an inner family (or an inner team, inner tribe, inner village etc) They are your very own unique group of internal sub-personalities. I like to describe them your Inner Selves.
Having a team of protectors like this is absolutely normal and natural, in fact no one could operate without them.

They have so much useful information and advice to give us and they try to do this all the time. “Do it this way” “No do it that way!” “Leave this job” “Stay in this job” Each time the give us directions like this are trying to:

1.Help us get through the day

2. Protect us and our underlying sense of vulnerability

3. Protect our Inner child from pain that that inner child feels about the past the present and the future

We listen, we try to do what they say but so often it’s a one-way conversation.

Voice Dialogue gives you a wonderfully easy and safe way to identify and get to know each of each of these inner selves and to have regular, natural and helpful two way conversations with them. As you do this they become more than “voices” they become a functional team of inner protector selves.

You become more aware of what they do every day to help and protect you and why they want you to do it their way. That’s why the result is described as self-awareness.

Voice Dialogue was developed in California some 20 plus years ago by Dr Hal Stone and Dr Sidra Stone, two gifted and insightful psychologists. This website is based on their work and acknowledges their contribution to the true understanding of our self awareness and self empowerment.

Self awareness

The more your awareness of your inner selves grows the more aware you are of the ways each inner self affects your daily activities and your ability (or your inability) do what you want to do with your life. That makes it easier to sit between any opposing inner selves, who are fighting about the best way to take care of your problems. (“Do it this way” “No, do it that way!” “Leave this job” “Stay in this job” “Stay in this relationship” “Leave this relationship” “Don’t do that you will get hurt” “Do it!

The change which I like to describe as “self awareness” will empower you”)

Self awareness of what is going on inside you helps you develop a greater sense of self-empowerment. It means instead of reacting automatically and repeating your old habitual patterns (the ones your older inner selves tend to follow a bit too often).

You now have the power to choose different ways to respond to life situations and to become more authentic in your personal relationships.

In summary ...

Self awareness - - - - - > Self Empowerment - - - -> Power to Change My life - - - > Self healing

Why is voice dialogue so easy?

* it is based on conversation, questioning and listening, everyday skills you already have. As well as communicating with other people you can now communicate within yourself as you meet and talk with your own inner selves. They love to talk by the way!

Why does voice dialogue work so well?

* It enhances your self-awareness and contributes to your ability to choose what you do in your life and develop your own level of self-empowerment as much as you want to.

How does voice dialogue contribute to your Self-Empowerment?
It can:

* offer you new choices, life options and new ways to grow

* remove personal limitations, blockages and negative life patterns

* motivate you to start making long-lasting changes in your life

* help to heal emotional pain arising from loneliness, grief or low self esteem

* improve personal relationships

What skills will you develop?

* Learning to use simple, safe and easy ways to create your own inner communication or inner dialogue and get to know your inner selves.

* recognising how often it is your body energies and feelings control your life and your relationships

* creating a new inner team of effective and empowered inner selves

How does it work?

Voice dialogue is just a way of having a natural conversation or dialogue with the inner voices or selves inside you who are trying to help you get through your day and to protect you from all sorts of things around you

Having these casual two-way conversations with your own inner selves, is natural, positive and very helpful, particularly when you get to talk with a pair of inner selves who are both trying to help you but are locked in conflict over what you should or should not do about life’s problems (take that new job, don’t take it; work harder, take it easy; fight, give in; leave him now, stay on and try to fix things).

Typical inner selves have a strong desire to be recognised. They are keen to tell us about what they they are doing to protect our vulnerability, what they want us to do to make life easier or how they each think we should act to fix things. All you need is an interviewer (who plays a neutral role) to encourage one or more of the selves to start talking.

Typical inner selves welcome an opportunity to have a conversation or dialogue, so the process is quite easy. It takes only a little practice, because it does not require special skill or training. Talking with your inner selves gives you the awareness you need to separate each of them from opposite This helps bring balance back into your life, instead of trying to get rid of them.

Because they are a very real l part of you they will always have important jobs to do protecting you and you cannot and should never try to send them away. It's better to learn to get the selves balanced and use your aware ego to enhance the journey through life.

Each of us has many inner selves, some similar to those found in other people around you, some the exact opposite of theirs. Some of yours may be quite unique, existing only in you and in no one else.

Neuro psychologists now acknowledge that the presence of the inner selves as sub-personalities working inside you, is healthy and normal. In fact everybody has them. In truth we are all the normal healthy version of a ‘multiple personality’.

See Bibliography

Free Inner Self Profile Sheet

For many years I have been using an Inner Self profile sheet that allows you to keep a visual record of your inner selves as you meet and talk with them. There are different places for different kinds of selves on the sheet according to their different energies or the different ways they do things to protect you.

If you would like a free copy of the latest version of this Profile sheet please send me an email. Click this link. Free Inner Self Awareness Profile. IMPORTANT This is a limited offer because you do need to have had some experience or training with Inner self Awareness to use the sheets.

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