A couple of years ago, a good friend introduced me to a little book called The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. After reading it, I bought copies for every member of my family because I loved the message so much. I must admit, even though I loved the concepts in the book, I found it difficult to actually execute them. I had so many questions:
- If I don’t listen to that voice will I miss something important or cause harm to myself?
- How can I ignore years of experience?
- That voice is only trying to protect me, how can it be all bad?
Recently, Michael Singer made his first television appearance on Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday. The broadcast was so enlightening for me. Hearing Michael explain the concepts in person, made so much sense. Immediately, I went and found my copy of The Untethered Soul and began to re-read it. I quickly realized that I am a different person reading this book again. I’m seeing things more clearly and understanding the concepts on a new level.
In Chapter 2, Your Inner Roommate, Michael challenges the reader to do an experiment. He suggests we don’t try to stop the voice in our head from talking, but rather externalize the voice. Imagine the voice with a body and likeness living outside your head. “Let it be a person who says on the outside exactly what the voice says on the inside. Now make that person your best friend.” He goes on to explain, eventually you will see how annoying, mean, unreasonable, whinny and neurotic that voice can be. Michael contends that you wouldn’t let a real person get away with saying to you the things that your inner voice says.
So, I tried it. This morning in the shower, Jason Mraz’s song Living in the Moment was running through my head. I pictured Jason standing just outside the shower with his guitar singing to me. Hilarious!! I actually laughed out loud. Now, I know I need to continue the experiment with other voices in my head, but this one silly moment illustrated just how ridiculous living in our heads can be.
In that moment, I declared: It’s time to move out! I’m ready for a little peace.
Watch the little snippet from Super Soul Sunday with Michael Singer and see if you are ready to evict the roommate in your head and free your mind.
Namaste
