Chances are that “backseat driver” is annoying enough to warrant you banishing it. Singer encourages us to live in the “Seat of Self”-that space where we sit back and allow events, thoughts, and emotions to pass before us, and keep ourselves from drifting off into the current.Īnother strategy is to attribute the chatter to a separate individual. I don’t have to identify with them.” That awareness is key. Just because they are doesn’t make them true. You can say to yourself, “These are just my thoughts. Singer states that if see yourself as an observer of the voice, you can view it more objectively.

What can you do to separate yourself from this chatter? It often causes us to feel as though we’re not okay, or that we’re in need of protection. It narrates the events we experience, but it doesn’t do so objectively. Singer compares it to a backseat driver, doing its best to maintain some semblance of control. It rarely takes a break, keeping us from falling asleep at night and waiting for us the first moment we stir. The one that shames us, criticizes us, reminds us.

We all have that voice in our heads-the one that tells us what to do, what not to do, how we could have done something better. In doing so, we create awareness and separate ourselves from it, rather than get caught up in it. Instead of identifying with the incessant chatter in our heads, we can bear witness to it. It contains a lot of valuable nuggets I’ve been implementing and sharing with the people I work with in therapy.ġ. Michael Singer’s The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself is a book that compelled me to pull out my highlighter as I read. How to Send Appointment Reminders that Work.Rules and Ethics of Online Therapy for Therapists.Practice Management Software for Therapists.

The journey beyond yourself