Discerning Between Self and False Self Impulses
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After The Three Levels of Leadership came out in 2011, readers followed up with questions on leadership, leadership psychology and self-mastery – all of them interesting. So interesting, in fact, that I’m releasing my answers here as they supplement the “Three Levels” material and others may find them useful. Here’s the thirteenth in the series. I’ll post the others over the coming months…
Q13. How do you discern between a False Self impulse and truth?
A. “In other words, how do you know if your feelings or an urge to act spring from the real you, the Self, or instead from the sum total of your limiting beliefs, which I call the False Self?
The short answer is, you use your intuition to discern the difference.
Intuition is that sense of knowing without step-by-step reasoning and without being contaminated by the filter of prejudice. I explained more about intuition in chapter 5 of The Three Levels of Leadership and in this earlier article Intuition & Leadership.
Of course, that leads us to the question: how do you develop your intuition?
The answer is that you have to practise stilling your mind so you can hear (or notice) your intuition.
That’s when the twin practices of Self Enquiry (perhaps, but not necessarily, working with an executive coach) and Mindfulness Meditation are very helpful.
Useful Tools
If you want to know more about these practices you can download my free PDF tools explaining how to practise each method.
Remember, neither method offers a quick fix, but stick at it faithfully (which means daily practice) and as the months go by you will notice changes in yourself. More specifically, in your ability to choose your intellectual, emotional and behavioural response to outer events under pressure.”
