There are voices in our heads. I know you have yours and I have mine and sometimes they make us wonder. Who the heck are these people in my head and what business do they have getting off on my floor? I didn't invite them...they just show up.
"You will never get the recognition you mistakenly believe you deserve."
"Who do you think you are?"
"You are going to do what? You can't even spell."
"Shakespeare, you idiot!"
"Ya, that was OK, but it was a fluke... fat chance you will ever be able to do that again!"
I used to think these were my very own thoughts about myself because they were bebopping around in my mind. I scarcely even heard them since I was so used to them. The voice says other nasty things as well, these are just the appetizers.
Does any of this sound familiar to you? It's my contention that this particular voice is an archetype, which comes through every human being that ever lived. Julia Cameron calls it the Inner Critic. I think of it as the voice of The Wicked Witch of The West, or Cinderella's stepmother. Both these characters have oppression of the "innocent" (creative) as their primary purpose.
"You will never succeed, as long as I have something to do with it", is what this archetype is saying to us.
Artists and creators of all sorts are all too familiar with this voice. It seems that it really doesn't show up until a person tries to do something outside of his or her comfort zone. Then all hell breaks loose. Teacher and author Barbara Sher calls it "Resistance".
The word resistance sounds very polite to me for what this little devil is capable of. For me it is the archetype of the Wicked Witch as depicted in the Wizard of Oz that I find most resonant. Here the archetype has magic powers, is cunning and lurks behind things, secretly scrutinizing each step forward, each move in the direction of you cherished goals. When the Witch steps out from behind the foliage you are actually hearing her in the form of the "voice", but most of the time she is stealth. She follows your every step in her crystal ball, every step closer to you goal, and she is actively plotting against you, and trying to make your ultimate failure a certainty.
She will pull you off the road and make you think it was all your idea. She will put nice smelling poppies in your face and poison you with them. In short, very cunning, and very persistent even when you think you have finally melted her.
Don't be fooled.
Underneath the melted robes, she is still there; ready to pop up again like some nightmarish Jack-in-the-box. You might notice it...or you might not.
"Give me back my shoes!" she will hiss at you.
The only problem...those shoes do not belong to her...but she is very intimidating and will try to make you believe that the shoes belong to her. What are you doing with her shoes?!!!!! Those shoes are your creativity; those shoes are your power. Do not surrender Dorothy.
I would take the advice of Glinda, The Good Witch / Fairy Godmother archetype quite seriously.
"Stay tightly inside of them! Their power must be very great or she wouldn't want them so badly!"
I say, stay tightly inside your creativity. Don't let the Witch seduce you, scare you, divert you from your creative path. Don't let her convince you with her litany of tricks. I can guarantee one thing, and that is...she will show up and when you think she is gone, she is lurking there in the woods of your mind, getting smarter, finding your weaknesses, getting ready to outwit your every move.
Outrageous?
Maybe. I don't think so.
So a new day begins...if not pretty.
