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To transcend self-suppression, you need to acknowledge the aspects of yourself that you've suppressed, change your mindset, and change your story to believe you have the power to do something about your life and unleash your life's purpose. Society may have conditioned you to hide your BIGNESS so you can be 'normal' like everyone else but in the process of trying to fit in, conforming has a destructive long-term effect on your mental, physical, and emotional health. Elsig states "correlations have been more keenly observed between psychological conflicts, personality traits, and somatic illness" (Elsig, 2022), which can severely stifle your capacity to fulfill your life purpose if you fear expressing yourself.
Suppression is defined as the act of preventing something from being expressed or known. If you feel or believe you're being suppressed by the outer world or you're self-suppressing, this way of thinking can have a detrimental impact on your ability to live your purpose.
In today's podcast episode, "Transcending Suppression To Unleash Your Life's Purpose," we talk about how we sometimes suppress ourselves because of childhood traumas, societal conditioning, or because of our beliefs about ourselves. Through introspection and discussion, this podcast episode highlights the significance of shedding these limitations and embarking on a journey of self-liberation and authenticity to embrace your life purpose and highest potential. You have to be OK with who you are to express yourself, honestly and authentically.
Listen to the podcast episode "Transcending Suppression To Unleash Your Life's Purpose" here 👇:
Your Perceptions Suppress or Express Your Life's Purpose
Your perception of yourself shapes how you see and interact with the world. If you believe you're suppressed, you cannot express the BIGNESS of who you truly are. If you can't express the BIGNESS of who you are (because you think you're suppressed), then the BIGNESS of your life purpose can't come to fruition.
When you feel suppressed, those internal limitations often create false narratives that inhibit your authentic expression. This self-imposed suppression often originates from societal conditioning or past experiences and stifles your ability to showcase the true depth of your being.
According to renowned psychologist Carl Rogers, individuals tend to modify their self-concept to align with societal norms, often concealing their authentic selves in the process (Rogers, 1961). Conforming might provide short-term comfort, but in the long term can lead to a slew of physical, mental, and emotional health issues because you're suppressing who you truly are.
The Consequence Of Suppressing Your Life's Purpose
There's a BIG consequence when you suppress yourself and don't fulfill your life purpose and the ripple effects that has on you, your family, and those you were supposed to serve. To suppress your BIGNESS is to suppress others. You have something very special to offer with your life purpose that others will need for theirs and the consequence of your suppressing yourself will be a detriment to others.
Les Brown has been quoted as saying that the graveyard is the richest place on Earth because that's where many people's hopes, dreams, and potential are buried.
“The graveyard is the richest place on Earth because it is here that you will find all the hopes and dreams that were never fulfilled, the books that were never written, the songs that were never sung, the inventions that were never shared, the cures that were never discovered, all because someone was too afraid to take that first step, keep with the problem, or determined to carry out their dream.” ― Les Brown
So many brilliant people never dare to do what's in their heart because they feel or believe they're suppressed or are incapable of expressing their BIGNESS and recent research has shown that this conditioning is linked to the influence of those in our immediate social circles. Elsig states that "we are influenced by expectations from other people in our lives" (Elsig, 2022), which might be the root cause of why so many people settle for less and live unfulfilled lives.
Elsig also goes on to acknowledge that suppressing ourselves and our emotions can have long-term physical consequences on our well-being, stating that bottling up emotions can make people more aggressive and that suppression of negative emotions has immediate both and delayed consequences for stress-induced cardiovascular reactivity (Elsig, 2022).
Fear of judgment or rejection also contributes to these self-imposed limitations. Research conducted by Dr. Brené Brown, in her book "The Gifts of Imperfection," writes on how the fear of vulnerability hampers self-expression. Brown emphasizes that being yourself is fundamental to authentic living and the fulfillment of your true desires (Durmonski, 2023). Suppressing aspects of yourself because of societal pressures or fears weakens your potential to live authentically and limits your ability to unleash your life purpose.
The consequence of suppressing yourself for the sake of conformity leads to physical, mental, and emotional distress. Yet, many of us have allowed this self-imposed limitation to be the reason why we do work we hate and live lives we're not happy with.
Why allow yourself to be suppressed or tortured by the outer world into conformity when you can become the BIG ONE you were destined to be and fulfill your special purpose?
Growing Up The Suppressed Aspects Of You
Within each of us lies a childhood wound that, if not healed, can affect us for the rest of our adult lives. Feelings of disempowerment often come from past experiences, mainly childhood, and influence how we perceive ourselves today. It is this wounded inner child aspect of ourselves that feels unheard, unseen, and disempowered, which needs to grow up.
Trieu states "inner child wounds can occur when there is either a traumatic event or chronic rupture without repair" (Trieu, 2023), which is significant to look at if you've ever wondered why you get triggered in certain situations.
Yet when we go within and begin to heal our inner child, we create a safe and secure space that our inner child needs to feel empowered to express the greatness that's within us. When our inner child feels safe and secure, we unlock our natural gifts, our inner curiosity, and our limitless capacity to love (Trieu, 2023).
Facing these suppressed feelings isn't easy though. Renowned psychiatrist Carl Jung referred to these hidden or suppressed aspects of ourselves as the 'shadow self'. Jung wrote at length about the 'shadow self,' stating that the 'shadow' is "the repressed and suppressed aspects of oneself that a person might encounter and need to face to achieve balance" (Drew, 2023), which then means that integrating the 'shadow' is crucial for growth and living authentically. Embracing and accepting our 'shadow self' can help us move past suppression and align us with our true purpose.
Did you ever experience traumatic events when you were a kid that made you feel or believe you're suppressed?
If so, have you talked about it and made peace with the event so you can move forward with your life?
Or, did you suppress that experience and still pretend it never happened?
Is it still affecting you to this day and preventing you from living your purpose?
Acknowledging the aspects of yourself that still feel suppressed or believing you're a victim of circumstance is vital to growing up and living your purpose. It's time for all of humanity to stop ignoring the shadows, look at their shit, and heal those childhood wounds.
Your Life Purpose Is About Your Story, So Create An Empowering One
A few years ago, Casey Neistat, a breakout YouTube star, captivated audiences with his unique style of filmmaking.
In one of his vlogs, Neistat addressed his subscribers' comments on which gear he was using to record his content, to which Neistat claimed gear didn't matter because what mattered more was the story. Neistat stated, "story is King, everything serves the King" (Neistat, 2015), and if you think about how that applies to your life purpose, your purpose is King, and everything you do is designed to support the King.
Your life is YOUR story: make it one you're satisfied with.
Check out our "Getting Started" series to help you find, live, and unleash YOUR life purpose.
The Two Voices That Dictate The Direction For Our Life Purpose
Two inner voices dictate the direction of your life purpose: the bitch and the badass. The bitch is the disempowered inner voice that wants to keep you small and in your comfort zone while the badass is the unstoppable inner voice that wants you to be the BIG ONE that you were destined to be.
Psychologist Lisa Firestone explores this concept in her article 'Steps to Overcoming Your Critical Inner Voice,' noting that each of us has a critical inner voice, which affects our mood, relationships, psychological state of mind, and even our career choices (Firestone, 2010).
This critical inner voice, however, is not natural or harmonious but learned (Firestone, 2010), which implies that the internal voices we hear that are discouraging or critical of us might have originated from external voices we've heard from friends, family, or our biological parents and penetrated our subconscious mind.
Be that as it may, the critical voice is the voice that wants to suppress or hold us back from becoming who we were destined to be. You might be living a life where you feel unfulfilled but continue living that life because the critical inner voice is making you believe you're not good enough. Now that you're aware that the critical inner voice is likely your 'shadow,' the voice you listen to is the voice that will dictate the direction of your life.
When it comes to living your life purpose, if you continue listening to the suppressed and critical inner voice, you will feel doubt, insecurity, anxiety, and other unwanted feelings that will hinder you from taking bold action and doing something more with your life.
What voice will you listen to?
Will you continue to suppress yourself out of fear or complacency or will you grow up the critical voice to feel worthy, loved, and empowered to live a purposeful life?
Transcending Suppression To Unleash Your Life's Purpose
To transcend all forms of environmental and psychological suppression, you must acknowledge your inner child, embrace the 'shadow,' and grow up the critical inner voice that wants to keep you small.
You must change your mindset and your story to believe you have the power to do something about your life and unleash your life's purpose.
What's the decision you need to make to be on your highest timeline and fulfill your life's purpose?
Your highest timeline might not be the fastest timeline.
Your highest timeline might be the timeline where you have to play the long game.
You play the long game by growing up your inner child, healing, and living a purposeful life that contributes to the greater and higher good.
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Drew, Chris. “10 Collective Unconscious Examples (Jung).” Helpful Professor, 22 Oct. 2023, https://helpfulprofessor.com/collective-unconscious-examples/.
Durmonski, Ivaylo. “The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown [Summary].” Durmonski.Com, 23 June 2023, https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/the-gifts-of-imperfection/.
Elsig, Claudia M. “The Dangers of Suppressing Emotions.” The CALDA Clinic, 24 Jan. 2022, https://caldaclinic.com/dangers-of-suppressing-emotions/.
Firestone, Lisa. “Steps to Overcoming Your Critical Inner Voice.” Psychology Today, 21 May 2010, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassion-matters/201005/steps-overcoming-your-critical-inner-voice.
Neistat, Casey. “Casey Neistat’s Guide to Filmmaking.” YouTube, 13 Oct. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLSUrTxquyE.
Rogers, Carl R., and Emile Ajar. “Rogers Carl 1961 On Becoming a Person.” Academia.Edu, 12 Jan. 2016, https://www.academia.edu/20184763/Rogers_Carl_1961_On_Becoming_a_Person.
Trieu, Tiffany. “What Is Inner Child Work? A Guide To Healing Your Inner Child.” Mindbodygreen, 10 Apr. 2023, https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/inner-child-work.
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