We all have archetypes—universal patterns of mythical power— within our psyche, and the Saboteur archetype may be the most difficult to understand because its name is associated with betrayal. Caroline Myss calls it the Guardian of Choice because its purpose is to help you identify when you are about to make a decision that weakens you.
When an opportunity arises that helps you grow by stretching your comfort zone, have you ever heard a whispering voice beneath you that says, “You’re not good enough. You’ll never make that achievement?” If you have, what you’re hearing is the internal Saboteur raising the possibility of failure, which is a decidedly fearsome prospect.
Another example is when you fear success. You call upon the Saboteur to destroy the foundation of that success because the responsibility seems overwhelming: What if I let people down? What if I’m not able to sustain the position?
The Saboteur operates in the shadows of our subconscious.
HOW TO BECOME AWARE OF THE SABOTEUR
The Saboteur’s fears and issues are all related to low self-esteem that causes you to make choices that block your empowerment and success.
The Saboteur’s core issue is fear of initiating change into your life, change that rearranges your entire reality and requires you to respond in a positive way to opportunities that shape and deepen your self-esteem and empowerment. Ignore it, and the shadow Saboteur will manifest in the form of destructive behavior or the desire to undermine others.
It typically makes its presence known through a feeling or a thought that is rooted in fear. It may be a feeling of anxiety, doubt, of looking stupid, lack of confidence, or being afraid of failing. The Saboteur can guard your heart and push away any people or opportunities that bring you joy or success.
Only when we become aware of the Saboteur and recognize it can we make it our ally. The first way you can explore the shadow aspect of the Saboteur is to observe your behavior. You can effectively do this by creating a journal where you recorded the times or events when you realized you’d sabotaged yourself.
The keyword here is OBSERVE. The Saboteur needs to be recognized for it to be integrated.
You don’t want to analyze. You want to observe, and through the power of observation, you will garner the capacity to see things from a higher perspective, which will lead to positive behavioral change.
QUESTIONS TO ASK OF YOURSELF
Acknowledging the Saboteur requires us to take responsibility as we must look at our failures and missed opportunities and find how we contributed to the situation. A few questions to ask yourself to learn how to become aware of the action of the Saboteur within are:
In what areas of my life do I fear change?
What fears have the most authority over me? List three.
How have I thwarted my success in the past?
What am I protecting myself or someone else from by sabotaging my success?
What happens when fear overtakes me? Does it make me silent?
Have I let creative opportunities pass me by?
How conscious am I in the moment that I am sabotaging myself?
When we make the Saboteur our friend and ally, we can then make decisions based on our highest purpose in life, as we stand firm in our center with unwavering self-esteem rather than giving in to our fears egos.
In Part 1, you realized the beliefs you learned and agreed to early on in life are limiting you, and that those beliefs became your truth. In order to awaken from a programmed life, you must first become aware of the authority they hold over you and what you want to change in your reality.
Changing your beliefs change your reality.
WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT REALITY?
Reality is subjective to an individual; it is what you believe it to be. There are social realities with certain customs, moral values, and societal rules with which we agree with. In spiritual circles, it is said that we ‘create our own reality.’
Looking further into this concept, one thing necessary to deepen our understanding of reality is learning to observe yourself within your reality. You are in effect, viewing yourself as the main character in a play and those that surround you are supporting actors.
When you begin to see how you operate in life, you activate your greatest tool—your soul! Your soul has the ability to observe yourself through a wide lens,
offering you a perspective of a camera that can pull back or zoom in to see your actions in daily life. The resulting benefit is you’re able to see yourself more clearly and discover how you create the reality you live in.
As you begin to observe yourself, you’ll see what your beliefs have created; your emotional pain, your joy, your hardened heart, your open manner, your lack of connection with yourself and others—the list of how your beliefs create the reality you operate within is endless.
When you are able to honestly see what motivates you to do what you do, the next step of creating your reality is possible—you can begin to change the things you want to. Only you can change what you believe your reality is. And you can change it.
You may feel you’re doing everything to change your reality, but nothing is changing. When this happens, there is something stuck within you. You have what is called an inner blockage. For example, you may struggle with a pattern of self-sabotage, even finding it difficult to help yourself when you know you need to.
You subconsciousness mind might be
blocking you to be and do your best through your limiting beliefs. One reason this happens is that, at some level, you have an inner conflict about succeeding. This type of inner conflict occurs when one part of us wants to change, but the other part (often the subconscious) does not because of the fear of success. Simply put, it the Saboteur archetype at work.
HOW WE LEARN BELIEFS
Early childhood experiences are the first way we get ideas or beliefs about life and gave you a sense of who you are as a person. The messages you received from your parents, siblings, teachers, and peers taught you something about yourself. As we grow up, we move through life creating experiences to match our beliefs.
We also learn beliefs through school, movies, books, advertisements, and life experiences, to name a few. Beliefs are important because they shape your world—first internally, then externally. If you have not invested in yourself to change a belief and see how it’s affected your life, you will not fully understand this concept.
Beliefs can prevent us from seeing accurately and they can cause pain. Or they can strengthen us.
Write down in your journal the beliefs you have today that you feel are holding you back or limiting you in some way. Keep them at your disposal as you’ll want to revisit them when you are given the steps to change them in the next post.
Here are a few examples that may resonate with you:
“I’m not good enough.”
“I’m afraid to________.”
“I don’t deserve (money, recognition, success).”
“People will judge me.”
“If I succeed, I won’t be able to sustain it.” (This was me.)
“I’m happy with how things are now.”
“I don’t/wouldn’t know where to start.”
Take some time and reflect on what are the major beliefs you have that have an impact on your life. Sit and let yourself be open and honest about where you are in life today and what your current state of reality is. Be ready to take the steps to change. Dig deep inside—go within and muster the courage. It’s there, I know it is.
Until next time,
Debbie
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