500 Words a Week - Your Inner Roomate

I recently finished Michael A Singer’s “The Untethered Soul”, a book leaning toward the more spiritual side of personal development. One of my favourite takeaways was around the concept of our inner roommate.

We all have that voice inside our head. That voice that will never be content. The voice that always has something to say and manages to find a problem in every situation. This voice is very good at drawing all our attention to these imagined problems, until it’s all we can focus on.

Singer discusses how this voice is like having our own inner roommate. A roommate that never stops talking. A roommate who has an opinion about everything. A roommate who can ruin anything you’re doing in an instant. In any situation or circumstance, it can suddenly decide “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to do this. I don’t like this.” Causing you to feel tense and uncomfortable.

Singer discusses that it’s only when we realize what our inner roommate is doing to us, can we be free from it. “The way to catch on to what your inner roommate is really like is to personify it externally. Make believe that your roommate, the psyche, has a body of its own.” So imagining this inner roommate was a real person, how much attention would you give it? “How would you feel if someone outside really started talking to you the way your inner voice does?” You’d quickly notice the inconsistencies in its attitude, how it can ruin any situation with a drop of a hat, you’d never willingly associate with this person. So why do we allow ourselves to become so wrapped up in it?

As with so many areas in life, the main thing standing in our way is ourselves. I think if we want to get anywhere or do anything we have to stop paying this inner roommate so much attention. When I began to write this blog, I had so many mixed thoughts within my own head. “That’s great you’re sharing some of your thoughts.” The next thought would be along the lines of “who do you think you are to put yourself out there.” As of now, I still have these thoughts but I’m getting better at not paying them attention. If we just sat back and paid attention to our inner roommate nothing would get done.

A nice quote from Singer to conclude:

“Eventually you will see that the real cause of problems is not life itself. It’s the commotion the mind makes about life that really causes problems.”