What’s at the root of the inner rebel?
This question came up in recently in a free webinar about my course Align: Heal the Battle with Your Inner Rebel. (You can watch the full webinar here.) I’d like to share my answer, and some more thoughts on integrating this part of ourselves.
The answer about what’s at the root varies by person. For some it might be about protecting feelings of vulnerability.
This is how one person described it –
My inner rebel has been cropping up for me and really stopping me from doing things I want to do for myself as a protector.”
Yes – the inner rebel can be a protector part!
For others, the root of the inner rebel might be anger at ways that power has been wielded over you in your life.
For another person, it might be fear – for example, the fear of moving forward and being your own person.
No matter the root, we begin to relate differently to the inner rebel when we go behind the top level of behavior and the feelings themselves to embrace and be with the vulnerability that’s underneath.
This befriending can allow the hard-to-change, resistant behavior that’s up on the surface to become a little more workable, a little bit softer.
You can learn more by watching the video here.
Because the inner rebel can bring up so many strong reactions and feelings, it’s easy to think this part of ourselves is bad or wrong – and to go to war with it.
But the fact that the inner rebel or opposition arises doesn’t have to be wrong or a problem. From another perspective, it can be an opportunity for intimacy and relationship with these ‘outcast’ parts of ourselves.