THE SELF DECODED
The Self has been a topic of exploration for centuries, and it has remained an enigma all this while. This book goes to its depth and opens the lid so that a layperson can understand its making and working.
The word “SELF” has been part of our everyday communication. Here are a few examples:
- I am angry with myself.
- I hate myself.
- I don’t trust myself.
- I don’t understand myself.
- I am proud of myself.
In the above sentences, it looks as if there are two people. “I hate myself” can be presented as “Tom hates Tim.” Now the question is, who is “I,” and who is “myself” that I hate in the above sentence? We can ask the same question on other sentences. The book deciphers who the Self is and its construct.
In fact, inside us, there are two systems running in parallel. One is our survival mechanism, which helps us to survive, discussed in the author’s earlier book, Stop Surviving Start Living With Freedom. The other is our Self, imposing rules and limitations on us to protect us, to which we must adapt. Reading the book will help one understand the Self, a powerful system that governs us. If we don’t comply, it can punish or, at times, even destroy us. Our own survival mechanism — our operating system — makes us comply with the demands of our Self. This book describes how we do it.
While the Self has an important purpose in keeping us safe, as individuals, we must comply with it. If we don’t fulfill its demands, it can sabotage our progress and make us experience negative emotions. Our Self doesn’t allow us to make decisions freely but routes them through the Self. Since the decision-making is in the hands of others, our destiny also gets governed by them. All this happens at an unconscious level beyond our awareness.
Reading this book will make you understand and become aware of your Self and survival mechanism, the dynamic between the two, and how it constricts your true potential from being realized. This awareness will allow you to exercise your free will in creating a life you consciously choose.
Besides the Self, the book covers related topics such as Self-talk, Self-sabotage and Self-image in a fresh and interesting way.
Stop Surviving Start Living With Freedom
The whole of humanity can be classified into three categories. You are either a WANTED CHILD, PARTLY WANTED CHILD or an UNWANTED CHILD. Nature ensures that no one is free from this classification. You may be a president or ordinary citizen, rich or poor, CEO or worker, black or white, Asian or Hispanic, Hindu or Christian — you will fall under one of these categories. Each category gives rise to unique survival traits (our unconscious personality traits), which one can easily decipher. Our body language, communication style, usage of words, and behaviors, expose our personality type. This book clearly shows how to identify a person’s category through gathering information and observation.
The author, Lawrence V. Fernandes, has discovered how a survival mechanism functions as our operating system. It inhibits us from living a life of freedom and joy; instead, it forces us to live unconsciously, out of compulsion. That is why we must understand its functioning. The mechanism comes pre-installed within us from birth. Much like an operating system of a computer/ mobile phone that controls its every function, our operating system governs our core beliefs, communication style, behaviors, thinking style, and more, from birth till we die. Its workings lie beyond our awareness.
The survival mechanism that is supposed to help us survive also becomes our limitation and weakness. It engages us in a “fight/ flight/ freeze” mode, which is not a solution after a specific age but a self-destructive way of living. Unconsciously, it takes charge of us and puts us on autopilot, hindering our growth and progress while sucking us into self-sabotage patterns.
By reading this book, you will begin to understand:-
- How did your survival mechanism get installed?
- How does it limit your progress and freedom?
- How can you identify your core survival traits?
- How can you defuse your outdated survival mechanism and live freely?