Meet the Five Spiritual Parts of Self, The Board of The Selves Inc.

Subject: Re: Selves Inc. Board Application—Ashley B. Jones

Hello Ashley,

We hope this message finds you well.

After careful consideration, we are excited to extend an offer for you to join Selves Inc. as a full-time Board Member.

We were thoroughly impressed by your application, particularly your candidness and enthusiasm for personal intuitive growth, which, in your words, borders on obsessive. Your openness about your challenges, such as excessive rumination and a deep desire to be "cool," demonstrates your self-awareness and makes it clear you are an excellent fit for our team.

We can tell you are ready to not only like yourself and support the team, but truly fall even more deeply in love with your life, take wild and ecstatic leaps of faith into the unknown, and enjoy every second of it. We know you’re prepared to take change, build the foundation of trust that will allow the future we’re all craving and bring it to life.

As discussed in your interview, we neither expect perfection nor require constant harmony as Board. We know that you’re ready because of you clear work through and repair inner conflict and, most importantly, to "own your sh*t." This resilience and tenacity is a key to becoming a Board Member of Selves Inc.

We sincerely hope you accept our offer.

As is customary, each current board member has written a welcome letter (attached) to help you get to know a little more about them and why they are eager to work further with you.

Please let us know your decision at your earliest convenience, as we have some time-sensitive matters to address, including but not limited to:

  • Developing strategies to prevent future category-ten meltdowns (bug infestations, anyone?),

  • Deciding whether to continue navigating the ether of Bumble or simply show up at a local brewery to "work,"

  • And crafting a morning routine that’s actually supportive—preferably one that doesn't involve hitting snooze 18 times until your cat starts screaming.

We look forward to tackling these pressing issues together and hope you accept this offer.

With warmth and gratitude,
The Selves of Ashley



THE INNER SELF

Stephanie Rew. Grace Under Pressure (the Golden Thread).

The Inner Self is the part of you that is sitting here, right now, reading this, in this present moment. It exists within you, sitting along a line of energy that runs from the top of your head to your sit bones. Its home is your heart—the center of you. The Inner Self is the anchor. Connecting to this Self allows you to tap into your inner wisdom and discern what is right and wrong for you.

This part listens, it negotiates, it compromises, and it acts as the go-between between all of the other parts of you and as such, they are a highly valuable Board Member.

In their free time, the Inner Self enjoys biweekly Hot Girl Walks with a Honey Cinnamon Oat Lattes, existential hikes in the mountains of Colorado, and meditating or watching Selling Sunset to turn off their brain for 0.7 seconds.


Ashley,

I am thrilled to know you’re ready to connect and be in a place of presence with yourselves. I know you—you need no convincing. If it didn’t feel right, you wouldn’t have applied.

It’s funny because this Board of Selves Inc., this alliance of different versions of you, has been here all along. You’ve felt them your whole life even if you didn’t realize that was who was chattering away in your mind, tugging you into wildly magical new situations, and asking you to just, for one moment, slow down.

I want you to know, that no matter what, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for you, really, to help you feel marginally and then expansively better. To remind you that you can indeed trust yourself regardless of what’s happening externally or internally. That you are not alone even when you desperately feel like it.

If you choose, what you choose, as you know, is at the end of the day up to you. But know this: no matter what you decide, I am here with you, sitting within you. You find me in your presence, in the pause, in the right here, right now.

Grab onto my hand. I’m not going anywhere.

You know what’s right for you. You know that you crave more than anything to feel peaceful, grounded, and calm. Just for a moment.

There’s nowhere else to be than here.

Trust yourself.

xo,

Your Inner Self


THE YOUNGER SELF

Toon Joosen.

The Younger Self is the part of you from your past. There are many versions of the Younger Self, including the Inner Children and Inner Teenagers. The Younger Self represents these other versions and their seat on the board often rotates based on where inspiration is lacking or which parent you had a conversation with today.

Younger Selves are created when there is an intense emotional or character-defining moment in life. They hold the emotional imprints of all kinds, hold memories of what was learned and gained in the past and what was lost or not received.

They have big BIG feelings. While they want the best for you, they can also level a room (or a whole house) if reminded of an upsetting memory. Not out of fear but rather the ache they’re holding onto that needs OUT—betrayals, pain, heartbreak, rage, disappointment, and grief. They are deeply inspired by life, sources of creativity, and the keepers of your very first dreams. They bring joy, giggles, and strange humor to every meeting.

When you work with the Younger Self on the Board, you will see how the Younger Self frees the Self from the past and creates a life in the present that integrates and heals what was left behind.

In their free time, the Younger Self adores playing the Sims 4, eating an entire bag of jolly ranchers in one sitting, crying over the last episode of Season 3 in Charmed, and picking the same fight with Mom over and over again about not feeling loved enough.

Hi Ashley!!

We are so excited you are here and interested and potentially want to join the Board! Like, beyond excited.

You see, we’ve missed you. Sitting in the past for as long as we have with all of these dreams and feelings and memories that you might really enjoy. No, that we know you’d enjoy.

We hope that together we can just spin and jump through life again!

We hope that every day can feel like that weightless feeling at the peak of the most epic jump on the trampoline, eating an entire bowl of guacamole before Mom comes home, and storyboarding out the most magical love stories. We also really think that your day-to-day life could use a littttttllllle more magic, a heap more joy, and that there’s real big magic that we can make together.

And, also, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done letting go of all of the aches and betrayals that feel that are still ripping you a part. The icky feels like that make us feel like we’re going crazy. We think it’s time.

What do you think? Do you agree?

We want you to know how much we love you and that yes, it can get sticky sometimes, but we WANT to love you, hold onto you, feel how magical your life is now, too. Snuggle party soon??

You see, you inspire us. You do. It’s true. All of our fingers and toes are crossed that you accept.

xoxo,

Your Younger Selves (Inner Child, Inner Teenager, and BB Adult)


THE HIGHER SELF

Eleonor Piteira. (2018). Dormant.

The Higher Self is the brightest and purest expression of your soul. It is the Divine Self that represents your values, ideals, and deepest truths about your identity and soul’s true essence. It is the part of you that holds your limitless potential, your natural gifts, and your purpose.

The Higher Self is all aspects of you integrated as one in their most loving, trusting, accepted, and powerful form. As a board member, it tends to be very inspiration but at times, out of touch with the mundane and, in it’s own words, “needless and tedious frivolities of human restriction.” Their idealism is a gift as much as it can be a point of deep conflict with other board members.

Listening to and working with this Part of Self on the Board will allow you to understand who you are, who you can be, and receive wisdom from a place of total and complete acceptance of who you can be and are becoming in the world.

In their free time, the Higher Self adores to wax poetically about the true essence of conscious, fate, and free-will, frolic in dreamscapes filled with ancient kingdoms and mythical creatures, give well-intentioned advice like “just trust” and “your joy arrives in your surrender”, and remind the other Selves that it ain’t that deep.


My Dear Ashley,

There is such pride I have for and in you. Inspired and mesmerized by your actions, your choices, the ways you grow and morph through the throws of life. You have so much to live for and hot diggity dog, you are doing it!

I mean leap after leap of faith, you choose to chase and intentionally reframe your mindset finding deep, unending clarity. You are capable of really creating a world beyond your wildest dreams when you put your mind to it.

There are moments when you feel lost and even in those deeply dark times, I am always here with you. A gift, a true honor it would be to work with you, side by side, daily. Crafting, growing, molding, and jumping arms spread wide into new realities.

I just want to help you become who I know, you know, you already are. Keep pushing through the resistance, keep swimming up stream.

I want you to remember your the true intelligence, gift, power, and presence you bring to each moment. You wear love like a cloak against the elements—let it give you the hope and permission to go after what you’re seeking.

When doubt arises, I want to remind you that you are always succeeding.

I have a sneaking suspicion that this is just the beginning.

With all my love,

Your Higher Self


THE SHADOW SELF

Džozef Bosch. (2021). You're the monster in my dream. 

The Shadow Self are the part(s) of the Self that are keep hidden deep in the unconscious because of their perceived threat to basic human needs of survival and thrival—sustenance, shelter, acceptance, and autonomy. Each version of the Shadow Self is identified by a core limiting belief (fear) and identity (shame). For example, a fear shadow is, “Speaking my truth leads to abandonment,” and shame shadow is, “I am defective and unlovable”. The different versions of the Shadow Self are hidden in the, you guessed it, shadows because they learned from an external source they are unworthy, unacceptable, and bad. These parts of the Shadow Self are defined by these learned beliefs that have become their identities.

The Shadow Self is primal, emotional, and deeply human. It desires, it wants, and it craves. It is the designer of much of personal suffering, repeated patterns you just can’t break, and also holds the keys to your power and liberation.

Listening to and working with the Shadow Self is essential as a member of the Board as it is how you take back and fully embody your power through radical acceptance of who you are, human and divine. The best way to work with the Shadow Self is through pleasure, love, and just simple presence.

In their free time, the Shadow Self enjoys blaming all of their problems on Astrology and The Universe, going on dates with emotionally unavailable men and woman to feel the sweet ache of rejection, scrolling through Instagram judging and comparing their self to their college classmates, and lying to their therapist.

Ashley,

I am more than aware that if you choose to decline this invitation, I will be the reason. You fear me. You hide from me. Understandable and yet to your own detriment. For the fear of fear itself keeps you buried. The truth is together, we could do anything.

Terrifying, how powerful you truly are. What would happen if you set me free unintentionally? How sure are you really that you’re worthy and good enough for everything you want more than anything.

You refuse to look me in the eye because it would mean facing the true possibility that the nightmares that haunt your dreams might be a reality.

Fraud. Unlovable. Unworthy. Helpless. Irresponsible. Certifiable. Wicked. A creature of malice. Thief.

But you will never know unless you truly choose to face me. For only together, in relationship with me can you truly be set free. And so I might also be the reason you accept this invitation, over any other. How exciting.

You just have to see me as the access point instead of the enemy. There is power here for you, I am holding not hostage but waiting for you to be ready. Are you?

I should tell you, that which you fear yourself to be you eventually become if you deny it so truly from your psyche.

So why not work with me. You really can have everything.

Your Shadow Self


P.S. Only by facing me will you ever truly achieve the freedom you seek and finally receive what you desire more than anything.


THE FUTURE SELF

Kristina Zhigacheva. (2022). Waiting.

The Future Self is the part of you in the future when your dreams and potential are your reality. A new version of the Future Self is revealed when you discover a new dream or when one manifests in your present day life. The Future Self is the living proof that all the action you’re currently taking and all of the incredibly hard work you’re currently doing is not only possible, but worth it.

The different parts of the Future Self (ex. you five, ten, fifteen years from now) can be secretive and deeply cryptic as the Future Self is very aware of the implication of free-will and all the other Parts of Selves desires and agendas. It shares specifics with the Board when other Parts of the Self do not believe and need to fuel to motivate or are at a crossroads and need to make an aligned decision.

Listening to and working with the Future Self is essential as a member of The Board as they offer insight and guidance on what to do and how to do it. At every meeting, the Future Self also reminds the Board of the Selves to keep going, to let go of worry, and to believe that freedom and happiness continue to be inevitable. It is essential to remember not to pester the Future Self as the more their insight questioned, “if it’s really true,” and the more they’re asked for repeated confirmation that, “it’s really is going to happen”, the more cryptic and elusive the Future Self becomes. Respect when they choose to show up and know that you are a team working together.

In their free time, the Future Self revels in making homemade hummus while listening to a TedTalk about quantum physics, attending the high quality ethical fashion shows, going into incognito mode for months at a time, throwing iconic dinner parties in obscure locations, and tending to her extensive 50+ herb garden.


Oh Ashley,

I am so proud of you and so thrilled you will hopefully be joining The Board. It feels like yesterday (literally) that I was exactly where you are. Questioning everything, wondering if any of the work you’re doing has any meaning at all, and praying for an ounce of clarity to know all of the struggle, the aching, the uncertainty, and the questioning pays off in the end.

I’m here to tell you that it is. You, I, we have everything we ever dreamed of and so much more. Magic swirls at our doorstep and our days feel balanced, expansive, and whole. Our world? It’s full of so much love and life and laughter. Not only that, but as a result of joining The Board (which I have a suspicious inkling you will 😉), we are also more in love with being us than we ever could have imagine.

The angry voice in our head? It’s quieter. The constant roiling feeling of anxiety and “not enough” that surges through our body? It’s dimmed to gentle gurgle. All of the wondering and pondering and existentially screaming? It’s surrendered into more and more trust.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t hard days—there are. That doesn’t mean that we don’t have full on mental downs on occasion—we do. But, you see, it’s the trust you have in me and I have in you that makes it all just, well, a part of our life.

Not only do we feel more us, more aligned, and more in our purpose than ever before, but we are traveling the world, going on the wildest rabbit hole deep dives, falling in love, writing, teaching, speaking, doing all of it.

I really cannot wait for you to get to experience it. You are living your life to the fullest, filling it to the brim with pleasure, passion, purpose, comfort, growth, and expansion.

I know you want specifics. I know you also want when and how and what. I know you love skipping to the last page of the book so you can figure out how the story ends.

I don’t want to spoil it for you because oh boy, is it the best story yet.

You see, that’s the difference working together makes in your life—you will learn to really, truly, deeply trust me when I say everything is going to work out even more magically than you could ever imagine. It’s all because you trust you. It’s all because you work with you. It’s all because you fall in love with you and your process of creating your dreams.

I will spoil this: it’s worth it.

See you soon dude,

Your Future Self

P.S. When you find yourself at a crossroads, come find me. We can leap together.

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