Psychology Of The Aware Ego is a psychological perspective and modality originated and developed by Hal Stone, Ph.D., and Sidra Stone, Ph.D. Although it's roots lie remotely in a wide variety of modalities such as Jungian and Gestalt theory, Psychosynthesis, Transactional Analysis, and Psychodrama, it is a truly unique, self-contained, and powerful leading-edge approach to understanding both human relationships and the human psyche. It also provides powerful tools for working with oneself and others towards a more conscious and fulfilling life.

At the heart of the philosophy are several fundamental concepts:

* that we all have many different parts within us,

* that we are identified with some of these parts (Primary Selves) to the relative exclusion of others (Disowned Selves),

* that these Primary Selves define who we are and serve to try and protect our vulnerability in life,

* that this can create an imbalance within our personalities and our lives,

* and that by learning about the parts of us that run our lives and the parts we disown, and by bringing some sense of these Disowned Selves back into our consciousness, we can start to develop what is known as an Aware Ego Process, that is, a more conscious sense of ourselves that has more of an ability to make clearer choices in terms of our real needs, rather than unconscious choices coming from our unconscious need to protect ourselves.

This is an over-simplification, but describes the basic theory enough to get a feel for our approach. We have three primary tools for working with people in this light - The Voice Dialogue Process, the clarification of Bonding Patterns between people in terms of their parts, and the awareness and experience (consciousness) of the different feelings of the energies that our various parts carry.

Voice Dialogue is a powerful tool for helping someone to both separate them from their complete identification with their Primary Selves, and also help them get to know their Disowned Selves and incorporate them into their lives in an appropriate manner.

Fundamentally it involves talking to the different parts, in a specific manner, so that someone can gain a more conscius perspective of them. This is done not to try and change or influence them in any way, but to allow them to speak and show themselves to the person they reside in. This organically helps develop the Aware Ego such that over time, the person can begin to make choices for themselves outside of their old patterns and habits, ultimately incorporating more of who they are into the decisions that they make.
Once we know about the vast array of parts that reside within us, we can start to see how these parts interact with the other people in our life. Understanding how our parts bond with different parts in others, reveals to us the deeper dynamics of our relationships, and gives us, through the Aware Ego, the opportunity to have relationships based more on choice rather than, again, old patterns and habits.
In the process of getting to know our parts through Voice Dialogue, we become conscious of these parts in terms of their energy - how they actually feel when they are present in our consciousness. This is an important reference point to have if we are to know them well enough to have a clear relationship with them - in other words, if we are to have a more clear relationship with ourselves such that we know who we are beyond the limitations of just our Primary Selves, and if we are to have more choice in our lives. Energy awareness training is another powerful tool of consciousness, in this light.
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These are the basic tenets and tools of The Psychology Of The Aware Ego. For more detailed information please contact Larry Novick, Ph.D. by clicking on the Contact button on the left of the screen.