This is a transcript of the video which has been edited for readability.
You know that voice that sometimes tells you, "You're not good enough," or maybe it's narrating the events around you like, “Did I say the right thing?" or "What is going to happen in the future?" I want to take a moment to talk about that little voice in this blog post.
Is Your Voice Making You Doubt Yourself?
What’s interesting about this little voice in our head is that because it seems to be narrating everything that's going on, it may not serve us at times. When you are going through your ketamine infusions, you may not be improving as fast as you had hoped. Or perhaps you are finished or completed your ketamine infusions but are noticing you aren’t feeling as good as you did before. You might be slipping back into old ways of thinking or worse levels of emotional or physical pain.
Your little voice may lead you to think “Why did I waste time and money on ketamine infusions?” or “What would people think of me when they find out I am not feeling as good any more?” or “What if I need more infusions?”
You Are Not Your Voice
Do you know about the voice that I'm referring to? You may be even listening to it as we speak and we all have it. What's interesting is that although the voice may always be there, we don't always have to listen to it or acknowledge it or follow its advice. Sometimes we can just let it be and recognize that you are not that voice. You are actually the noticer or observer of that voice. Please consider this perspective, you are NOT the voice. You are the OBSERVER of the voice.
Detaching Yourself From That Little Voice
Ketamine’s psychedelic dissociative properties can especially heighten this awareness of the voice versus the real person. With ketamine, you realise that you are the observer. That noisy voice, which researchers believe lives in the default mode network of the brain, gets quieted during ketamine infusions. While you should not be (nor do we recommend) on ketamine all the time, you can make a practice of recognizing this separation of voice and your true self. Meditation is a way to support this practice.
Learn To Simply Observe
Consider the next time you hear that negative voice, say to yourself “I am not that voice or thought. I am the person noticing it.” Now this can be really profound for someone whose voice may not be necessarily serving them at the highest level. So learn to take a break from listening to its contents while letting it be and running its own narration in your mind.
Learn more about how ketamine affects the default mode network here.
What do you think about this voice in your head? Is it currently serving you or discouraging you?