Who’s Running the Show?

Consistently working on your GodJuice by speaking to Hashem can really change your life, because it enables you to clarify and identify who the ‘real you’ really is. Talking to God can also help you to see that the ‘real you’ is genuinely only good. 

Sometimes it’s a no-brainer to discern which voice is which. But there is a lot of gray area – it isn’t always so easy to recognize which voice is ‘good’ and which voice is ‘bad’ inside ourselves. A big part of the problem is that our inner bad often dresses itself up as ‘good.’ It pretends to be our best friend telling us to do these things because it loves us, and it’s looking out for us, and it’s watching our back. 

As a general rule of thumb, the voice of your internal bad will do its best to tear you down, destroy your confidence and optimism, criticize and judge you harshly and get you to hate yourself, and try to scare the pants off you and attempt to fill you full of bitterness, despair and self-loathing. Often, under the cover of the highest ideals, no less. 

By contrast, the real ‘you,’ the voice of your internal good, or your soul, will always speak kindly and gently to you. It will always encourage you and give you strength, and consistently trying to build you up, even when you’ve repeatedly fallen down. The ‘real you’ will soothe and calm you with words of comfort, conciliation and strength, as it reminds you that God is running the world, and that God only does things for your ultimate good. 

As you start to work on your GodJuice you should find that it gets easier and easier for you to identify which internal voice is really talking to you.  

I want to share with you a very simple, but powerful, tool that I learned from the internationally acclaimed spiritual coach Rabbi Shalom Arush. This tool has often helped me to spot when my inner ‘bad’ is taking me for a ride. 

Rabbi Shalom Arush’s rule of thumb: 

If it’s a GOOD thought, it’s coming from a GOOD place. 

If it’s a BAD thought, it’s coming from a BAD place. 

The REAL YOU – is your soul – which is GOOD! 

Your inner ‘bad’ is usually directly associated with your body, and its ‘animal instinct.’ It’s the part of you that wants the chocolate cake, that wants its own way all the time, that wants an easy life. But your body, important as it is, is not the real you. The real you is your soul. 

So many people are so used to thinking that their body is the real them that they might find this idea profoundly shocking. Remember that the voice of your soul is always trying to build you up, to encourage you to like yourself, and to fill you up with happiness, confidence and optimism. 

The voice of your body is usually doing exactly the opposite: it’s criticizing you, pulling you down, scaring you, threatening you, berating you, and making you feel terrible about yourself. 

Without a strong, regular dose of GodJuice, it’s very hard for most people to internalize that the angry, jealous, critical little guy they’re hearing in their heads 24/7 is not the ‘real them.’ 

Regular GodJuice sessions give your soul the stereo speakers it needs to grab your attention and make itself heard. It puts your soul back in the driving seat, and forces your body to back down, at least a little. 

Now can you see why working on your GodJuice is so vital to maintaining your emotional and mental health? GodJuice powers up the real you, i.e., your soul, and strengthens the voice of your internal good. 

There is a massive fight going on between these two opposing forces throughout your life, and the more you follow the dictates of your soul – the ‘real you’ – the  

Spot the Difference 

I want to help you catch the voice of your inner ‘bad’ in action.  

As you’ve been reading this, I’m willing to bet that you’ve had a small voice buzzing in your head, whispering to you that ‘the real you’ is bad, lazy, selfish, etc. It’s probably telling you right now that this stuff might apply to other people, (if it’s even true…), and that you don’t even need this junk. 

Know this: that is the voice of your inner ‘bad!’ It’s telling you bad things about yourself, it’s coming from a very bad place, and most upsetting of all, it’s telling you a whole bunch of whopping big fibs. 

Now, let me help you catch the voice of your soul in action. Read the following statements through slowly, and then try to identify the part of yourself that agrees with them:  

God loves me unconditionally.  

God is very happy with me, exactly as I am.  

God only does things to fix me, not to punish me.  

God wants me to be happy, and to love myself exactly as I am. 

The part that’s happily nodding in agreement with all this stuff is your soul – the REAL YOU!