Aspects of the Self – Who’s Driving Your Bus Today?

How many times have we done something totally marvelous, or dumb, rude, mean or off the wall and then looked back and said “Did I REALLY do that? It’s not like me to behave or do…” We treat these actions like someone else is responsible for them, and to be truthful, there is, but that “someone else” a part of you, a personality aspects or archetype. But in these cases, just one aspect is acting (or acting out) in a manor that is not representative of you as a whole.

Through our work assisting others with shamanic journeys and retrieving soul pieces, we have found a group of aspects or archetypes each person carries that have been ignored, stuffed or abandoned along the way. And like a child that is being ignored, they tend to struggle for control so that they can be seen or heard. This is sometimes not in our best interest.

Picture this situation… You’re in a meeting with your boss reviewing a report that you have prepared. The boss is asking questions, courteously, but asking questions about your train of though or information source. How are you responding or reacting?

That’s really going to depend on “who’s driving the bus”. If you are coming from a position of balance, your place of center and empowerment, you will respond courteously and logically to his or her questions.

But… if your Emotional Self is in charge, you could react with anger or feel tears welling in your eyes. Your Critic could kick in and you then begin the old self-talk patterns of “not being good enough”, “can’t do anything right”.

Or maybe your Ego may take over with the “Who does he/she think he is? Who is he/she to question my work?”

Oh, and what about the Shadow? I can picture papers flying around the room as well as some unpleasant words as you stomp out the door. The outcome of that meeting totally depends on “who’s driving your bus today”.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have all your aspects working together in a cohesive group, so you can respond to life from a position of balance and empowerment?


These aspects are similar to Jung’s archetypes. Psychologist Carl Jung described several archetypes based in repeating patterns of thought and action that re-appear time and again across people, countries and continents. Jung believed that we each have all four main forms of archetypes within us, the Shadow, the Anima, the Animus, and the Self. Jung also considered other archetypes, including family archetypes such as father, mother, child and story archetypes like the hero, the witch, the magician, the wise old man and the earth mother.


Medical intuitive and author, Carolyn Myss, identified over 70 common archetypes in her book, Sacred Contracts. She believes we were encoded prior to birth with 12 of these archetypes to fulfill contracts for experiences in this lifetime.


As we work with clients we are finding that there are about 12 or 13 aspects that each of us has hidden somewhere in our energy body. They have been hidden, abandoned or simply ignored. They include the Divine Masculine, Divine Feminine, Mental Self, Wounded Child, The Ego, The Shadow, and The Critic. Each person may have other personalized aspects hidden away as well. By retrieving and integrating these aspects, we become more balanced and whole.


We like to look at this group of aspects as a corporate board of directors working together for the good of the company (the Conscious Self). They are brought together as a cohesive group with the Heart Self operating as Chairman of the Board. But, in this board, each Aspect has a voice in how the “company” is run, with the Heart making the best choices for the conscious Self. Everyone is heard and no one is acting independently or “going rogue”. Now you begin to respond to life from a place of balance and empowerment.

Sound good? Are you ready to retrieve your Aspects and build your board of directors? We offer this work as part of our Five Day Shamanic Intensive Retreat, as weekend playshops or you can join us for our upcoming webinar “Aspects of Self” beginning in September. Just click on the links to find out more about the playshops and webinar.

So, back to our original question… “Who’s driving your bus today?”