In the previous post I described how one of my clients had observed her ego’s tendency to be negative and disruptive. However, several weeks later as I coached the same client through Session 14 of the 16 week programme, she commented that she was now aware of and accepting of this potential within her for negative mental chatter. Through observing the “chatter” she had come to the conclusion that it was based on fear of change but she no longer found that this negativity obstructed or blocked her from moving forward with her action steps as she worked to put her goal into motion.
This illustrates to me that at the same time clients are exploring their relationship with Self, they are able to explore their ego nature, to observe it and come to know it more fully. As these two structures or archetypes are explored, sometimes separately and sometimes simultaneously, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, a relationship inevitably begins to form between the two.
As the individual is supported and nurtured by the coach, so, in fact, is the ego. As clients take more responsibility for their life and begin to live in integrity, the mask of their persona can be lowered. They become increasingly more courageous at thinking, speaking and acting in ways that are aligned to their own inner values. The structure of the program provides safety and security for this usually fragile ego, assuring it that it is not facing annihilation, although certainly it may experience that it is facing a power shift!
The tangible nature of the action steps that transpire from each internal exercise and which move the client closer towards achieving their goals and living the life that they desire, can be supportive for the ego, providing it with tangible goals to achieve and a necessarily supportive structure. Perhaps it is not such a stretch then, to believe that, eventually the ego may be on track to understanding what my University of Philosophical Research Professor, Michele Papen Daniels, once described as its true role, that it is to be in the service of Self, in the way that the Self wishes to transform. (Papen Daniel, UPR lecture Series)
As I reviewed Jung’s archetypes I became increasingly clear that Integrative Coaching begins a dialogic relationship between ego and Self that, for the majority of clients, would not have taken place before. Each time the client explores the wisdom and “being” of the Self, or what we term internal wisdom in each internal exercise, and takes action in the world, the client is also able to explore the ego and in the process, strengthen the resiliency of the ego. It is possible that this sets the client’s ego on a path where it may eventually understand that its true role, ultimately, is to be of service to Self.
References
Papen Daniel, Michele. Alchemy and Psychotherapy Lecture Series, 2006 (Los Angeles, University of Philosophical Research)
