About the
Skeptic /
Doubter Personality Subself
Can you think of someone who is
often skeptical about
people, new ideas, changes, and events? Such people doubt or oppose other
people's opinions and perceptions if they differ from their own. Skepticism
ranges between mild and occasional to "significant" to vehement and frequent.
Excessive doubting may come from
an active Skeptic
who
is dedicated to protecting Inner Kids and the host person against pain and loss from
unwise or naive expectations and assumptions.
Some
fear-based people also develop a protective
Cynic/Pessimist subself which sees the worst in people and situations, and/or a
Catastrophizer subself, who
sternly forecasts the worst possible things will surely occur. A
Worrier
and/ or Judge may augment any of these common Guardian
subselves. These may be
separate
subselves
or one all-purpose personality "part." They're all fiercely pro-tective of various
Inner Kids. They
believe the
subselves won't or can't
protect the Kids, so they must do so. This is one reason trying to persuade a skeptic to "see both sides of things" or "have a
glass-half-full" out-look will
never cause a permanent attitude shift. The
Skeptic/
Doubter also
guards against too much influence by
Optimist/Idealist and Fantasizer subselves.
Until choosing to
recover from false-self
fear-based people can be over-controlled
by the Skeptic / Doubter. This inhibits healthy
risk-taking
and accepting or initiating needed change, and can cause
others to c/overtly avoid the "negative" person. True wound-recovery promotes the
Inner Children to be reliably protected by the
Manager subselves,
freeing the Guardians to relax and accept more useful personality
roles. As this happens,
skeptical people become more
balanced in seeing the world as an interesting blend of "good and bad."
Ultimately, they may become realistic optimists.
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