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Cara Helene's avatar

So fun! I love how you’re being playful with the different parts of yourself to honor the complexity and nuance that makes you who you are!

I taught my astrology + parenting class series today and could see how each of these could align with the zodiac (Woo Woo Wendy = Pisces)... the way I teach helps us realize we have all the energies of the zodiac (12 states of awareness) within us and we have to be aware and tend them all to stay in balance... now I kind of want to challenge my students to take a self photo each month to capture them in their Taurus mode (Aries mode for me is horseback riding! Lol)

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Mariah Friend's avatar

Thank you, Cara!

That sounds like such a cool class! I'd love to see a self-portrait of each month's energy, what a fun idea! So many ways to play with this and I love the idea of adding astrology in as another layer. :)

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Patricia Meier's avatar

What a brilliant idea!

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Magda's avatar

Love this! I use a similar practice when I need to do something difficult or new, trying to channel different archetypes. A lot of them are based off my friends, and how I think they would respond to certain situations. It really helps to find things I admire in them and then try to take on those aspects myself.

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Mariah Friend's avatar

Thanks, Magda! I think we often forget to speak to ourselves with the same kindness and encouragement as we would a friend. Treating ourself as a friend is such a basic but radical practice!

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Jacqueline England🎨's avatar

Love this. I use alter-egos all the time in my art practice to explore different ways of creating and thinking.

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Mariah Friend's avatar

I love that it's a regular part of your creative practice! I think about it a lot in terms of my different needs and how to meet them. Glad you enjoyed the piece! 💗

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Tamzin's avatar

We can be so many people all at once, ideal self, real self, minimalist self etc. I love the idea of drawing (or dressing up as) them! Love it!

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Mariah Friend's avatar

Thanks, Tamzin! I think there's a lot of fun ways to play with this concept. I'd love to know what you come up with if you explore it further!

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Patricia Meier's avatar

What a playful practice! I enjoyed this thoroughly.

I haven’t played around with names entirely different from my own.

Patricia is my professional self. She is confident, well established, and people respect her; especially men, they know not to mess with her.

Patty is my playful self. She swears more and sometimes forgets she has choices and boundaries. She is getting there though.

Yahbutt is fun fun sucker self. She’s always worried about something; what will people think, are you sure you should do that, you don’t know how to do that! I used to get mad at her, now I just give her a hug and tell her, I hear you, we’ve got this. Come on! It will be fun!

Celesta is my higher self. She introduced herself to me in a hypnosis session. I will be writing about her in an upcoming stack. 😉✨💫✨

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Mariah Friend's avatar

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your alter egos, too! I definitely have my own "Yahbutt," and love how you've chosen to embrace and nurture her instead of scold. I'm definitely learning to be more tender towards the scared parts of me.

Can't wait to read more about your hypnosis session and meet Celesta!

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Marina's avatar

These are so fun! What a lovely way to know and connect with yourself, and a great tool for checking in with under-nourished aspects of Self.

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Mariah Friend's avatar

Thank you! I know I'm guilty of taking self-reflection a little too seriously sometimes so it was fun to bring a little levity to this exercise!

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