Author and therapist Bridgit Dengel Gaspard explains how the double bind is often the cause of why we get stuck just short of accomplishing our goals.

Have you ever been caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to find a palatable - let alone winnable - option?

If you've ever felt this way, you'll recognize your situation as a double bind.

"One of the best-kept secrets of your Inner Critic is that it plays both sides of the double bind. It tells you that you're not good enough as it pushes you to be better."

No one enjoys being stuck and the misery is amplified when we have accomplished multiple steps toward a cherished goal - whether breaking a bad habit, losing weight, building a business, finding a mate, or finishing a degree - but just can't seem to complete it.

In The Final 8th: Enlist Your Inner Selves to Accomplish Your Goals,  Bridgit Dengel Gaspard guides readers through the process of identifying and speaking with their inner selves - such as the inner critic, perfectionist, artist, and risk-taker - to figure out which of them are supporting their goal and which are impeding it.

Bridgit explains the key concepts of voice dialogue and how we can use this method to enlist the wisdom of our inner selves to get across the finish line.  She guides me through the Voice Dialogue Method so that we can have a living, breathing example of how this method works.  Then we take a deep dive into "the double bind" and how essential it is to understand this dynamic in our lives if we truly want to be free.

Bridgit Dengel Gaspard, LCSW, is a former performer who earned a master's degree from Columbia University and teaches at numerous professional settings including Omega Institute. She is a former performer who earned a master's degree from Columbia University and teaches at numerous professional settings including Omega Institute.

Conversation highlights:

How Bridgit discovered Voice Dialogue and why she is focused on people who are stalled short of the finish line of their goal. Meeting your primary and secondary Inner Selves Why it’s healthy to talk to the different parts of yourself. A surprising conversation with one of Laura's inner selves. What we can all learn from our Inner Asshole. (Yes, we all have one!)Deep dive: The unresolvable dilemma of the double bind and how unwinding it frees up your energy and gives you more choice.Deep dive #2: The parentified child - celebrating latch-key kids. Children of the 70s finally have their moment.Why the Final 8th is a success issue.Practicing safe success: strategies to get across the finish line, assuming it is a finish line that wants to be crossed.

Mentioned in this episode:

Book - The Final 8th: Enlist Your Inner Selves to Accomplish Your Goals

Bridgit's website

Twitter - @bridgitgaspard

Instagram - @bridgitdengelgaspard

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