This is the 5th in my Blog series exploring the 7 Behavioural Codes® that we are ‘hard-wired’ to fulfill in order to feel whole & healthy. When we are not fulfilling these codes, this lack can govern & drive all our behaviour – & create patterns that run automatically for us. Patterns that get set up in order for us to experience some measure of gratification of whatever is lacking, unfortunately because these behaviors are not conscious, they are seldom sustainable & usually counterproductive. Making the un-conscious, conscious is the first step to changing these patterns.

Our 5th code is located in our throats & neck and govern our sense of self-expression, our ability to use our authentic voices to speak out, say what we feel & what we know to be true for us individually & for us as a whole & (I believe), ultimately for the whole sentient world. I have worked with many Clients over the years who have come seeking relief from physical symptoms in their throats, or neck area – Thyroid disorders, chronic sore throats, Tonsillitis, Laryngitis or problems swallowing food etc. Too often to be ignored, it turns out that these Clients shared a common thread of some kind of suppression of themselves & their ability to express that.

We express who we are through a variety of ways –  language, words, hand gestures, facial movements, body language, touch or not touching, our choice of clothing, make-up, body art, hairstyle, jewellry etc. These choices that can cause so much angst in parents are some of the first indications that we are becoming our own people, forming our own self-awareness & identity distinct from our parents or primary care givers. Ironically this is often the time when these outward forms of self-expression are exactly the time when we most yearn to ‘fit in’, to belong to a tribe, a tribe that ‘gets us’ & we can ‘be ourselves with’. How much this is a problem or not depends on this 5th code fully functioning & also our 1st (safety), 2nd (Creativity/risk) & 3rd (Self esteem/identity) codes also being in balance. I hope that you can see from reading about the previous codes how, for example if we don’t feel that it’s safe (1st code) to speak out, then we won’t, in a bid to feel safe, however that protection device disables this 5th code. Perhaps we have experienced very strict parenting that didn’t give space to creative self-expression or taking any kind of risk (2nd code) or maybe we live in a wider environment that employs censorship of any opinions that don’t conform? If you are a painter, singer or naturally extrovert & these behaviours were discouraged or belittled when you were young, you can see that the potential is there for damage to at least 2 codes? The second code which needs us to take risks & be creative as well as the 5th code which is the ability to be & express who we really are.