This year has flown by so fast.
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Last year, I decided to do monthly blogs based on the 5 steps to self discovery that are in my workbook called Discover Yourself: A Personal Development Workbook. The five steps to self discovery are:
- Get in-tune with your spiritual self
- Examine your strengths and areas of development
- Uncover Your true mission and values
- Use strategies to change unwanted behavior
- Develop goals
For the next five months, I will write a blog to help you through this process. So by May, you will be ready to develop goals based on your passions, strengths and developmental areas. You can also, go through the workbook, Discover Yourself: A Personal Development Workbook or our Gratitude Journal as we go through the five steps.
This month, we will focus on step 1: Get in-tuned to your inner self.
Getting in-tune to your inner self requires will, patience and relaxation. When you get in-tune to your inner self, you are getting connected to your inner core which I believe is your spirit. Your spirit is the part of you that contains vital information about your past, present and future. Thus, it can give your clarity about your mission and goals in life and it’s your connection to your own personal source of love.
It is important to get in touch with your spirit, listen to the guidance and inspiration of your inside voice, your intuition. Spirit is the journey of love that reveals that all things are possible through love and acceptance.
There are many ways to get in-tune to this source. I will discuss a few.
1. Getting in-tune requires you to be relaxed. By taking deep breaths, it opens the air passages helping you to realize the presence of spirit. Breathe is spirit confined to the ever presence of its being. Taking deep breathes penetrates your ever being reflecting back on the physical body. You can condition yourself, through imagination and visualizations to take in the good; letting go of the bad that has gotten stuck into your physical body. Taking deep breaths releases what is worn or stuck; thus you breathe in what is natural and good and breathe out what alienates or restricts you. When you take deep breathes, make sure you inhale through your nose, while expanding your abdominal 5-7 seconds, and exhale, slowly, through your nose or mouth, as you relax your abdominal and chest. For more information, go to http://www.dartmouth.edu/~acskills/docs/deep_breathing.doc
Getting enough oxygen flowing into your body to support your everyday adventures is paramount. You should begin each day with at least five deep breaths.
2. Harnessing your inner self requires time and space. It is important to mediate on a regular basis. Meditation helps you to clear your mind and focus on your life, clarifying where you want to go. To meditate, take 5 or minutes a day in a quiet place, when you are alone, such as your bedroom, a park, or the bathroom. Sit in a position that feels natural and comfortable for you. Take several deep breaths. Once your mind is clear, ask yourself questions that you want answered. Sit still and listen to the messages and answers that you receive. This process can take some time to adjust too, so make sure you do it on a daily basis. Moreover, make a trip within daily visiting that core being of truth.
3. Practice gratitude on a daily basis (for more detail, I wrote an article on gratitude in the 2009 blogs). Think about one more things you are grateful for daily. Always remember, thoughts of lack and limitations lead to limitations in your life.
4. Engage in other activities such as yoga, deep breathing, rituals, visualizations, etc that you can do on a daily basis. The workbook Discover Yourself: A Personal Development Workbook summarizes the aforementioned activities. Make sure you do what is comfortable to you and relaxes your mind, body and spirit.
For the rest of the month, practice getting in-tune with your inner self (through some daily activity ritual). You can start off by taking several minutes to engage in the processes, and slowing increase the amount of time that you spend engaging in this process. Ask your self am I more at peace? Do I feel connected to my soul’s core?
Take time to tune in and turn on daily!
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Dr. Jessica is a Psychologist and Empowerment Coach with the Activate Your Best.
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