A Time of Introspection
by Nanci Bradley
Over the years, I have trained myself to always look deeper whenever a stumbling block comes up in my life. Questioning myself relentlessly:
- Do I have a limiting belief on board about this?
- Am I self sabotaging?
- How does my physical injury relate to my mental and emotional state right now?
- Has something occurred that has triggered me? What is it?
My Personal Introspection
Years of Kinesiology, therapy, Reiki and more have made me a relentless detective of my own inner being. At this point I have a whole routine.
My inner dialogue during these times sound a little like this:
‘I am feeling very anxious and restless right now. When did this start? Two hours ago, okay what has been happening today. There doesn’t seem to be anything massive… oh wait! I overheard someone talking about being lazy and I related to it. This is a spiral regarding procrastination!’
Of course, there are a few more thoughts between those main ones and after I determine the initial trigger I examine why it has triggered me based on my personal history.
This process of self examination can be done in a myriad of ways – journaling, meditation, even talking to yourself about it!
However, sometimes I go into an even deeper period of introspection that lasts for days or weeks, rather than an hour or two. Usually as a result of being exposed to something thought provoking.
Recently, I have been on an introspection binge, both reading a thought provoking book, watching thought provoking videos and listening to thought provoking cds.
That’s a lot of thoughts!
By exposing myself to all of this new content I am creating new pathways in my brain, thinking about my behaviour and thoughts in a new way, and discovering whole new parts of myself as a result.
The result of this comes in three parts:
- Things I need to think about further in the future
- Things that I know how to change and making a plan to implement those
- Things that need further balancing with a person outside of myself to hold the space, allowing me to dive deeper
When is it time to recruit help?
At the end of the day, we can do a ton of introspection and change making all on our own. Eventually, when we become skilled enough, we may be able to do it all on our own. But for now, even the most in depth introspection ends with a few topics I need to dive deeper on, that I just can’t figure out the root cause of.
And when those come up, I know it is time to seek out a professional to be a mirror to my blind spots, to hold a safe space for me and allow me to dive deeper than I could comfortably do on my own.
In summary, introspection and seeking outside help both have integral places in discovering more about yourself and making change in your life. The key is to practice both and learn over time when one is more effective than the other in any particular situation.
Begin your journey today!
Send me a message, I would love to hear from you.
Email Address
Call Me
0411 286 259
Visit Me (by appointment only)
Suite 3, Level 1, 754 Old Princes Hwy, Sutherland, NSW 2232