I often find myself full with strong feelings like anxiety or anger and even the most insignificant things can trigger an inappropriate response full of rage from my behalf. As I pointed in an older post, to get in control of my emotions I have to get in control of my thoughts. The process of monitoring and understanding our own thoughts is called introspection.
Letting our own thoughts change our mood as they please is like driving a car without knowing how to drive. With introspection we learn how to drive our moods, but instead of keeping the mind empty (like in meditation), we let our mind go full with everything and we just sit back and watch carefully. It is recommended to note every little thing, but it might not be easy, at least, not at the beginning. Letting our mind go wild from time to time is also useful because we train ourselves to let everything in when we want, not when our unconscious self decides to. You can find more about this here.
The better we understand ourselves, the better we can understand the world and this is the path for success and happiness. Getting in control of our thoughts will empty some space in our minds and we can keep a closer look at everything around us and that will help us better understand everything. The more we understand, the more prepared we’ll be for situations that might appear. Understanding the world will create realistic expectations and that will reduce the amount of disappointments we’ll encounter.
Introspection also is a way to find and set free some dark feelings that we keep buried deep in ourselves. Our fear of pain makes us ignore painful thoughts and the more we bury, the heavier we feel. The pain is there, we just ignore it and the more we ignore, the stronger it gets and it will find a way to come out and express itself. Yes, it will hurt, but it’s better to let it free when we encounter it than to bury lots of it and when it gets too much to handle, it breaks us down.
If we understand ourselves, we can find out how we can make ourselves happy. Isn’t this the whole point?
Always good to come face to face with our thoughts, despite good or bad. The more we overcome, the more we learn, the more mature we become.
People often prefer to forget. Bury the pain and thry think they wont have to deal with it again. Because remembering hurts, and speaking it aloud makes it real, and when it’s “real” then they relive the ordeal. Or something.
People say “it’s all in your head” and people act like that’s a bad thing. As if that makes it any less real or valued. Which is crap. There are so many conflicting messages out there, “it’s selfish to talk or think about yourself”, “it’s shameful to talk or think about those aspects of yourself which cause you pain/discomfort/shame”, “practice self care, just don’t bother anyone else with it”.
So people walk around with these masks to placate society and beat themselves up even more when they see others “doing fine/thrive” under that otherwise, personally, soul crushing paradigm.
Whoa sorry. Just let off a rant there. Haha.
I try to surround myself with introspective people. It’s easier to practice and be diligent about it when you have others around you showing the positive effects of introspection.
Well written—and so true.
This is gold. At first I used to consider my introspective nature a bad thing until I realised its power to help me heal, emotionally. It’s true, the better we understand ourselves, the better we understand the world and might I add, figure out what kind of personal world we want for ourselves and thus craft for ourselves more fruitful and fulfilling lives. Thanks for this post!
A friend off mine had a post about sexual harassment and abuse, and he inadvertently set off some triggers in my head. He immediately apologized – and I was soooo confused. He didn’t cause the initial trauma. He’s giving me an opportunity to process that trauma in a safe environment. That’s some love.
Being introspective doesn’t have to mean one is a narcissistic jerk, or a out of touch with reality – common misconceptions. Knowing what motivates or triggers you, what gives you peace of mind or needs to be dealt with in very safe circumstances – that’s a lot of power over yourself. It’s a worthy goal.
What a wonderful read.
Something i really identify with. Practicing some kind of introspective awareness everyday has been essential for me. Now I can sleep again.
Thanks for talking about this powerful tool of self-realization. Merry musings, powerful ponderings, congenial contemplations to you. -Rebecca