Be a more effective leader by understanding the three horizons of self-awareness.
The stories we make up Stories are the foundation for how we make sense of the world. We could call these judgments or beliefs as well. Imagine that you get cut off by a car on the highway. In an instant, you might feel a flash of anger. Now imagine that you pull up next to the car and notice that the situation is different from what you expected. Maybe the driver is a teenager, obviously flustered and trying to concentrate. Maybe the driver is older but in the backseat is someone who, it appears, is injured. In either case, your stories about the situation would be updated in an instant.
For better and worse, our stories form the basis for how we make sense of the world. They are our thoughts, and they help us explain how the world is, how someone else is and how we ourselves are.
To get greater self-awareness around our stories, I find it’s best to simply start writing them down. Going back to a dedicated journal or notebook, start to articulate all the stories you’re making up, trying to get curious about how true they are. In the example, one story could have been, “This person is selfish,” and another could have been, “I feel angry because I’ve been disrespected.”
Source article:How to Develop Self-Awareness and Become a More Conscious and Effective LeaderSource (click)
The above, once again, reminded me of the importance of developing self-awareness. Self-awareness,however, is not only important for CEOs so they become more efficient, everyone can greatly benefit from understanding who they are and what they truly want in their lives.
Self-awareness is a skill to be learnt. As children we are discouraged to observe ourselves and know ourselves. Instead we learn to defend our wounded parts with a false-self called the Ego.
“Examine yourself & understand who you are… Whoever does not know self, does not know anything. But, whoever knows self, has acquired the knowledge of the universe.” Jesus, Book of Thomas (Gnostic Gospels)
“Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom.” Lao-Tzu
There are many useful tools to regain connection with ourselves. My courses will provide you with artistic, creative and fun tools to go on a journey within and arrive to clarity and self-acceptance.
We have all arrived to this earth carrying gifts. Are you living those gifts? Are you even aware of these gifts?
More than 7 billion people are alive today. How many of those people are living the life they were born to live? Are you? Julie Cantrell examines the search for true identity while reminding each of us that every choice matters.
Julie Cantrell is an award-winning New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novelist whose work focuses on contemporary issues such as domestic violence, human trafficking, family dynamics, and faith. She is a speaker and teacher who is known to inspire readers to live their best life.
We tend to talk a lot about and so have a clear understanding of different issues in our lives.
We discuss meditation, talk about why mindfulness is so cool, or why self-awareness helps us become more successful.
BUT DO WE ACTUALLY DO THE WORK?
By reading and talking about something we do not ‘know it’. We gain a mental understanding of the topic but we do not have a personal experience of it, neither do we ‘own’ it.
Self-acceptance is one of such topics. Self-acceptance is something we ‘should’ do by practicing it and finding our the best way to go about it so to know we really ‘own’ it!
Mostly, we need to do the very things that we do not feel like doing because it is outside of our comfort-zone.
I would like to invite you to take this challenge and practice self-acceptance so you can experience it and own in.
The challenge will go on for a few days. Look for my posts daily to learn what you will do to practice and investigate what it is like for you to accept yourself.
Why?
It is Important to experience Self-Love and Acceptance. To learn to love ourselves unconditionally. We can free ourselves from the mind (judge and victim) and become who we came here to be. In self-acceptance, we can discover our gifts and begin to share these with the world. Until we focus into judging ourselves, it is unlikely that we can see and share our gifts. We can leave behind the negative thought processes and begin to vibrate a positive energy into our lives and the lives of those around us. When you discover the truth of who you are, you will no longer be attached to your pictures of perfect people or things to “make” you happy. Happiness will reveal itself gently in your life, and emerge from you…
“Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds” Bob Marley
Challenge DAY1
In the morning listen to this very short meditation, then do the tasks throughout the day. See them below.
For the next 24 hours, catch yourself when you are seeking validation from the external world, whether from the people or the things around you. Remember, that these don’t define who you are.
During the day find some time to this. Write down 5 qualities or character traits you appreciate about yourself and include a time when these came into play. Suggestion: you may want to listen to the meditation again before you start doing the task.
Over the next week, look for things you appreciate about yourself to add to this list.
In the evening, before you go to bed, watch this video and do 5 rounds of tapping with 5 different issues. Follow the instructions in the video.
I recently created a new class – it is rather a practise group – that I call Compassionate Insight. It focuses on using this tool – Compassionate Insight – to create betterrelationships with ourselves and others. As a result we can become happier and more contented regardless of the environment we find ourselves in.
At the links below read and listen more about my journey to compassion and what this tool comprises.
Creativity is essential and our God given gift. There is none without creativity, except that we do not use our sense of creativity because we were told otherwise. Listen to this video on the importance of creativity on our mental health.
Inner communication allows you to have a LIFE FULFILLED!
Can you answer the following questions?
Where did I come from?
Why am I here?
Where am I going?
Listen to this vlog
What is inner communication?
Me, Myself, and I
The three parts of the self have been described in many ways over the years. In my understanding: Me is the small-self or the inner-child that drives our actions. S/he provides us with the enthusiasm and stamina to act in the world.
As you become more like a little child you will be more connected to your inner kingdom. Remember?
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3
S/he is also the part of us that communicates with the higher-self, the I. As you connect to your basic-self – the ME-Self, you will understand the messages of the higher-self more. The Me-Self is playful, joyful, enthusiastic, and selfish (in a sweet and innocent way!). The I, the higher-self, communicates to the basic-self the ‘Divine messages’ of your true purpose and meaning, mostly through the action of Gratitude. Through Gratitude we are supported to open and allow the necessary changes to happen.
Myself, is the conscious self. The conscious self gains clarity on who ‘I truly am’ and ‘how to express that’ through the communication between the Me-self (the inner child) and the I-Self, the Higher self. With that, the conscious self will become aware of what direction to take in life. S/he gains answers to life affirming questions such as: What I really want? What direction do I want to take in my life? Why am I here?
With the awareness of all that, we can start taking greater responsibility for our happiness and living the life we meant to live.
Are you aware of the inner voices that run you life?Are these inner voices supportive of you and help you become happy or against you? It is essential that we become aware of these voices. Some of these are old voices of different relatives and people we grew up with. Some of these voices need to be turned off and dismissed so they will stop running our life into directions that is not supportive of us or our purpose in life.
The Inner Voices of Truth
These three selves described above have ‘inner voices’ that you want to become aware of. We often do not listen to their voices because we are trained as children to listened to the ‘adults’ around us. Until the age of 7, we are in touch with ourselves and able to hear and know what is happening inside of us though we may not have had the means to communicate all that to the outside world. Then we started losing this connection because we turned outside towards our environment and took on some of their views and opinions instead of ours.
As a result, other’s sometimes negative emotional voices started running our life.
In order to have a happy and purposeful life you will need to reconnect with your ‘true-selves’, hear their voices and start acting upon them.
What to do?
First of all, we must take the time to listen within, so to speak. In meditation, in silent prayer and in pracitsing mindfulness you can gain insight into the different voices or tapes that run your actions (reactions). As we go through our days we need to stop and become aware of who is talking or who is guiding our actions right now by asking the question: Who is talking to me right now? With listening we can now start distinguishing what messages work for us and what do not.
The ones that do not work for us, we must dismiss or deny them and then overrun them with positive affirmations. We will eventually stop running these tapes and the unsupportive reactions that we developed along them.
As a result of gaining insight into your inner communication, you will uncover your own voices: the Me, the Myself and the I. As the three selves within become freed from the debris of ‘others’ ideas’, they become more God-aware. You will be able to act upon the God-aligned inner voices conveyed by the ME-Self or the basic self.
Key practises
Insight and Compassion
As we listen to our inner ‘tapes’ and look at mindfully our actions, reactions, and the words we use, we start becoming insightful of how we run our life and why. It can be a painful process to see how we limit ourselves. However, as soon as we become aware, we regain control over our choices.
As we walk the road of insight, we will soon discover that the child inside, the ME-Self, wants to be LOVED unconditionally. In return, s/he will provide us with the fuel to accomplish our dreams. So, if you want to have more energy and inner support for your ideas to become reality, it is imperative that you create a loving relationship with your inner-child, the ME-Self. You must embrace her/him with loving compassion, just as s/he is. Similarly, as you become aware of the limitations that you impose on yourself by listening to voices other than yours, you need to embrace these limitations and reactions with loving care or compassion.
Affirmations and Denials
bring alignment and clarity into our life. By practising affirmations and denials you start creating for yourself with knowing of yourself and of God. With affirmations you use the power of the spoken word to bring experiences forth for yourself that is life affirming and fulfilling. Affirmations are statements or small phrases that address an issue in your life with a sense of Gratitude.
Vision Boarding or Treasure Mapping
are visual affirmations. Whereas affirmations are usually written statements, vision boards or treasure maps are visual representations of affirmative statements. Similarly to written or spoken affirmations, they enable you to bring forth fulfilling experiences.
Gratitude
is a state of mind. The attitude of Gratitude brings forth life experiences that are both positive and supportive. In Gratitude, instead of focusing on lack and misery, we focus on the learning and God’s ever present Grace in our life. Similar to compassion, in Gratitude we embrace our life as it is. With that we become open and receptive to the goodness that is ever waiting for us to tap into.
Learn more about the programs I run to support you to develop your inner communication and insight:
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 ESV
Why is insight into one’s self so important?
How to gain insight into one’s person, psyche, Spirit and even personal background that often determines our beliefs and the way we see ourselves and the world?
Why develop a compassionate way to support one’s unfolding and developing in Spirit and in God?
COMPASSIONATE INSIGHT for CO-CREATION
We all want to live a life that is happy, fulfilling and aligned with our higher nature. I call such a life a ‘co-creation with the Divine’. I align myself with Spirit and my highest attributes and live them to their fullness and to my heart’s content. According to Dr Csiksznetmihalyi, living in a state of Flow which is being aligned with oneself and allowing life to guide us through life without fear and resistance is the highest and most satisfying way of living or existing.
So, why don’t we all live life this way?
In my observation, most people live a life that was determined by their upbringing, circumstances, racial and economic background. Often without conscious awareness of our life choices, we simply find ourselves in a life that does not somehow resemble what we desire and wish for ourselves and what God intends for us in Its Grace and Loving for us. The Divine Spirit fills us with abilities, attributions, possibilities beyond our wildest imagination and still we often life lives that are mediocre at best.
As a result, many people become frustrated or even better because somehow we feel that we do not live up to our highest potential.
How could we, though? We are not aware of what blocks them or limits them from becoming the best version of themselves. We do not have insight into who we truly are in God, our unique attributes and skills and the mental and emotional block that hinder us in becoming.
Gaining insight and becoming aware of one’s self, person, psyche, Spirit, personal background, etc. is an effort and a process that often takes years to undertake. It is, however, worth the effort! As a result of insight and awareness into who we are and who we are not give us understanding and choices that we did not have before.
As we walk the rocky journey of discovering we gain awareness of what blocks us experiencing God’s Love and care of us, we can release these limitation then we can move into a higher level of connectedness and communion with God. The space within us that we clear by releasing limiting thoughts and emotions are automatically filled with God awareness.
So, why don’t we all walk the journey of insight and awareness? As far as I can see, it is often because we fear judgment. We often grow ups with being judged for our ‘mistakes’, our faults, and flaws. So, we learn to hide them. When we start looking at our own fears, limitations, and foibles, we immediately start judging them that creates pain and separation within us.
So, the most important component of the insight-journey is compassion. With each crams of awareness we must bring in the same amount of living-attention or compassion. In a way, we drive God’s Love into our dark places. With that we create a non-judgmental environment for ourselves to heal and grow.
Finally, as we release our limitations and embrace our God-like nature through the journey of compassionate insight, we naturally move more into the flow of Spirit, we connect deeper into our Oneness with God. As a result of being more aligned with the Divine, we naturally start experiencing and living our attributes in God and we move into in the Flow. In that movement, we instinctively co-create with God.
What are the ways and tools that can support you to gain compassionate insight, a deeper understanding of yourself?
There are many ways to gain insight. There are numerous books, seminars, workshops, retreats, classes, etc. that support self-awareness and self-understanding. I, myself, have taken countless classes, attending many workshops and classes to deepen my self-understanding. However, the methodology that touched me and supported me the most was a combination of art and spirituality. Art helps me to see parts of me that is hidden behind layers of misconceptions. The sacredness of the spirituality approach helps me become compassionate and be able to embrace my flaws and foibles.
I offer creative, artistic, therapeutic- art tools for insight, releasing limitations, healing, completion and regaining wholeness.
Amazing tips from a great story teller. Must watch!
Filmmaker Andrew Stanton (“Toy Story,” “WALL-E”) shares what he knows about storytelling — starting at the end and working back to the beginning. Contains graphic language …
Andrew Stanton has made you laugh and cry. The writer behind the three “Toy Story” movies and the writer/director of “WALL-E,” and “John Carter,”
Sir Ken talks about how the education system fails to notice and nurture talent, particularly if that talent is in the arts. He reminds us in his joyous way that life is truly about finding and living our inherent talents. Life is a miracle as you create it through your choices. Life progresses through our creativity being employed in the right direction. We create the world around us by imagining and manifesting. ( Oh, I so miss him!)
Continuing on from THIS post on Dr Joe Dispenza’s explanation on our addiction to and identification with certain emotions.
…
OK, so I am angry.
I feel that my anger is completely justified. Those teachers were the scum under the feet of the dirt of the earth. I am absolutely unforgiving. I cannot find that bone inside of me that can make their act OK in any way. Teachers, who humiliate and sacrifice children on the altar of uniformity are the worst of the worst. They are the anthesis of their profession that swears on building people. These un-human-beings were so scared of originality and what it may entail that they did everything in their power to diminish it.
This is how I became angry … very, very angry. I felt helpless and lonely in the face of tyranny and the only was I could fight it was to become an obnoxious and rebellious fury. The system – particularity the education system – was established in a way that it weeded out the odd ones and buried them under a pile of shame, humiliation and low-self-esteem. Not surprisingly, that Hungary used to have one of the highest suicide rate per capita in the world.
PINK FLOYD ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
Time flies. All this happened in the 70’s and early 80’s when I was a teenager. Probably the saddest part of this story is not what happened the but the fact that I am still angry. Like Dr Dispenza says, being addicted to an emotion that was a response to a situation in the past, that we are still engaging in today, is heart-breaking. We sacrifice our happiness for an emotion whose raison d’etre is long gone.
I notice that every time I feel helpless in communicating my need for being understood and embraced as I am or when I feel misinterpreted, I become very angry and edgy. I see that the learning for me is *to find the way to feel the true emotions underneath my anger, such as my fear or my sadness; *to communicate what is really going on inside of me the most self-loving way; *stay absolutely true to myself without being afraid because the The Wall has fallen :).
THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL IN 1989
ART helps me uncover myself. I am not very good at talking or writing about my feelings in the moment. Though I feel them profoundly when they appear in words I often don’t recognize them. My ART helps me stay in touch with the underlaying honest emotions of the moment, my sincere needs and my true identity.
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