Waterfalls, moving water remind us of letting go… and… moving water doesn’t allow life to become stagnant, it activates new experiences and adventures.
The idea of having an adventure with self-criticism, with self judgement, may have you raising your eyebrows, however being willing to see yourself and the world around you in a different light, to open your eyes, remove your blinkers can be the most exciting adventure ever … to becoming real, becoming unapologetically you. It opens up the potential for your heart to expand.
Start your adventure…
Start your journey with self-awareness. Honest self-reflection allows you to evaluate your thoughts, feelings, behaviours and motivations without attaching blame or feeling guilt or shame about the areas where you are yet to grow, to be discerning about what lessons there are to learn. Patterns are often revealed about how you react when you feel stressed or afraid, and, what really matters to you. You can then learn to respond rather than react to things. Exploring your beliefs helps you to distinguish between your true desires and societal pressures, where you might want to change. And when it comes to what others say about you, what you’ve been told about who you are since birth or what people say now, look at rather than care about is said – you can care about somebody without attaching to their opinion.
Our tips for exploring include:
- Be curious, not judgemental
- Ask yourself what is the energy rather than claim it as an aspect of who you are. For example, look at any aspect of arrogance and say “Oh, that’s interesting, how did that develop?”, rather than say “I am arrogant”.
- Nurture yourself with self-compassion. Be gentle, be kind. Accept perceived ’flaws’ as part of your humanity.
- Clarify aspects that you’d like focus on rather than descending into negativity.
- Separate action from your identity – e.g. I made a mistake, there’s something to learn here… versus ‘I am a failure’.