A Path to the Self - Three Ways to Receive Your Inner Wisdom

Learn to recognize your life patterns for self-knowledge and wholeness.

Patterns reveal the identity of something and show you how to relate. They give you information from the past that you can project into the future. Your task is to look deeper and assemble this information into meaningful patterns. Reflecting on your life patterns leads to self-knowledge and wholeness. You develop a blueprint for being in the world.

Pattern recognition and interpretation develops through self-reflection. It helps you intuit what to expect. It guides you in making wise choices. You choose good thoughts, words and actions deliberately. You let go of old habits that no longer serve you. You gain insight in recognizing the larger picture and its meaning for your life. With quiet reflection you move toward greater self-knowledge and wholeness.

Learn to remember dreams as a link between inner and outer worlds.

Dreams represent your inner world as you struggle with the demands of your outer world. They help you maintain inner balance. They often provide insights to resolve problems. Dreams take you beyond the limits of your physical body. Think of dreams as messages from your inner Self.

Before you sleep, make an affirmation to remember your dreams. Keep a journal and pen by your bed to record your dreams upon waking. Be cautious of dream books. Far more significant, what does the dream mean to you personally? How did you feel during your dream and upon waking? Negative emotions often signal that you are not creating what is for your highest good. Dream work helps you develop the ability to communicate with your inner Self.

Learn to trust your intuition as a way to grasp the whole picture.

Intuition helps you recognize patterns at a subconscious level. It requires openness and receptivity to your hunches. Often children are taught to ignore their hunches. But you need intuition to grasp the whole picture or essence of something.

The development of intuition enhances your psychic abilities. Living in the present moment, you pay attention to your feelings and honor your hunches. It is wise to double-check any guidance they give you. Intuition is always available. During times of uncertainty intuition often reveals patterns of thinking and acting that no longer serve you.

You develop inner sight and promote your spiritual growth through self-reflection. But you may have illusions that hold you in place. They drain your energy. They keep you from living authentically. As example, you may use one common illusion to fixate on thoughts of what should be rather than what is.

A personal vision helps you to resolve the demon of illusion. It frees you from the past and leads you forward. It shapes your energy as you grow and evolve. It gives meaning and purpose to your life. A personal vision serves as a blueprint for a new way of being.

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Be You - Only Better By Learning Your Identity, Passion And Purpose

Living a purposeless life is the worst kind of living. The most successful people today are those who have already discovered what their purpose in life is and have created ways of working towards achieving just that. But before you even get to realize what your true purpose in life is, you would need to start by knowing who you are and what you are passionate about. The three work hand in hand in making a better you. To be the best you do not need to be different, you just need to be yourself and let your abilities and qualities guide you.

Discovering identity

Self-knowledge is the starting point of your journey towards being a better you. The question here should be what makes you tick and what are your thought processes? You would need to pay attention to your thinking and thought patterns for that matter. The sooner you know your thoughts, the easier it will be for you to catching those that may not yield positive results so you are able to piece together your identity pieces. Practicing attentive non-judgment is necessary because then it helps you become aware of the thought patterns and acknowledge them at the same time without beating yourself too hard.

To get to identify yourself, you would also need to notice how you identify yourself. What factors play a role in how you identify yourself and what effects does that have? As you do this, you can jot down the self-definitions and thought processes and you will start seeing a clearer image of just who you are. Ensure that when defining yourself, you record negatives too but you also define your core values and define yourself in the most positive ways possible.

Discovering calling

Start by noticing what captivates you the most. This is a simple way of finding out what you are passionate about. There may be several things in life you are passionate about, but by attending to them one by one, you will manage to find out which one of them carries more weight for you. Reflect on your past deeds and what transpired from them; think about what you attempted and failed and the reasons behind the fail. By taking life inventory, you will be able to steer away from paths that are not where your true calling and purpose in life is.

Other simple ways of getting to know what you are passionate about and what your true purpose in life is by answering at least 50 questions about yourself and penning down the responses that you give. They should all be based on what you think your calling is so that by the end of your evaluating you will start having a clear picture of what you are purposed to become and do. You can also ask for the opinions of others and use your core values to guide you to your exact purpose in life.

No life is as fulfilling as a purposed life. Start making the steps to self-discovery today and you will start living a life you are passionate about and purposed for.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Be-You---Only-Better-By-Learning-Your-Identity,-Passion-And-Purpose&id=9517952

How to Build Self-Discipline

Discipline is freedom. You may disagree with this statement, and if you do you are certainly not alone. For many people discipline is a dirty word that is equated with the absence of freedom. In fact the opposite is true. As Stephen R. Covey once wrote, “the undisciplined are slaves to moods, appetites and passions”. And in the longer term, the undisciplined lack the freedom that comes with possessing particular skills and abilities – e.g. to play a musical instrument or speak a foreign language.

Self-discipline involves acting according to what you think instead of how you feel in the moment. Often it involves sacrificing the pleasure and thrill of the moment for what matters most in life. Therefore it is self-discipline that drives you to:

• Work on an idea or project after the initial rush of enthusiasm has faded away
• Go to the gym when all you want to do is lie on the couch and watch TV
• Wake early to work on yourself
• Say “no” when tempted to break your diet
• Only check your email a few of times per day at particular times

In the past self-discipline has been a weakness of mine, and as a result today I find myself lacking the ability to do a number of things which I would like – e.g. to play the guitar. But I have improved, and I can say that it is self-discipline that got me out of bed this morning at 5am to run and then write this article. Believe me, I would love to be curled up in bed right now, but this desire is subordinated by my inner sense of purpose.

If you struggle with self-discipline, the good news is that it can be developed. For example, it is only in the past two years that I have trained myself to wake early. The following are what I have found to be the five traits of self-discipline:

1. Self-Knowledge

Discipline means behaving according to what you have decided is best, regardless of how you feel in the moment. Therefore the first trait of discipline is self-knowledge. You need to decide what behavior best reflects your goals and values. This process requires introspection and self-analysis, and is most effective when tied to written expression. I highly recommend taking the time to write out your goals, dreams and ambitions. Even better, write out a personal mission statement. I found that writing such a statement gave me a greater understanding of who I am, what I am about and what I value. Dr. Covey has an excellent Mission Statement Builder on his site.

2. Conscious Awareness

Self-discipline depends upon conscious awareness as to both what you are doing and what you are not doing. Think about it. If you aren’t aware your behavior is undisciplined, how will you know to act otherwise?

As you begin to build self-discipline, you may catch yourself being in the act of being undisciplined – e.g. biting your nails, avoiding the gym, eating a piece of cake or checking your email constantly. Developing self-discipline takes time, and the key here is you are aware of your undisciplined behavior. With time this awareness will come earlier, meaning rather than catching yourself in the act of being undisciplined you will have awareness before you act in this way. This gives you the opportunity to make a decision that is in better alignment with your goals and values.

3. Commitment to Self-Discipline

It is not enough to simply write out your goals and values. You must make an internal commitment to them. Otherwise when your alarm clock goes off at 5am you will see no harm in hitting the snooze button for “just another 5 minutes….” Or, when initial rush of enthusiasm has faded away from a project you will struggle to see it through to completion.

If you struggle with commitment, start by making a conscious decision to follow through on what you say you’re going to do – both when you said you would do it and how you said you would do it. Then, I highly recommend putting in place a system to track these commitments. As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets improved”.

4. Courage

Did you notice the sweat dripping from the man in the picture at the start of this article? Make no mistake, self-discipline is often extremely difficult. Moods, appetites and passions can be powerful forces to go against. Therefore self-discipline is highly dependent on courage. Don’t pretend something is easy for you to do when it is in fact very difficult and/ or painful. Instead, find the courage to face this pain and difficulty. As you begin to accumulate small private victories, your self-confidence will grow and the courage that underpins self-discipline will come more naturally.

5. Internal Coaching

Self-talk is often harmful, but it can also be extremely beneficial if you have control of it. When you find yourself being tested, I suggest you talk to yourself, encourage yourself and reassure yourself. After all, it is self-talk that has the ability to remind you of your goals, call up courage, reinforce your commitment and keep you conscious of the task at hand. When I find my discipline being tested, I always recall the following quote: “The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret”. Burn this quote into your memory, and recall in whenever you find yourself being tested. It may change your life.

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/self-discipline/