Connecting with Yourself
We spend so much of our lives trying to connect with others but, for most of us, so little time connecting with ourselves. We dream of meeting the right partner who will understand us and we look to form deep, meaningful friendships but we often don’t spend near as much meaningful time with ourselves. Often, we fill our lives with so much work, low-level connections with others (small talk, comments, and likes on social media) and other distractions that we neglect ourselves. Instead of waiting for someone else to care enough to ask us how we are doing, why don’t we ask ourselves? Here are some great tips that will help you get in touch with yourself and find the rewarding benefits of connecting with yourself.
“How am I feeling right now?”- Take a moment to ask yourself this question. If you find yourself not feeling good or with tension then focus your attention on that spot. With your eyes closed, breathe in deeply. Picture white, healing energy rushing into that part of your body that’s causing you discomfort, then breathe out releasing the tension. There are also many great videos for guided meditation that can be very helpful.
If you find yourself feeling down. Don’t run from them or try to cover them, allow them to be and look for the source of your pain. Then ask yourself “what good can I take from this situation?” and “What can I learn from this?” Which leads me to my tip to get in touch with yourself-
Journaling- Your journal is not meant to be an award-winning novel, it’s for you and just you. Allow yourself to just throw everything out of your head and onto the page. It might be messy and that’s fine. Some of your thoughts might be brilliant words you’d love to share with the world but odds are they will just be thoughts, feelings, and situations that you just need to release. Try not to judge what you write here. Just let your mind get the thoughts and feelings out on the paper. Then after you can decide whether you would like to keep the thoughts or loose them. Some thoughts are helpful and nice to reflect on others aren’t decide what to keep and what to throw out of your mind and out of your life because you are not your thoughts! The sooner the mind chatter is out of your head and onto the paper the sooner you can feel the quiet presence of your beautiful, loving self.
Do something that puts you at ease- Ask yourself, “what could I do right now with myself that would bring me some peace?” Yesterday, for instance, I went on a walk in the woods alone, I took some pictures with my phone (The ones that are in this post) and then found a fallen tree to sit on and started reading a new book. It was so nice after a very stressful day to just be with my thoughts, let them go and emerge from the woods completely renewed. Some other examples of things you might do would be: paint a picture or color in a coloring book(they aren’t just for kids) focus on a relaxing feeling not on creating something perfect; go for a run or some other form of cardio if that helps you clear your mind and be at ease (I would recommend listening to something calming if you do, as strange as that sounds, it can really help); sit in a calming spot with your drink of choice (iced tea, chai, coffee -not promoting alcohol here haha); maybe do some yoga; spend time with a pet, animals are so good at putting us at ease because they live their lives in the moment and bring us more deeply into the present which embraces what is.
Do some positive affirmations- In a previous post I talked about the power of Mirror Work affirmations, this can be a great way of feeling yourself deeply. You can also create custom affirmations for yourself that lift up your spirits and help you stay positive and on track to gaining the desires of your heart. Say your affirmations with deep love and belief, and then you will see negative thoughts drift away. Here are several affirmations I think will strengthen your bond with yourself:
“I accept and love myself exactly as I am right now.”
“I know that a great power dwells within me, I can conquer anything.”
“I radiate love and find it all around me”
“I am grateful for __(you can insert anything here) __. Thank you.”
You can pick out any affirmation that your soul connects with or create some of your own. Your thoughts are incredibly powerful, and you can transform your life by choosing good ones to think. Positivity attracts more positivity. Become what you wish to attract spiritually.
Meditation- I saved the best for last. I have found that, for most people, the thought of sitting somewhere peacefully without thought makes the mind go NUTS! Many people instantly think it sounds so horrible and boring… That’s your mind telling you this. While it can be very challenging at first don’t be too hard on yourself. Thoughts will come into your mind, but the trick is to notice the thought and let it go, not letting it affect you. The goal, in the beginning, can be to meditate for just a few minutes and then you can build up over time.
Many of the happiest people on earth have found meditation deeply rewarding including myself because this is a time for you to get deeply in touch with yourself, without any distraction. Some of the other tips I outlined earlier in this post like, journaling and spending time at ease will get your thoughts out and bring you to a state of peace and calm. You can channel into a deeper knowledge, and truly magical things can happen when you enter this realm.
Meditation is something you can do on your own or with a group of fellow meditators. I find it best to do it in a quiet place, with your phone on silent mode and some peaceful music playing softly. It’s best to be in a space with as little distraction as possible so that your mind wanders less. The point is to reset your mind, which if you don’t meditate can seem to always be going.
A good way to think of meditation if you haven’t experienced it fully is to think back to a time when you dazed off looking off into space. That feeling, for me, was always so amazing and I never wanted someone to break my concentration on nothing in particular. That’s how meditation can feel, sometimes it’s a light feeling, other times you can go deeper into the state.
When we are in touch with ourselves on a deep spiritual level we are better equipt to get what we want out of other areas of our life. We no longer settle for low-level connections and energy draining distractions as much, because we know ourselves and what we desire. The relationship you build when you connect with yourself can be so nourishing and rewarding that it will ensure that you bring your whole self to the meaningful relationships you have in the future.