Breaking Down Your Own Walls to Discover the Person Within!
If you take the time to learn about those you aspire to know or spend time with why is it that you don’t take the time to love and learn about yourself?
Peeling back the layers to find, understand, nurture and inspire the spirit within is an essential part of Self-Care that affects all aspects of your Self Influenced Behaviours.
Self-Image – How do you see yourself?
- Whether you realize it or not, how you really see yourself is what you project to the world, if you are happy or unhappy others will see it and sometimes feel it. We all have a distinctive energy around us that can either feel warm, cold or some variation in between and it either attracts or deters those who come near. Even if you have a protective armor or wall around you that is preventing others from getting in and hurting you, remember it is also keeping them out and preventing them from knowing the real you.
Self-Pride – Where have you set the bar?
- Your approach to everything in life will be affected by how much value you place on your personal ethics. You know where your strengths and weaknesses are, continuous improvement of self feeds and nourishes your self-pride which in turn builds confidence, that confidence is characterized by your personal belief that you are limited by nothing and open to everything.
Self-Respect – What are your boundaries?
- The big question here is how many liberties are you willing to give others in their desire to take what they can from you without giving anything back? Boundaries aren’t just to let others know how far they can push you but to let everyone know how much you value yourself. In the past I have allowed my boundaries to be stretched beyond what felt comfortable for me because saying no felt like I was hurting someone’s feelings but what felt worse was knowing that I was compromising my boundaries and teaching that person that taking advantage of me was Ok.
Self-Reflection – Why do you do the things you do?
- Reflection is your best source for tapping in to who you once were at a time when you liked yourself and it is possible to find your way back to those thoughts, behaviours and boundaries that defined and shaped your life then. Through self-reflection I have discovered many things I hadn’t realized or been tuned into at the time which has brought me a greater sense of awareness. Awareness only transpires when you keep your heart and mind open, the hunger to learn and evolve is the wind beneath that carries you into this phase. Often the reason for self-reflection is out of necessity because somewhere along the way you know you’ve gone off course. Sometimes so far that anything other than where you currently are is better than continuing in what you know is the wrong direction, backtracking helps you to identify where you’ve made a wrong turn so you can find your way onto a path that is more positive for you.
We are each a small part of the universal source, interconnected on some level or altered state of consciousness. We aren’t always in that altered state of consciousness but through it we experience a heightened sense of awareness towards ourselves and others. Taking the time to step outside yourself every once in a while can help you to gain clarity when times are difficult and provide you with insight when your prospects seem skewed.
Self-Sabotage – Who are you trying to ruin?
- Sometimes immersing yourself in negative familiarity is more counter-productive then you realize because while you may feel you are progressing forward you are actually suspending your evolution. Stepping into or maintaining such familiarity may seem easier than addressing the root of a personal issue and then again sometimes you don’t realize there is a personal issue to address because your conscious mind is providing you with enough distraction to hide from facing what may be overwhelming and/or painful.
When you allow your past to have life in your present it’s like carrying a backpack around with you 24 hours a day that contains everything you haven’t dealt with and you bring it into every interaction and relationship. You may not actually be showing others the contents but the unresolved issues are displayed within every action and reaction. You can’t change your past, you can only learn, heal and grow past that which has challenged and changed you.
Take notice of how certain events and circumstances affect you, be mindful of how you cope, whether it is an internal or external reaction and remember Self-Care for yourself is necessary! Breaking down your own walls to get to really know and understand the person within will positively enhance all areas of your life and help you to shape a future that benefits not just you but everyone around you.
Shelley Hallmark 