Learn to Stop Looking Outside Yourself & Reflect Within
As a therapist, I often work with clients who feel depressed and anxious. They describe problems in many areas of their life – relationships, finances, their jobs, their health – and they often express a deep dissatisfaction with themselves, and their prospects for future happiness.
It’s easy to become discouraged when you look at your life, and see so many things you want to change. For many of us, the prospect of trying to come up with new solutions for areas of our lives we’ve struggled with for a long time, can feel overwhelming. You may begin to realize that more of the same kinds of efforts won’t produce the real changes you want. It’s at this point that you may begin to hear a voice within you seem to say, “Stop looking outside yourself. Look within and discover the limitless, loving resources that are there for you!” This is truly an invitation from your Inner Self to shift your focus inward, to find the help that you need to solve all your problems.
Now, sometimes clients will me ask how the Inner Self could possibly solve some of the problems they think need a miracle. To this I say, if we were to manifest their Inner Self in the room, and ask about a specific problem, do they really believe this Divine Self would have to check Their list of miracles to see if this were one They cover? Of course not! And so it is for us, and everything we want to change in our lives. In Truth, when something feels too difficult for you to solve, let this be a trigger for you to give the problem to the Inner Self. Simply allow yourself time and space to relax and, with your eyes closed, to sense the presence of your Inner Self. As you do, clearly state the change you want, and use your imagination to see and feel yourself with this desire already fulfilled.
It may take time for you to see the changes you want begin to happen, but not because what you ask for is difficult for the Inner Self. We’ve spent many years seeking outside ourselves for the answers to our problems. It takes patience and practice to learn to trust the process of going within for what we need. But know it’s perfectly natural for you to rely on you Inner Self in this way. In fact, it is your Divine right and your responsibility to demonstrate this creative freedom!
Many wise therapists, Jung, as an example, note that the problem being solved cannot be fixed at the same level as the problem itself. This becomes obvious after a long standing issue is resolved and in self-reflection found to be trivial in retrospect from the new level of understanding. As Kathleen describes, this other “level” often arises from deep self refection with a sense that the “answer” arrives from another place of being.