So what might ‘diving into your soul’ look like?
Well, let’s make it simple.
Have you ever kept a diary? What do you write in it? I have kept a diary since my parents gave me one as a birthday gift when I was five. Before that, they kept a diary for me. Nowadays people have blogs, vlogs, facebook posts or instastories, and all the sort. Whatever format you use, the concept is the same. We record our experiences, and we might say something about how we think and feel.
That is really where it starts. It is about noticing what we experience inside us.
My diary entry might read, ‘I feel cranky… it turns out that I am hungry.’ – as simple as that, but it could mean a lot. If I didn’t recognize my feelings, I might curse another driver or snap at my kids or send a curt email and suffer from potential consequences. This happens to us all the time. When we don’t notice our inner world, we are at the mercy of our situation. By owning our thoughts and feelings, we develop the capacity to observe what is going on in us before choosing our responses.
After acknowledging what is going on in us, we can start noticing things that affect us – like our bodies. Our physical and mental health are inseparable. That is why hunger can make us cranky. That is why people eat, smoke, drink, take drugs, or do other things to their bodies ‘to cheer themselves up’.
Once we notice and understand what is happening within us, we can do something about it.
So I’ll start with myself. I am going to take action accordingly. It’s time for a healthy meal.
What about you? How do you feel, where does it come from, and what are you going to do about it?