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INNER WORK

Inner Work. The phrase inner work at its core is the process of getting to know yourself and it is a form of introspective self care where you can help yourself let go of harmful attachments, habits, people and thoughts. It is a deliberate and ongoing reflective practice that increases awareness of self, shaping your emotions, beliefs and attributes to create a healthier and happier version of yourself.

Inner work is essentially the practice of looking inward to your authentic selves and experience, taking time for the things that ignites your person, it is about changing from inside out challenging the current status quo beliefs you have which may no longer be useful in your new phase of life. It is about adjusting and correcting your mindset so that it helps you facilitate your goals. In addition, Inner work also means taking full responsibility for yourself by acknowledging what you have emerged from.

Another thing to know about inner work is that it is literally work and it involves the confluence of perceptions, emotions and motivations that individuals react to making sense of events in the workday. It is about diving inwardly speaking to yourself and being in connection and dialogue with oneself.

Importance of Inner Work

Inner work has proven to be of great value as it can be likened to self evaluation too. Some of importance of inner work includes:

It increases creativity and innovation, helps build mental fitness, mentally agility improves your health generally it enables thinking in the creative and positive light.
Aids emotional regulation, self awareness and critical thinking.
Improves decision making positively, finding meaning, relationships and overall work performance.
Inner w ork empowers you to embrace change and transform your life by taking responsibility for your well-being
With inner work, you can also create a positive and lasting change through inner work you can also unlock your true potential and find fulfillment in your personal growth.

How can you do Inner Work to become a better person

First of all, realizing that becoming better is solely your responsibility is a good way to begin your journey of Inner work.

Choose a goal to work on and choose to stick with that goal until you can imagine yourself reaching it and going through each step required to attain it.
Begin to envision yourself not as you are, but as you want to be.
Spend at least twenty (20) minutes a day on this, keep practicing your intentional routines and it is sure that you will start to see change within yourself.

Self Reflection

Self reflection is the ability of individuals to exercise introspection and to attempt to learn more about their fundamental nature, essence and limitations. It is the capacity to witness, evaluate your own cognitive, emotional and behavioral processes and it can be described as your mental process in general. It can be used to grow an understanding of who you are, what your values are and why you think, feel and act the way you do.

The need for self reflection is an essential skill for personal growth and without it you’re likely going to have a tendency of being reactive. It is the meditation on serious thoughts about one’s character, actions and motives. Self reflection is like looking into a mirror and describing what you see. It is a way of assessing yourself, your ways of working and how you study. To put it simply ‘reflection’ means to think about something. Reflecting and composing a piece of self reflective writing is becoming an increasingly important element to any form of study or learning.

Why is self reflection important?

Reflecting is about questioning, in a positive way, what you do and why you do it and then deciding whether there is a better, or more efficient way of doing things in the future. In any role, whether at home or at work, reflection is an important part of learning.
It is part of inner w ork you should do to be able to unlearn certain habits that are not being useful as they were. When we learn we can become stuck in a routine that may not be working effectively. Thinking about your own skills can help you identify changes you might need to make. Reflective questions to ask yourself:

Strengths – What are my strengths? For example, am I well organized? Do I remember things?
Weaknesses – What are my weaknesses? For example, am I easily distracted? Do I need more practice with a particular skill?
Skills – What skills do I have and what am I good at?
Problems – What problems are there at home and at work?
Achievements – What have I achieved?
Happiness – Are there things that I am unhappy with or disappointed about? What makes me happy? Am I happy?
Solutions – What could I do to improve in these areas?

Although self reflection can seem difficult at first, or even selfish or embarrassing as it does not come naturally. One thing that you will notice is that you will find it becomes easier with practice and the end result could be a happier and more efficient you.

Personal Growth

What is personal growth? Well, personal growth is the improvement of your skills, knowledge, wisdom, habits, behavior and personal qualities. Personal Development or growth allows you to reach your full potential and to be your best self and live a fulfilled life. It is the continuous effort to better yourself mentally, emotionally, materially and spiritually. It also helps you grow psychologically while learning to control anger, eliminate things like procrastination, laziness and to be polite and considerate while working to become a more responsible person.

This is what personal growth entails mostly. It is also any positive mental, physical and spiritual transformation but it is not just about learning but applying whatever you learn so it becomes part of who you are.

Personal growth goals includes:

Learning to be more productive at work.
Developing Emotional Intelligence or Expressive Feelings healthily.
Leading a healthier lifestyle food and exercise inclusive
Forging better relationships
Learning the art of active listening
Cultivating more inner work of peace, love and joy daily.
Becoming more generally self-aware
Boosting your self confidence and esteem.
Learning to respond with resilience to challenging issues.
Adopting new skills such as learning languages, instruments, and meditation.
Being wiser with curtailing your finance expenses.

The reality of personal growth is that the possibilities are infinite, practically inexhaustible as it gives you the tools to thrive in an ever changing world. Changes to the self and growing as a person is a process that can be either simple or complex, depending on the needs and wants of the individual. The pursuit of personal growth is a lifelong project of self-betterment but for some, could be targeted only at a specific thing they wish to improve.

Why is Personal Growth Important?

Pursuing personal goals and growth has been shown to successfully help people lead lives that are happier, successful and more content. Though the process of improving oneself is often not easy or comfortable, the rewards of doing so have been well documented and as such supports an entire industry dedicated to helping the individual improve themselves. Everyone should care about personal growth which can be achieved through inner work and everyone can benefit from becoming a better person. Anyone can decide that they would like to improve themselves as a person, but those who are already struggling are most in need of a way to view themselves and the world around them. Oftentimes, the occurrence of a painful or tragic life event can be what triggers the desire for personal growth and self-improvement. This is especially true if the individual becomes aware that the event in question may have been avoided and they behaved or reacted in a different way. This is just one example why you should do inner work.

Self Exploration

This is the examination and analysis of one’s own unrealized spiritual and intellectual capacities, an activity of examining and thinking about your own behavior, personally bridging the gap between what you are and what you really want to be. A person’s true self essentially lies beneath the surface and your take is to find, recognize or understand what truly defines you as a person. In short, this self search is known as self exploration.

The external environment is so busy, so it is easy to engage in so much activity while neglecting everything that’s going on within you. There can also be a challenge to pry yourself away long enough to take a good look inside and that is why inner work is commendable as it helps you become more self aware of what is going on within you and enables you function better in your external endeavours. Exploring every other spheres of life except being in touch with self is common among almost everyone, nevertheless you can begin your journey to self exploration regardless of many years of neglecting this crucial part.

Inner healing

Inner healing is practically a journey towards unravelling underlying pains, hurts and traumas. The defence mechanism of suppression could be so powerful to hide such experiences that are quite painful and as such, there remain lingering issues that are not resolved as you keep moving on with life hoping that time would heal. Here are few steps to inner healing :

Practice self care and sincere appreciation to self.
Talk to a counsellor about something you really want to talk about.
Be kind to yourself, do not blame yourself.
Practice guidelines suggested by a counsellor consistently as this would aid effective inner w

Self Discovery

This is the process of trying new things, journaling and mental health support dreams, personal values and talents. Your personal traits may not always seem to matter much in your daily rush of life but awareness of a day to day priorities are important as it can be tailored towards daily targets which could be a great leap to bring your dreams to reality. Self Discovery is the process of understanding your true self, your values, your needs and your wants. It’s being personally aware about what is true to you and what matters most to you.

Inner Work Conclusion

Inner work conclusion. In conclusion, inner work is a deliberate introspective effect. It brings awareness that work is not limited to external endeavours only. It is basically like the foundation for a better output when engaging in external affairs. Conclusively, it is typically multifaceted and embraces various approaches which includes deep listening, dialogue and personal reflections to achieve a desired result. Paying keen attention to what’s going inward can personally rewarding, one of the effective steps is personal specific goal, focusing on a specific goal might be boring but it helps keeps focus in mind and strengthens stability too, inner work is efficient in increasing a person’s total well being because it is best for sustainable growth, it is built for the long haul.

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