I recently listened to a book by Dr. Wayne Dyer called “Your Sacred Self”. It had been in my Audible library for a while, but the other day, my intuition told me to listen to it. 

Dyer says (I’m paraphrasing here) that we are facing the wrong way. We look outside of ourselves and not inward. We seek power, love, health, and happiness outside of ourselves. 

We’ve been conditioned. These outer influences challenge our self-worth. 

How far you go in the outer world is directly related to how connected you are to your inner world. Connecting to your inner world is part of your healing journey. 

As we begin to reconnect with ourselves, we re-learn how to understand and trust ourselves. I’ve found a few practices that have helped me on my journey and would love to share those with you here. 

That “ME TIME” on your calendar or to-do list is reserved for you to do something ONLY for you. Many of us believe we are too busy to take time for ourselves. We are not too busy. It’s an excuse. 

Excuses keep us from living our best life. Even if it’s only 15 minutes or less, TAKE that TIME to nurture YOU!

• Checking in with yourself daily: First thing in the morning after waking and again at night during your bedtime routine. I check in with your body, scanning from head to toe and noticing how you feel emotionally and physically, what is your energy like, and what your mood is.  Take three long deep breaths holding at the top of the inhale and bottom of the exhale for 4 seconds. In the morning, set an intention for the day. In the evening, listen to a guided meditation. 
• Pay attention to your feelings when they arise: Note the situation, event, or thought (often referred to as a trigger) that facilitated that feeling. These painful emotions are messages connected to our subconscious beliefs. While you may want to hide them from others, don’t hide them from yourself. This is an opportunity to bring something about yourself into the light. Journal your feelings and the corresponding event to look back and see what patterns emerge. 
• Listen to your Body: Your body communicates in very obvious and extremely subtle ways. Deliberately tune into the sensations you feel and what your body is doing – how you are sitting or standing, what’s your posture like etc. Notice how you move, note how you sleep, note when you relax. Practice checking in with your body during different situations and times during the date.
• Pay attention to your energy: Notice your energy when you are doing something you enjoy, something you are enlivened by. From there, notice what gets you jazzed up and feeling that inner buzz of excitement. Notice how you feel when you have to rev yourself up or talk yourself into doing something. Notice when your energy feels depleted or heavy. Being attuned to your energy body helps you internally evaluate if you are on the right path and make choices that align with your deeper self. Journal journal journal 🙂
• Keep a Dream Journal: Through dreaming, we receive direct communication from our deeper Self. Those stories and images send answers and insights, clarity, healing, course corrections, and, on occasion, foresight. Keeping a journal allows us to see patterns and begin to make correlations. It takes time for it to reveal itself and for us to understand the meanings. 
• Just Be:  Allow yourself to sit quietly with yourself, even if it’s only for 5 minutes a day. Put aside any agenda or goal. Just drop in for a few moments of deep connection with yourself. Hand on your heart center, breathe slowly and deeply and see yourself surrounded by a warm white light. Feel the expansiveness that exists within you. This is where your truth resides. 

Consistency is key in this practice. Do this every day.

A few things I learned along the way – 

Don’t listen to that voice in your head that tells you this is a waste of time; that tells you that this isn’t working or that you have other things to do. 

That voice is coming from your place of doubt. It represents that part of you that you’ve believed in your whole life. It’s from that part of you that feels threatened or scared. It’s telling you that you are not worthy of self-love. It’s not true. Its holding you back. 

If you can’t incorporate all these practices, start with the daily check-in, the ME TIME, and throughout the day, check in with your body on what and how it is feeling. 

Our struggle with self-love and feeling disconnected from ourselves is not a place of shame or blame.  It just is. 

We can change how we show up for ourselves by moving beyond our inner voice and exploring the beautiful world within. 

When we have a deeper connection to self, we can have deeper connections to others.

I’m always looking for that deeper connection. 🙂 

I hope you’ll join me. 

I’d love to hear what practices you have in place that are helping you connect more deeply with yourself. 

Namaste.