If you’re feeling lost and unfulfilled, it’s likely that you’re feeling like a victim of the forces at work in your life. You can fix this by learning more about yourself. This can help you feel a deeper feeling of inner well-being and provide direction for how to pursue personal fulfillment by strengthening your connection with your “real self.”
By concentrating on five domains of consciousness (STEAM) and asking yourself a question to examine each domain: Sensations, Thoughts, Emotions, Actions, and Mentalizing, you can broaden and deepen your self-awareness.
Being in touch with your “real self” entails being in touch with your physical self as well. As a result, persons who are dissatisfied with their inner selves may also be dissatisfied with their physiological sensations.
To reintegrate, you must be able to notice and experience the sensations in your body, such as stomach-churning, chest tightness, or tears welling in your eyes. You may discover that as you learn to pay attention to your body, you become more aware of other inner experiences, particularly your emotions.
People are constantly thinking. Their thoughts can appear to have a life of their own, running through their minds in rambling, contradictory, and perhaps incoherent ways. And they can get lost in all the actions if they don’t take time to think about their ideas, evaluating which ones they believe, question, or even wish to pursue. As a result, individuals may become unsure about what they believe or who they are.
Instead, focusing on your thoughts can help you connect with your inner self. You become an observer who may or may not agree with them as a result of this. “I vary between believing I have the genuine ability and feeling I am a lousy artist,” you might think if you view this when you’re having conflicting thoughts about your artistic talent. With these insights, you may discover that a part of you believes the critique, while another half believes it is unnecessarily harsh.
Even if your thoughts are contradicting, complex, or in any way not fully understood, reflecting on them allows you to recognize which ones resonate as expressing your “real self.” Furthermore, you will be on the road to fulfillment if you pursue the people with whom you connect.
People, like thoughts, frequently experience multiple emotions at the same time. Some of those feelings will clash, such as when you have bittersweet memories of playing with an uncle who died tragically last year. You might also notice that when you take a break from feeling one emotion, another one appears. Anger, for example, is frequently a defensive reaction to being harmed, betrayed, or insulted. The more thoroughly you can recognize, accept, tolerate, and befriend your emotions, the more you will be able to feel them rather than fight them. You’ll be more receptive to them as genuine representations of your inner experience.
This journey will take time, courage, and faith in your ability to grow stronger as a result of your experiences. However, you might start by just asking yourself what you’re experiencing and remaining open to the response.
Take note of how your activities influence your thoughts and emotions. For example, you may discover that confronting your fear of asking your boss for a raise allows you to be more forceful than you previously imagined.
It’s also crucial to pay attention to how you behave in positive situations. If you want to be fulfilled in this life, you must first recognize and pursue the actions that make you feel fulfilled.
Mentalizing is a psychological term that refers to comprehending and connecting with what motivates you or someone else in your mind and heart. It’s as simple as noticing someone nodding and maintaining eye contact while you speak to know they’re paying attention. Likewise, you are mentally analyzing yourself when you realize you answered rudely to a friend because you were unhappy about something he said to you earlier.
In order to discover your “true self,” you must improve your ability to mentalize yourself and others. This allows you to understand and connect with what you are truly experiencing.
The plain truth is that the more STEAM you acquire, the more connected to your “true self” you will feel. You’ll also be more likely to express your “real self’s” interests and values if you empathize with them, which will lead to a more fulfilling life.