Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash
One of several ways I’ve found helpful in cultivating self-love, self-awareness, and decreased anxiety is through various forms of meditation. Meditation allows me to be still and pay attention to what my mind is doing and the lies it’s telling me.
Yep, you heard that right. Our minds, used by our egos, lie to us. Our egos (also known as the inner critic) try to keep us small so that we’re kept safe. On face value, this isn’t a bad thing. We need to think critically before walking into burning buildings or rock climbing without a belay system. But when we change careers, launch a new product, try being vulnerable more frequently, or go to speak to a potential client, our egos often get upset that we’re putting ourselves in a dangerous situation. It’s not the same as what we’ve been doing, so our minds freak out a bit.
The freak out continues unless we’ve been training ourselves to separate truth from falsehood. And we need to have the skill to separate the lies of our egos from divine inspiration and intuition. We all have the capacity to reach our potential, and we need tools and skills to make this happen.
Which brings me back to meditation. Some people hate it. If that’s you, I get it. I used to be a critic of meditation. It turns out I was afraid to sit in silence with myself because I didn’t like what I saw. Eventually I pushed through that fear by reminding myself of the people whom I admire who practice meditation. So I stuck with it long enough to see results, and because of the positive results including self-awareness and self-love, I continued.
For the most part I’ve meditated in silence or with a couple apps that didn’t have a wide variety of free meditations to choose from. And then last week I found Insight Timer. The skies opened and my heart cheered. I think I’m super late to the Insight Timer party, but I’m so glad I made it. And if you’re looking for help with meditation, sleep, or at-home live yoga (you can give a donation to the teacher to support them in their work), this app might be for you.
Questions to ponder:
How do I cultivate self-awareness?
What works for me? What doesn’t?
Where am I being invited to sit with the hard or uncomfortable things to gain freedom or insight?
Stay curious friends!
Make sure you’re listening to season one of the Dream Big Authentic Leadership podcast, found on Apple, Google, Spotify, and Stitcher.
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