What Blocks Self-Transformation?
To begin exploring the topic of self-transformation, it is important to note why most of us resist it in the first place.
As a general rule, our egos are impervious to hints of insufficiency. For that reason, it is important to understand how our egos get in the way of our innate potential for growth and wholeness, which entails ego transcendence and adaptability at its core.
To begin exploring the topic of self-transformation, it is important to note why most of us resist it in the first place.
As a general rule, our egos are impervious to hints of insufficiency. For that reason, it is important to understand how our egos get in the way of our innate potential for growth and wholeness, which entails ego transcendence and adaptability at its core.
Ironically, the circumstantial suffering we may be experiencing is amplified when we resist the introspection required, thereby depriving us the ability for self-transformation and adaptability.
Suffering is therefore a necessary but not sufficient condition for self-transformation.
A commitment to Truth is the indispensable missing piece. Although such openness requires us to accept things about ourselves, others, and situations, we may wish to repel, it will, in the final analysis, prove to be the only healthy path forward.
One of the main problems is that in the face of suffering, we by default rely on habitual modes of response due to their familiarity. Instead of contriving a new approach based on a more elaborate view of reality, we instinctively try to fit our current views onto the world, impeding on the potential for personal growth.
Three Main Reactions To Suffering That Block Self-Transformation:
Obsession with self image and our persona, obsessive behaviors (i.e. drugs, consumerists, gaming etc.)
Indulging in the suffering (adopting a victimhood status)
Make others suffer (vengefulness, hostility, aggressiveness)
These responses block our potential to gain any insight from our suffering.
Other Unhealthy Reactions:
Explosive anger
Inhibited anger
Fear
Arrogance
Hyper rationality
Adopting an overly conservative approach to life
The monitoring of the above mentioned symptoms opens the space for growth and personal responsibility.
When we find ourselves acting out any of these phenomena, we can ask the following questions:
What is it about the situation that made me react in such a manner?
What am I not ready to accept about the situation?
Am I blaming the wrong person?
How would I have liked to behave in such a situation?
What can I learn about myself that I’ve been ignoring?
What is the personal cost of my continuing this type of behavioral response?
How can I cultivate the ability to remain in control despite feeling triggered?
Answering these questions with honest intent will allow you to broaden your understanding of your familiar response patterns to stressors, allow you to deconstruct these patterns, and move you towards a place of conscious reconstruction.
Expect initial resistance, but the habit of continuously probing in this manner will become the central feature of your character and the underlying mechanism by which self-transformation will become inevitable.
The result of indulging in unexamined modes of behavior becomes exponentially costly on our well-being, detrimental to our relationships, and overall toxic to ourselves and others.
Ask Again; The Curiosity Needed For Heightened Awareness
It all begins with a reaction to an existential angst that predates you. With consciousness came the burden of knowing with absolute certainty that one’s demise is the inevitable grande finale. That sobering realization has forced our ancestors to ask for millennia, as we still do today; what constitutes a good life?
It all begins with a reaction to an existential angst which predates you.
With consciousness came the burden of knowing with absolute certainty, that ones demise is the inevitable grande finale.
That sobering realization has forced our ancestors to ask for millennia, as we still do today; what constitutes a good life?
Attempting to answer that question seems to have been the beginning of philosophy.
Divorced from superstition and the supernatural, that humbling question, when asked, makes us pause only to realize that that question too is as inevitable as death itself.
So I say ask yourself, and ask frequently.
Expand your knowledge and understanding, then ask again.
Be curious about philosophy, psychology, and art.
Poetry, mythology, biology, politics and everything in between.
Fear nothing but ignorance, proud yourself in the mistakes made, it only proves you are asking with genuine intent.
Ask yourself, ask others, read of others, then ask again.
You’ll find it begins and ends with virtues and a virtuous life.
Define them, then work.
Work while asleep, daydreaming, or both.
Work to attain individuation, embody your desired states, then ask again.
There has never been a more prescient question, and you may never have another chance.
So ask now, wait, reflect, then ask again.
That one question has transformed the world, and if you allow it, will transform you.
Intrinsic Wisdom; The Potential That Lies Within Us
I believe we all possess an intrinsic, yet often hidden source of wisdom, one we have the potential of accessing. Unfortunately, as we become more and more alienated from ourselves, due to the juggling of life’s demands, we seldom pause and learn how to access that wisdom.
I believe we all possess an intrinsic, yet often hidden source of wisdom, one we have the potential of accessing. Unfortunately, as we become more and more alienated from ourselves, due to the juggling of life’s demands, we seldom pause and learn how to access that wisdom.
Self awareness, and awareness more broadly, are the vehicles that enable us to cultivate the ability to bypass the psychological interpretive schemes, defense mechanisms, adaptive modes of response, and other psychological phenomena that interfere with our innate ability for ego transcendence which moves us to a more authentic mode of being.
Luckily, we all have the ability to take on the challenge of reconnecting with that source, and we live in a time where that task is much needed. Our personal and collective well-being depend on our reconnecting with that source, on living more mindful lives moment by moment, growing with the process, and extending our wisdom outward.
Practices such as mindfulness, deep introspection, facing and integrating our Shadow, and the acquiring of self-knowledge, all contribute to our living with heightened awareness.
Understanding and expecting the inevitable resistance we will experience when undergoing such a process, gives us insight into the workings of the ego. Its rigidity and stubbornness mustn't be confused with its inability to adapt. Through practice and repetition, one is able to cultivate a robust approach and nurture the resilience required for such an endeavor to be fruitful.
In my experience the ultimate approach, but one that requires a certain level of stability in our lives as a prerequisite, is Shadow work.
Be humble, this is no easy task, but like anything of great significance it is worth the effort.
There is no telling just how deep and wide that source may prove to be.
6 Daily Questions; Simple Questions To Take Control of Your Day
Asking ourselves questions of that nature is an effective way of bringing to conscious awareness the reality of our actions and mindset. Taking personal responsibility begins with the understanding that WE ultimately control our minds.
Did I do my best to:
1- Set clear goals?
2- Make progress towards goal achievement?
3- FIND meaning?
4- Be happy?
5- Build positive relationships?
6- Be fully engaged?
Asking ourselves questions of that nature is an effective way of bringing to conscious awareness the reality of our actions and mindset. Taking personal responsibility begins with the understanding that WE ultimately control our minds. Although we exist in constant interaction with the external world, that shift in focus from the external to the internal, allows us to look within ourselves for any shortcomings rather than being at the mercy of our environments. When one culminates awareness in that manner, one is then able to shape the world rather than be shaped by it.