So many of us live our lives in fast mode – rarely slowing down enough to take stock of where we are, in relation to our goals and dreams.  We might have even ditched the latter.  Have you put your dreams on hold?

Taking a life overview is a good first step to understanding yourself better, so you don’t operate from subconscious programming that can sabotage your innermost desires.

All human beings crave inner fulfilment by living a meaningful life, whether they are aware of it or not.  However, once we reach adulthood, and get sucked into a certain rhythm — for example, we might find we are often chasing ‘the money’ to pay our bills to provide for our families — it can be hard to break out of this familiar pattern.

Fear of failing or of displeasing others’, as well as underlying low self-esteem, even if we appear outwardly successful, may stand in the way of our need to make important changes that will honour our deepest knowing.

We may have unconsciously accepted others’ beliefs about life and rarely stop to think about our unhappiness with our choices – until we face a major challenge like losing our health, or facing some sort of emotional or financial loss.

However, we don’t have to wait for a “limit situation” to appear.

Seated meditation and the different forms of yoga that abound today provide us with excellent ways of looking at ourselves with more compassion and realising that we can shed our past, like a snake sheds its old skin.

Yet to become adept at either meditation or yoga requires much time and patience.

What is immediately accessible to practically everyone is “self-journalling”.  This is also an excellent way of looking at our lives in order to make important changes right now.

Thought moves fast, so writing things down gives us the space to slow our minds down – and give us a bit of sanity in a hectic world.

The following exercise is taken from our e-learning platform, where we teach you much more about self-awareness and letting go of stress.  Detachment is a mental letting go, and surrender is an emotional letting go.  Both are necessary in today’s world:

Taking an overview of your life

Find a quiet space, take a deep breath and centre yourself in your heart (touch your heart with your hand).  Ask your Inner Spirit to guide you.  Remember, the Source of Love and Wisdom inside you loves you unconditionally and does not judge your choices.

Then, ASK YOURSELF:

1. What is happening in your life right now?
2. How is your health today?
3. Are you happy?
4. What do you do for a living?
5. Do you like your work?
6. How are your finances?
   • Are you content with how things are?
   • Do you find you are always ‘broke’ no matter how much you earn?
   • Are you always needing/grasping after ‘more’? Even if you earn a lot it never seems to be enough?
7. How is your love for others (romantic and non-romantic)?
8. Have you fallen out with anyone (partner, friend, family, colleague, neighbour etc) in the near or far-distant past?
9. Have you forgiven them?
10. Have you forgiven yourself?
11. Is there anyone or anything you are holding negative energy on? E.g. Do you feel bitter against another person, a sense of betrayal?  Tip: When you think of the person or situation, you feel tense and uncomfortable because negative emotion arises.
12. Are you holding energy on yourself? E.g. Do you feel guilt for having harmed someone else in some way? For not behaving?
13. Do you feel life is unfair in some way, or a lot of ways? Do you feel life is against you?
14. How did your last “love relationship” end?
15. And the relationship before that? (And before that?)
16. Do you remember your childhood? Take a moment to jot down some words about it now.

Once you have all this information, you need to cleanse the old wounds or hurts, and also forgive yourself.  So many times we punish ourselves without even knowing it.  We lose our sense of joy and happiness that is our natural state.

If you’re not leaping out of bed with enthusiasm about your day ahead, then it’s safe to say you’ve lost your natural connection.  My 16 month old son reminds me of how joyful we can be – for no reason other than just being ‘alive’ and in tune with life.