inner child

Aug

2023

How To Find Yourself

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Do you know yourself well? How do you normally introduce yourself to others? Most people will normally introduce themselves based on what they do for a living. While your work is a big part of who you are, it should not define who you really are as a person and as a human being unless your work is related to your purpose in life. But how do you know if you are on the right track? Well, it’s easy. Just simply ask yourself, are you happy? Are you excited to go to work each day? Are you satisfied and content with your career? If not, then it is time to find yourself. But, how to find yourself? That’s the question.

Do You Know Yourself?

Studies reveal that on average, a person spends 90,000 hours of work over a lifetime. If we are going to spend almost half of our waking hours in our lifetime on work, then it is imperative that we spend these hours on something that we love. Imagine spending all that time on something that you don’t enjoy? That will surely lead to burn-out and stress. If you have to drag yourself to work each day, for your own w ellness (and sanity), you may want to consider shifting your career and pursuing your passion instead.

But what if you are unsure of what you want? Yes, it can happen; regardless of age. Some even already reached the pinnacle of their career yet they still feel empty inside. This is what happens if you pursue something that you are not meant to do. So, everything goes back to what it is your purpose in life. If you are one of those people who still don’t know what they want to do in life, here are some tips on how to find yourself.

1. Tap into Your Inner Child

Do you remember yourself as a child? What was it that you loved doing as a child? What were your favorite toys and games? As children, we were all innocent, honest, pure, sincere, curious, enthusiastic and still free from societal expectations. That is why, we were not scared to reveal our truest self to others. But somewhere along the way, as we grow, we encounter challenges, difficult situations and for some even trauma. So, we learn to hide our true self for fear of being judged. We were scared that other people might not accept us for who we really are, that’s why we began to put on a social m ask. We do this over the years until such a point that we no longer know who we truly are.

Thus, our childhood holds the key to our true self. Try to remember the past. Who were you then? Start your inner child journey.

2. Meditation

Our personality is often molded by society. That is why our real self is often buried deep within our consciousness. Therefore to get to know our true self, we need to learn to withdraw from our physical surroundings and external circumstances. We need to clear our mind totally and achieve a state of calmness which can only be achieved through meditation. Do this everyday and soon you will have a heightened sense of self-understanding and realization. In addition, you will be able to tap and listen to your intuition.

3. Find Your Ikigai

Ikig ai is a Japanese concept that pertains to your reason of being. If you are having a hard time with meditation and tapping into your inner child, you can find your purpose in life through ikigai. It involves a self-assessment of your hobbies, passion and other things that you are good at. It also takes into consideration the needs of the community and what you can do to help the community. By listing down all these things and analyzing the answers, you will be able to have a clue on what your life’s work should be.

4. Check your Human Design

If self-analysis is still not your thing, there is another way and that is through human design. Human design is a blueprint of who you are. It is calculated based on the time, date and place of your birth. It is a combination of several disciplines rolled into one – the ancient Chinese divination called I-ching, astorology, the chakra system or the energy points in your body, the Kaballah or Jewish mysticism and Quantum Physics. Knowing your human design will help you understand yourself better. It will also help you make better decisions.

Take one step closer to a happier and more fulfilling life. Know yourself better.

Feature Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

Jun

2021

The Magic Shop

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Did you know that you can find your dreams in the magic shop? It is where you can be whatever you want to be. It’s a magical place where you can create the you that you want to become; the reality that you want to live. However, it is not a physical place; there is no address to look up. But it is always accessible to those who believe in its magic.

The Magical Mind

We all know the power of the human mind. It has sparked many inventions that greatly benefited humanity. Most of us however don’t believe in the abilities of our own minds. We are always in awe at the great minds who made great innovations but we seldom look to our own accomplishments. Most of the time, we use our mind to focus on the mistakes of our past instead of imagining what we want for our future.

Sometimes you change your mind… Sometimes your mind changes you.
Binyomin Scheiman

When we control what our mind focuses on, we can change our life. There is a mind-body connection technique that athletes use to practice. They imagine what they would do to win their game through visualization. You too can do that. Imagine yourself achieving your goal. How does success look and feel? What sounds do you hear when you realize your goal? Use all your senses in your visualization so you can teach your mind to focus on this version of reality that you want.

The Mysterious Heart

Emotions are at the core of our life experiences. It is often our emotions that lead us to make certain decisions even if they don’t make sense to our mind. When we follow these sudden urges and impulses, especially if they’re negative emotions, we often regret them afterwards. The good news is, just like our mind, we can learn to control our emotions and become better at how we process them. We can also control how we express our emotions towards other people.

Your intellect maybe confused, but your emotions never lie to you.
Roger Ebert

Our heart is considered to be the place where our emotions come from. Have you ever experienced a conflict between what your mind tells you and what you truly feel? This is because our emotions reflect our truest intentions. It also gives us hints of other people’s intentions towards us. We often refer to this as a “gut feeling” or intuition. In the end, our intuition turns out to be right. The sad fact is, not everyone trusts their own gut feeling or intuition. Learning to trust our feelings is an important step in changing our life. It helps us believe in our self and in our own abilities to reach our goals.

The Power of The Magic Shop

The magic shop is a therapeutic technique used in psychology to help individuals heal their inner wounds. Some people may be in a negative state of mind or are feeling confused and overwhelmed. The magic shop is where they can process such issues safely with the help of a therapist.

The psychological wares of the Shop are created out of real experience and brought about through fantasy, wishes, desire, faith, and hope. The products that people seek are custom-made. It is extremely important that each person get something that fits uniquely, or gets rid of something distasteful or modifies it constructively.
Earl Koile*

The magic shop is a place where you can imagine whatever you want, however you want. Here, you can express your truest intentions without fear of judgment from others. You can always go into the magic shop whenever you want because it is a space that you always carry with you. All you need is to close your eyes, open your heart and focus on creating what you want. It is a place where you can transform things into something better.

There are not many basic rules except that people pay for things they want to get or things they want to get rid of.
Earl Koile*

When you go into the magic shop, you do not only go to create what you want. You also need to give up what you don’t want in exchange. This process helps you to clarify what you truly want and don’t want. Your feelings will guide you in making your choices as you go through your creation or transformation process.

The Magic is Within You

Although this technique is used by therapists; it can also be useful to us in our daily lives. The magic shop is a place we can always go to when we are feeling down and want to cheer up. We can open the shop to take time to process our feelings and set our intentions for the future. We can use it to discover more of our selves. The most important part of this process is to keep an open mind and an open heart.

The magic in the shop is the magic within you. It is only waiting for you to use it. How powerful your magic is depends on how much you can believe and what your true intentions are. Once you go out of the magic shop, remember to use the compassion, kindness and understanding you extended to yourself in the shop towards others. This is one of the most effective ways to help you manifest the magic from the shop into your reality.

If you already have a meditation practice, then going into the magic shop would be easier for you. Before you go in, ask your self: What do I wish to acquire in the magic shop? What would I trade for it? How do I want to transform my life? What would I do to achieve it? Good luck and may the magic of the shop create miracles for your life.

*Quotes from The Magic Shop: The Therapist Masquerades as A Shopkeeper
Featured Image: Original Photo by Almos Bechtold on Unsplash.

Nov

2020

5 More Classic Board Games

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Here are 5 more classic board games that you can play with your family and friends to combat stress or boredom and have some fun instead.

1. Clue / Cluedo

2-6 players

This classic board game is one of the best murder mystery games out there. It’s been around since 1943 and is much loved by armchair detectives.

The aim of the game is to figure out who killed the murder victim, where the murder was done and what weapon was used. Players try to hunt down clues to uncover the truth. It’s a race against time as you try to gather the evidence before the other players get to it. Then, like an investigator, you have to piece together the clues and connect the dots together to figure out the details of the murder mystery. The player who gets the most details correct, wins!

2. Connect 4

2 players

If you want tons of fun in a short period of time then this game is for you. This game is simple but requires fast thinking of strategies.

The aim of the game is to line up 4 chips of the same color in a row. Both players alternate in dropping their chips on the grid to stop the other player from forming their line while trying to construct their own. You can go horizontal, diagonal or vertical. Your luck depends on where your chips fall and how fast you can counter your opponent’s move.

3. Monopoly

Multiple players

Monopoly is one of the world’s favorite, classic board games. There are even versions based on movie themes as well as for pet lovers. Electronic versions are also available.

This game is all about buying property and building houses or hotels that you can lease out. Your luck depends on the roll of a dice and the card you pick. Some players have experienced a turn of bad luck where they keep landing on their another player’s hotel and getting sent to jail. Luckily, it’s all in the board game, so you can just add the experience to your collection of funny stories. Those who are familiar with the game have come up with some strategies too.

4. Scrabble

Multiple players

If you want a classic board game that’s perfect for a lazy afternoon, then try out Scrabble. This game has been around for over 80 years. Although it’s meditative and relaxing; it does get your brain a workout.

Players get to select some random letters which they must form into words on the board. Certain combinations and specific tiles get you more points but you can only add them to words that already exist on the board. You never know what combination of letters you end up with, so it’s exciting and challenging for each round of the game. Of course, the better your vocabulary, the easier for you to come up with words.

5. Twister

Multiple players

The biggest board game on this list, Twister encourages you to test your balancing and strategic skills.

A spinner tells you where you should place your hands and feet on the board. You need to balance, twist and turn to get your hands and feet on the right spots on the board without falling down. Adults and children can enjoy this game. You not only enjoy the game, you burn some calories too!

There are many ways to have more fun in your life and playing board games is one of them. We’ve listed another of these 5 classic board games that you can enjoy with family and friends.

Feature Image: Original Photo by Kathy Marsh on Unsplash.

Feb

2020

Rules to A Happy Life

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Living a happy life seems like a simple goal but in reality, the journey is quite complicated. Depending on where you are in life; you will have a different set of rules that you follow to you can achieve your goals.

Everyone has their own path to happiness but these 7 rules to a happy life can help you along the way.

1. Be Grateful

Whatever life brings you, it pays to be grateful. Recognize that each experience, each situation that you are put in and each person that you encounter pushes you to the right direction.

It may be in the form of support for what you need to pursue your goals or by teaching you a life lesson that you need in order for you to progress to your next step. A positive experience is just as important as a negative experience to enable you to grow and prepare you for the next stage of your life.

2. Stay True to Yourself

Sometimes, we forget our own goals and dreams because we are programmed to conform to what other people’s standards have of us. We compare ourselves with others and want to imitate their kind of success; forgetting that each person has their own form of happiness, their own measure of success.

There is no one path to happiness or success. Stop comparing yourself to other people’s standards and stay true to yourself. Do what you feel is right to fulfill your own definition of happiness or success.

3. Don’t Lose Your Inner Child

“Adulting” is a popular term that we throw around to describe our daily struggles as grown ups. We feel overwhelmed with adult responsibilities that we don’t make time to “play” as it is not an adult thing to do. However, neglecting time for play depletes us of our creativity and may cause us to burn out at work.

Make time to indulge your playful inner child. Give in to your curiosity; ask about something you are curious about instead of suppressing it so you don’t annoy someone. From time to time, try out new things just because it’s exciting or fun and not because you need it for work.

If you have a passion project that involves harnessing your creative side, pursue it and make time for it even if it doesn’t contribute to your current job. You will be surprised how nurturing your inner child can help you grow as an adult.

4. Appreciate the Moment

Have you stopped and smelled the flowers lately? Have you gone out of your way to just stare at a beautiful sunset until it vanishes from view? If not, then now is a good time to start learning how to appreciate the moment.

Appreciating the moment helps you become more observant of the things around you and being grateful for them. It also makes it easier to notice the good things in any situation, place, thing or even person. This means that you shouldn’t hold yourself back from appreciating someone else and be honest about your praise or admiration.

If you have the urge to just bask in the sunshine in the middle of your walk to your office building, give in and enjoy the feeling of warmth revitalizing your whole body. Just remember to look for a safe spot first and don’t suddenly do it in the middle of the street.

5. Share Your Blessings

When you share your blessings you are blessed in return. Blessings don’t have to be just financial in form. Giving someone your time and effort is a form of sharing. Listening to someone vent out their issues is a form of sharing as well.

Financially, you may not have a big amount in your budget for this but the important thing is to share what you are able. So make sure that you include a “Give” or “Gifting” or “Tithe” portion in your budget. Small acts like giving a tip to a restaurant or a salon staff goes a long way.

6. Avoid the Drama

We see drama all the time on TV and in films that we have grown to expect the same situations in real life. We hear different kind of real-life dramas from the news and even from friends and relatives but we all know that these situations are never pleasant and don’t usually have a happy ending. So how do you avoid all the drama?

Focusing on the positive side of things and being grateful will be helpful in these situations. Staying away from people who bring drama into your life is one of the best ways to keep your good vibes all the time.

Of course, if you can’t help but be involved in drama, don’t forget to take a deep breathe and try to keep a level head and analyze the situation from a practical point of view instead of just reacting to your emotions. This way, you can focus on solutions instead of drowning in all the negative details.

7. Learn to Forgive

In order to make it easier for you to follow the rules outlined above, you must learn to forgive. Forgiving yourself first is the first step to accepting yourself and self-acceptance enables you to move on to the next step to become better.

Forgive yourself for your flaws and wrong decisions in the past. Forgive yourself for breaking a promise or indulging in that food treat that’s not supposed to be part of your diet. The important thing is to pick-up yourself again and continue where you left of or start over if needed.

It also important to learn to forgive others. If you carry grudges with you, it will be hard to be grateful. You won’t be able to appreciate the moment or other people; you won’t be able to indulge in fun times and you certainly won’t feel inclined to share your blessings whole heartedly.

Carrying grudges around certainly puts you in a situation that attracts constant drama and negative vibes. So learn to forgive others. Look at what you can learn from the situation or the person and move on from what happened. Forgiving others does not mean that you need to act like nothing bad happened but it is an opportunity to not dwell on the drama anymore and move forward.

Original photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash