To See Better, You Have To Close Your Eyes (inner Connection)
Sometimes, to better process what is around us, we need a moment. From a moment of calm and inner connection. Closing our eyes is nothing more than a break from the world and a journey through our thoughts, emotions, needs and values. Perhaps we have become too used to focusing on what is outside. Maybe it’s time to be reborn, to come back to ourselves.
Often times we find studies, books and articles that tell us about the importance of our social relationships to being happy.
Having strong friendships, a partner who makes us happy, and a family that appreciates us, loves us and admires us for a long time allows us to build ourselves as people; it is true. However, there are those who, despite all of this and more… suffer from depression. What’s wrong ?
What is wrong is inner harmony, the one that allows us to be good with ourselves. If there is no umbilical cord with one’s own being through which flow self-esteem, self-confidence, good management of emotions, goals and full acceptance of who we are and have , there will be no well-being. And the people around us won’t be able to do anything about it. The inner link is also health.
How to strengthen our inner connection
Goethe said that our reality is so divinely organized that each of us, in its place and in its time, is in balance and in harmony with everything else. This could be true as long as we are well off psychologically. If there is no well-built, lighted and strong interior, no one can feel in tune with what surrounds them.
One might wonder what are we really talking about when we talk about the “inner self” and the importance of the “inner connection”. Areas such as spirituality often deal with these kinds of concepts. However, from a psychological point of view, we refer specifically and exclusively to the mind.
This dimension is everything, and it is what constitutes our authentic self. In this mental space are integrated our consciousness, our thoughts, our memory, our imagination, our emotions, our personality, our fears, our needs, our values, etc.
The mind is more than a creation of the brain, as Hippocrates said 2,500 years ago. Everything we are is in our mind; a fact that we forget when we neglect what is happening there.
As Scott Barry Kaufman, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania and author of several books on human intelligence, creativity, and potential, tells us, mental life doesn’t just take place inside our brains. It is also related to our body, the way we feel physically and our relationships with others.
If we neglect ourselves, if we don’t work on our inner connection, there won’t be that absolute harmony that Goethe was talking about. Here are some keys to achieve this.
Identifying feelings and emotions, the first step towards inner connection
As the famous neuroscientist Antonio Damasio tells us, emotions are of the body and feelings are of the mind. So, when we come into contact with our inner being, we have to detect all of these realities that anchor us in the present moment.
Take a moment to sense what your body is feeling: is there pressure in your stomach? Is your heart racing? Do you have pain in your jaw or neck?
Emotions trigger physical responses which then travel to the mind to shape the feelings when we name them. Maybe this stomach ache is the product of fear, anxiety, frustration… Try to identify these dimensions and accept them, give them presence.
Does the voice of internal dialogue help or “poison” you?
In order to foster inner connection, we need to close our eyes and listen to what our thoughts are telling us. And above all our internal dialogue. Sometimes this voice is a specialist in poisoning us, in filling us with fears and insecurities. Pay attention to his speech, his assertions, his obsessions … If you discover that he is becoming your worst enemy, purify this dialogue.
I accept myself, I deserve the calm, I deserve to be well
Absolute acceptance of who we are and what we have alleviated a lot of discomforts. Nothing is more heartwarming than injecting large doses of self-esteem into that inner connection. By letting compassion, forgiveness and validation flow within. All of these dimensions heal and remind us that we have the right to be well.
Creativity, the threshold of your inner connection
Boris Cyrulnik, neurologist, psychiatrist and author of well-known books such as Les Vilains petits canards or Sauve-toi, la vie t’appelle, has published a new book. It is called The Night, I Will Write Suns. This book talks about the importance of creativity in fostering inner connection and overcoming trauma.
For this expert in difficult times, nothing is so cathartic and necessary to deepen and give free rein to what is in our being, such as literature, poetry, art, music … Any activity that connects the mind has a task that allows us to create something, has the power to transform pain, to let it free and in turn, to reconnect with ourselves to heal.
In this way, we manage to join the broken pieces and transform ourselves into someone more resilient, free and ready to be happy. Let’s keep this in mind.
Our thoughts Discover several wise quotes from Bruce Lee that may inspire you in your daily life.
