Go Within * Connection to Your Inner Self

Introduction

This book is dedicated to helping you realize how important it is to take care of yourself and to rediscover who you are and who you are capable of becoming. This book is meant to help you realign with your Inner Self, by that I mean you will become more aware of your own needs and how you feel to guide you toward a greater discernment for your well-being. This does not mean that you will not care about others, help others or have justification for becoming a jerk. Most likely if you are one of those people, you are not reading this book. Those reading this book are seeking to become aligned with who they are capable of being. To achieve a meaningful and fulfilling life with less stress and anxiety while experiencing more joy and peace. Removing the expectations, judgments and beliefs of others and creating a relationship with yourself will open up a different world for you.

After much time and experience with people, I have noticed many suffering in similar ways and I have come to a conclusion that something is happening.

So, what do I believe is happening?

People have become disconnected from who they are and allow others' to dictate and determine (intentionally or unintentionally) their lives. Many live mostly in the brain, disconnected from the heart, from their own self.

What can we do about it?

It is time to go within. It's time to switch the focus from external to internal. It is time to work on yourself. To create space for yourself. To work on your own well-being; specifically our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual experiences. Allowing yourself the time to consciously understand why you do what you do (beliefs) and to care about your feelings is necessary for true change. Taking time to observe your feelings will help you discern when you are connected and disconnected from your Inner Self.

I know, I know, you want to have lots of money, a great career, an amazing relationship, the perfect body, so on and so on. This book doesn't deny you are able to have those things. I truly believe you are able to create any type of life that you want. It is wonderful to have certain things and relationships in our lives, but ultimately aren't you looking to be happy with your life? Thinking that things and people will bring that happiness is creating this perpetual unease.

You stress yourself out trying to obtain certain outcomes that, at times, once they are reached do little to add to your happiness or reduce your anxiety and stress. Are you, like many living with a world perspective of "how do I fit in?" Are you hoping that, if you fit in, then you will be happy? The alternative view that I offer is "who am I and how does being myself benefit the world?" I think a wonderful gift that you can offer to yourself is to understand what talents you have and how those are able to be utilized in this lifetime. Living a life that takes into consideration the relationship with yourself as a priority, instead of what others want or need, you will see true changes in your life. I do believe most are seeking joy and peace in their lives, and I believe that is only achieved when you are living connected to your Inner Self. When I mention the Inner Self, I am referring to becoming more conscious of your relationship with yourself. Becoming more loving toward yourself, this is heart-centered living and leads to self-love. My role as a potential-focused coach is to guide people to go internal and stop going after the external things to bring them happiness. Instead, I suggest that my clients flip it to caring about how they feel inside, therefore allowing their relationship with themselves to open them up to their potential.

This book comes from my heart. Not unlike others, I have personally gone through difficult times and have felt defeated, lost, sadness, numbness and sometimes not knowing what was wrong with me, but knowing there was something not right. Getting a masters degree in psychology gave me a lot of insight. Working as a counselor and coach gives me much insight, but the greatest insight I have is from my own journey. It is not a journey that is over, but one that is always transforming and enlightening me. I don't believe there is a magic potion or quick fix to feeling joy and peace in your life, but I do believe that when you are willing to change your perspective then you will create a more fulfilling life.

Most people, if not all have felt anxious, overwhelmed, fearful, worried, angry, frustrated, sad, unhappy, bored, numb or any other number of negative feelings. You may be shocked to read this, but some people even enjoy staying in the great depths of despair, for all different reasons. Hopefully this is not you! Overall, my argument is that when someone feels this way they are disconnected from their Inner Self, because their Inner Self would never want to feel that way.

This book offers a specific way of living your life. It may turn out that it doesn't work for you and that is fine. We are not a species of one size fits all, but at the least this book will provide a possible different way of looking at your life. Even though I refer to myself as a potential-focused coach, a friend of mine once labeled me a perspective adjuster. I thought that was quite fitting and pondered whether I should change my title. Although I already had my business cards, so the potential-focused coach stuck. The title of perspective adjuster might fit just as well. That is my main goal. To help you understand yourself and make the appropriate adjustments in your perspective to make changes in your life that result in having more joy and peace.

This book is more than just something to read. It is meant to be applied. If you read this book shaking your head in agreement, realizing you love it (of course), but then you put the book away without completing any of the exercises and/or doing any of the techniques, things will remain unchanged. The purpose of this book is to offer guidance to achieve a fundamental change in how you behave on a day-to-day basis. There are exercises and observation moments throughout the book to move you toward your potential. Unfortunately, unless you do the work and continue to do the work, then things won't change. If you are seeking to become a healthier eater, you can't read a book about healthy eating and never actually buy the healthy food and make the healthy dishes. Similarly, to make changes in how you experience life you have to do the work.

You are taught from the beginning to seek happiness in things that are outside of yourself. The focus is on external things that should bring happiness. They can, but it is fleeting. When that external thing or person is no longer there or behaving in the way that made you happy or the material object is no longer new and shiny, you begin to lose that initial shot of happiness.

When you go inward and connect with your internal state you are able to move toward your potential. and that will move you toward a more joyful state.

This book is broken up into the following sections:

1) The Disconnection

2) Blocking the Connection

3) The Connection