It’s the season for giving!! There’s just something about the excitement that people get opening beautifully wrapped boxes filled with gifts!
I just wish I got that excited when it came to unwrapping myself. As people we are composed of “boxes” constructed by our life experiences. We have all these boxes that form our beliefs and our views and then we wrap those boxes with pretty paper and that’s the presentation that everyone sees.
The question I recently asked myself is “Is the present better wrapped or open? “ The presentation is beautiful, but what we all really want is on the inside.
So who are you without the wrapping paper? At the core, unboxed… Who is your divine self? These are questions I’ve been asking myself as I explore the Niyama called Svadhaya or Self Study.
Keep reading for some journal prompts on the journey to knowing yourself.
EVALUATE YOUR TRUTH VERSUS REALITY
Are they the same or are they different?
There is a popular saying that The world is yours. Why is the world ours? Because what we see, how we feel, how we interpret experiences are based off our inner workings. If you don’t believe me, find someone from your tribe, read about an event that took place and then compare and contrast how you all see that event.
In order to understand why we see the world the way we do… we have to stop looking out and start looking in. We perceive the world not as it is, but as we are.
IDENTIFY THE THINGS THAT BOTHER YOU
Ask yourself why it made you feel the way you do, and when you come up with an answer ask yourself why again?
In moments of disharmony press rewind. Play it back in your mind. Why did it bother you. Can you connect it to one of your boxes? Can you unwrap it, get to the bottom of it. The truth of it all.
I think when we answer questions like this, the initial response is surface. When I ask myself why, I try to ask ATLEAST twice. I want to know the real answer! The real reason, hidden beneath the layers of why.
OBSERVE THE WAY YOU COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS
Do you find that certain things are commonly lost in interpretation?
For me I used to see this mostly in my relationship. My ex would say one thing, and I took it to mean something else and vice versa. My feelings were projected on the conversation and based off of how the words in the conversation made me feel, that’s how I interpreted what was being said . I’m not saying I was right or wrong, but I think that my decoding of the information that was delivered is very telling about what I had/have going on inside of me.
Take notes on how you decipher communication from others. When you run into a situation where there may be miscommunication write down what was said, what the person actually meant by it, and how you took it. Then once again ask yourself why you took it that way.
DESCRIBE YOUR EGO
We all have one. Our ego’s say a lot about who we are. There’s no judgement in it. Just write down the words that come to mind.
Then write down interactions where your ego likes to come out and play.
What’s the connection between the circumstance and the appearance of your ego?
WRITE DOWN WHAT YOUR THINK YOUR BOXES ARE
If you’re having trouble labeling the boxes try writing down how you feel about love, anger, sadness, beliefs, pet peeves, etc.
For example: for me, right now I feel disheartened about love, the emotion of anger bothers me, sadness is a very familiar feeling, I believe people should treat others with kindness, and I don’t like when people wear shoes in my house.
Look at what you wrote. How does this reflect who you are at your core and do you think it accurately depicts your true self? These views, these feelings form who u are, what you see, what and how you react to life occurrences.
Do you like what you see? If not, the way to reshape and remold starts with breaking down and then throwing out certain boxes.
WRITE DOWN 5-10 THINGS THIS PRACTICE HAS HELPED YOU LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF
These are the five that I came up with:
-I have a resilient heart & I love hard
-I let my emotions dictate my actions
-I am sweet natured to the core. It’s one of my traits that I honor and appreciate the most.
-I am triggered when I think someone is going to leave me because of things that have happened in my past
-I am projecting when I get agitated at people who under communicate because I often under communicate.
-I often stifle my own voice in order to make it easier for others
When I look at what I wrote, I’m not ecstatic about some of these statements, but I know that they are true AND I now know what areas I might want to work on and how to work on them.
In this season of gifts, take some time to unwrap yourself. Remind yourself of the gift you are!
