THE INNER JOURNEY
Once we get ready to go on an inner journey, being truthful to ourselves, learning important life-lessons, and trusting the flow of life will become our biggest allies, says Puneeta Puri
We at Entelechy Wellness believe that true wellness begins from within. Tapping into that inner wisdom requires individual effort and inner work to reach that place of clear knowing and guidance.
The first step on the inner journey is understanding that we are more than just physical beings and that there is a much larger part of us—the energies of our thoughts and emotions—which is governing our lives: our actions, our choices, and our paths. The thought ‘We are not good enough,’ which we believe since childhood (due to our conditioning by family and friends) follows us in all our relationships, and we are always working from a space of low self-esteem and lack of confidence. As an individual, we keep giving excessively, just to be accepted and acknowledged by others to fill that void of love within us. This is just one example of how we are constantly allowing our deep-rooted beliefs and thoughts to govern our life in many situations.
Uncovering Patterns
Inner work allows us to uncover these patterns and bring to our awareness what needs to be healed, released, or transformed within us. The process will be triggered by certain life situations or people in our lives, who will keep appearing at repeated cycles to push us in the direction of our Self. Once we have completed the process of blaming others, disliking others, and avoiding difficult situations—in short, escaping from the Self—finally, the point comes when we have to go within and find answers as to why we are going through a certain process, what is it teaching us, and where we are going wrong and need some correction. This is really the turning point for most of us, when we shift the focus from the ‘outside’ to the ‘inside.’
As we initiate this process of looking within, with sincerity and patience, all the answers start coming to our awareness. We are able to see life patterns and situations that have been trying to teach us something—love, compassion, forgiveness, self-esteem and overcoming fear.
The essence of inner work and seeking answers is directly dependent on how truthful and sincere we are with ourselves. If we are trying to lie to ourselves, the whole process is being governed by the ego and not the pure essence within us, which is our inner wisdom and light. Our inner wisdom will guide us on the right path, only when we surrender the ego and be totally receptive to the guidance.
Partnership with the Self
During this journey, we will experience breakthrough moments, which will uncover some very deep patterns and free us from past behaviours and actions. As we start releasing these past energies, which could be conditioning or projections of others on us, we are clearing the way to get a glimpse of our true nature. This process is healing and therapeutic, as it makes us feel much lighter and energised. The inner work process is the purification of our egoic nature, to reach our true nature and the light of the soul. The first few moments of breakthrough bring so much joy, peace, and light, and are the greatest motivation to keep us moving on this journey.
Gradually, we move towards signing a partnership with our inner Self, which starts giving us courage and guiding us on the path. Is the path easy? Yes and no. There are moments when we are in the lowest of lows and darkness prevails because our inner Self wants us to see and accept those aspects of ourselves too. And in such moments, many people whom we have been seeking help from in the past may not be able to support us. The path is easy too because the moment we accept those darker aspects to be healed by bringing them into our awareness, a lot of support flows in from our inner Self to clear those old patterns and beliefs. But the foremost step of inner work has to be ensured by us; then the rest becomes much easier.
The Power of Solitude
Solitude is a key factor in the inner journey. On the path, we will not get much support from family, friends, or people we have known for many years. The reason is not that they do not want to help us but that they are unable to understand the process yet. They will know from a distance that we are undergoing changes and even some transformation. But the support arrives from people who have walked such paths and can guide us physically. The ultimate guidance or answer comes only from within.
Is there a final destination? As we do inner work and change our inner world of thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and patterns, our perspective on life starts changing, and we view the same situations anew. If, through the process of inner work, we replace low self-esteem with self-love, our relationships in the outside world also start transforming. We start to attract people who will love us, respect us, and accept us—as we are. The benefits of inner transformation hugely outweigh the efforts. There is no final destination; it’s the journey that matters, which we all must enjoy and cherish.
As the Bhagavad Gita says, yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the Self.