We all live inner lives. Thoughts and feelings that sometimes we are hardly aware of exist almost independently of our outward existence. Occasionally, when we become more conscious of what is going on within us, we might express the idea, the thought, the feeling. Often we will suppress it, especially when we don’t have someone close whom we can trust.
It is that suppression that can cause us all kinds of problems. You can imagine some of them; perhaps you have experienced a few yourself.
Learning to listen to ourselves is the best way that I know to becoming more authentic and expressing who we are to others. When you do that with people who love you, and whom you trust, then you know your inner, secret self is safe. Before you can do that, you must practice it with yourself first. When you can really hear, understand and accept yourself, you are more likely to be able to express what is important to you. And when you do that, the surprising thing is that others will learn to trust and respect you more.
In other words, holding back reduces trust, expressing authentic feelings increases it.
It’s odd then that the opposite seems to be more of the norm. Fearing what others may think of us is so common that we must believe that we are the only one who has an inner life!
In peace
.
Warren Redman
www.EFitInstitute.com
10866-310- 3348 (EFit)
Warren Redman trained in the UK as a psychotherapist, facilitator and coach and has developed his own unique style of Life Coaching which he calls Emotional Fitness Coaching. He is president of the Emotional Fitness Institute (formally the Centre for Inner Balancing), writing about, teaching and coaching people in success skills of Emotional Fitness. He is the author of fifteen books, including the Award-winning The 9 steps to Emotional Fitness, Achieving Personal Success and Recipes for Inner Peace.
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