In today’s world, there is often conflict between one’s inner and outer selves. Every day, we are pulled in a myriad of different ways, and our actions do not always reflect our values and principles.
It takes some thought to become conscious of our inner selves and how they balance out. It is useful to examine what it looks like to achieve inner balance in order to achieve individualized restoration.
The framework for better mental, physiological, and spiritual health is becoming mindful of your inner self and how it interacts with your outer self. That is why it is an essential aspect to regard when attempting to achieve a sense of balance in your life.
Outer And Inner Selves
Our outer self is what we show the world and we normally manage to customize it to represent the best version of ourselves. It can be beneficial to show a better outer self to the world than what we’ve been experiencing on the inside sometimes. Issues start, consequently, when this becomes a persistent behavior at the cost of your actual feelings.
The external self is mainly responsible for materialistic things, including how you present yourself (hair, clothes, etc.), and also associations to which you belong or character traits you represent.
Your outer self spends its time dealing with the requirements of the college, work, personal life, and whatever other real-world diversions you encounter on a daily basis.
A powerful inner self implies that you can deal with your feelings very well, that you are self-aware, that you have insight and a good sense of your principles, and that you have a sense of meaning and purpose in your life.
It also implies that you are capable of remaining calm and perseverance in the face of external hardships. Opposite to the outer self, the inner self is all about the emotions we feel which cannot be actually seen. Intuition, values, beliefs, personality, desires, purpose, thoughts, character, everything belongs to the inner self.
The Battle Between Our Inner And Outer Self
The issues between our inner and outer selves arise when we think about one thing and portray another. This creates a series of conflicts and rebellion within ourselves.
The stronger the clash, the larger the gap between what the inner self believes to be correct and what the outer self seems to be doing. This dispute eventually leads to anxiety, which can be harmful to the brain, body, as well as soul.
Most of the time, such conflicts begin as a consequence of not taking enough time to ponder on our inner self and just continuing to portray ourselves as someone we are not on the inside.
The clashes between your inner and outer self not just affect your mind, but can also lead to some major health issues as well. Stress, anxiety, and frustration caused by such situations make people more prone to illness.
Your day-to-day ability to process may also be impacted. From the outside, you may appear to be productive, but on the inside, you are hollow. When this occurs, you may be tempted to seek easy solutions to alleviate your discomforts, such as using alcohol or drugs.
How To Align Out Inner And Outer Self
In order to bring your inner and outer self to a state of balance, you need to acknowledge the distance between your core values and your actions. The following steps may help you in recognizing this gap and mending it for good.
- Write down your principles and values in life. These are the things that you strongly believe in and want to live life on such paths. They can include your morals for friendship, honesty, respect, integrity, etc.
- List your daily activities. This involves writing down the actions you take each day to fulfill your desire to live up to your values. Align the actions to each value and write them down.
- Analyze the matches between your values and actions. Take each of the lists in both your hands and read them simultaneously. You will be able to notice the difference between your thoughts and actions and on which values you need to work more.
By following these steps, you have picked out the problematic areas in your lifestyle. This is the first step towards improvement.
It is time to start calming your outer self in order to communicate with your inner self. Try to slow down, concentrate on the present moment, and pay attention to your opinions as you go about your day.
If you still have a constant feeling of the clash between the inner and outer self, try making changes in your life. This should be a process of going from making small changes to the big ones.
Do not abruptly do something like ending a relationship or leaving a job. Such sudden steps may take a toll on your mind even more. make yourself ready for change and then take steps to improve in all aspects of your life. Only you understand what particular changes would help you reconnect with your genuine inner self.
Be patient and consistent on the journey towards growth and alignment of your inner and outer self. Acknowledge the fact that disputes will arise at some point or other, but what matters more is your ability to deal with them and bring both yourselves to a state of balance.
You may discover that minor adjustments, such as slowing down per day and trying to take the opportunities to communicate and listen to others, are all that is required, instead of always being in a hurry. Sometimes the dispute between our inner and outer selves is minor and requires little effort to resolve.
This external world can be pressing, providing you with little time to assess if what is happening on the outside of your life corresponds to what you inevitably prefer on the inside.
