Focusing on Inner Life

I have a strong ability to focus. I spend a lot of time focusing on things outside myself.

I tend to focus on my goals, or on obstacles to achieving them. I focus on what I set out to accomplish, on things I hope to acquire, on taking the steps that I see leading where I want to go. When people ask me for help, there is usually something they would like to do more effectively because we have worked together.

Much of my focus is on actions that will strengthen my outer life.

It is more of a challenge for me to focus on inner life.

For one thing, inner life tends to resist focus. It often feels less tangible, less accessible than the life that happens around us. It is one thing to set clear, meaningful, measurable goals for physical health or financial growth. It is much more challenging to set the same kind of goals for our inner lives.

Many of us are much more comfortable with life in the world around us. We have developed our external senses and our brains depend on what they tell us. Life outside us seems more real to us because we trust the tastes and smells, sights and sounds that have shaped our lives.

Inner life is a mystery to us because we have not learned how to explore it. We have not found ways to be comfortable within ourselves. We do not trust the ways we relate to it.

We use different versions of our tools to focus on inner life.

We concentrate our attention to appreciate the world around us. We pause and reflect to appreciate our inner life.

How do you focus on inner life?

Are you comfortable exploring your inner life?

[Image by leoglenn_g]