This is Going Inward, a 7-day journey into your inner life.

+ FRAMING TRANSCRIPT

This is Going Inward, a 7-day journey into your inner life. Today is Day 5.

One of the keys to going inward is curiosity.
And not just any curiosity, but the full-on, wide-eyed curiosity of a child.

I don’t know if you can remember -
I can’t quite, but I can imagine myself as a child, being so new to the world that everything pulsed with possibility, and everything I experienced was for the first time.

If you have little kids in your life, I’m sure you see this with them. But for us, as adults, we can get the impression that we’ve seen a lot of what there is to see and know a lot of what there is to know. Even if it’s not our conscious attitude, it’s an assumption that can creep in: basically, a sense that we know how the world works, what’s possible, what’s out of scope.

But this can be a trap we lay for ourselves.
We create parameters in advance about what our lives could be and who we could be in our lives.
So the key to going inward is to release the rigidity of that knowing, to release the constraints of our experience so far, and to go like a child, open to possibility.

What might I find in here? What could happen?
This applies especially in two areas:
First, to the mess.
We’ve talked about the mind, we’ve talked about the tangles and the turmoil that can exist there.
And in all seriousness, even at a young age, many of us are already quite experienced with pain.
So I don’t mean to belittle it in calling it the mess.
But rather just to acknowledge how challenging and full of obstacles this inner landscape can be.
This is one area to get curious about.
Does the rest of my life need to feel like this?
Am I stuck in it forever?
Or is something else possible?
Could I actually think and feel differently in the future?

The second area to get curious about is the nature of your inner Spirit.
What is this power you carry at your core?
Does Spirit feel like a she or a he or an it? Or a combination of those? Or something more?

What would it be like for you and your inner Spirit to have a personal relationship?

How would you address each other?
What would you explore?
Could your inner Spirit help you to access higher ground?
Over time, your internal landscape will become more and more familiar, just as the outside world has become more familiar with age and experience.

But right now, we get to open ourselves to the promise of something new.

What might be waiting for you here?

+ EXPERIENCE TRANSCRIPT

Curiosity

Welcome.

As you find your seat and allow breath to move through your body, I again just want to acknowledge the courageous thing you’re doing. This inner adventure takes a lot of heart.

You have started down a path that, if followed, will change you. You’re making a powerful choice and I celebrate you for it.

Alright so here we are,
back in the inner world.
Allow it to open up before you.
Allow yourself to become aware of inhabiting the mind,
the expanse of your inner experience.
Really just hold yourself in the midst of it for a moment.
This mind space, what we’re describing as the mind.
It’s probably already clear that this is vastly more than the brain, and a lot more than just your thoughts.
This inner environment you’re in right now, it’s full of feeling too, isn’t it?

Feel your heart for a moment.
Your heart and your mind, they work together.
They collaborate.
They are not enemies.
In fact, this space that you’re in is spacious enough to include all of your personal experience.
All of your thoughts, your feelings, your ideas, your memories, and your imagination.
And as for those unloving messages that can live in here, they don’t stand a chance.
Not against your inner Spirit.
And that’s who we’re going to see.
As you arrive here today, imagine yourself as a child.
Filled with the wonder of this environment,
curious about everything.
Look around, move around, take it all in.
What questions do you have?
What do you really want to know about your own inner landscape?
Let those questions arise for a moment.
And now, let’s approach Spirit,
the divine essence that animates this whole landscape
from the very center of you.
Perhaps you can start to feel the loving presence of Spirit in here,
that pillar of support and strength.
Move toward it.
Move toward Spirit as a child.
The spirit within you is perfectly strong in love, perfectly capable, perfectly prepared to hold and carry whatever it is that’s on your heart.

Let yourself feel Spirit’s love for you, just emanating.
And now, as a curious, open child, I invite you to greet your inner Spirit, say hello, in whatever language feels right to you.

Now, in a moment, I’ll invite you to share.
You know how children just share whatever thoughts and questions are on their mind, uninhibited?

You can do this with Spirit.
Spirit is the divine listener within you.
You don’t have to protect Spirit from anything.
You don’t need to pretend, or perform, or be afraid of what Spirit will think.

Spirit already knows you from within.
You are completely known, and completely loved by this divine listener.

Nothing you can ask or say will scare Spirit away.
So, what’s on your heart? What questions do you have? What are you struggling with? Or joyful about?

Start to share -- it could be silently or out loud.
Let your sharing be heard by your inner Spirit.
Keep going.
Yes, you’re doing great.
Now, open yourself to your inner Spirit’s embrace.
Allow your inner Spirit to embrace your inner child.
Let yourself be received.
You are fully received in this place.
You are loved just as you are.
And the more that you bring here to share, the more you will begin to receive.
Because Spirit longs to share with you, as well.

Well done today.