To gain clarity on your personal growth journey, take note of the following:
Quiet Down : To gain clarity, it is important to quiet down in order to hear and listen to your thoughts, gut feeling, intuition and the Holy Spirit’s still small voice. In today’s world, we are beclouded with a lot of activities and noises. You’d have to fight for QUIET. You can quiet down by:
- A dopamine fast – I first heard this from Dr. Cindy Trimm. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter release that plays a role in how we feel pleasure. It encourages us to repeat activities that excite. There is a rush of excitement we feel when we get notifications on our phones. A dopamine fast will include turning off your phone or not touching your phone until you have spent some time in quiet without the interruption of what is going on in the world.
- Sleeping early – Your likelihood of waking up early is further increased with sleeping early. When you wake up earlier than the rest of the world, it is easier to focus on you and hear your thoughts loudly. This might also work with staying up late if you are a night owl. The quietness of the night is refreshing and can help you quiet down.
Write it out or Record it : As you create the space and time for some quiet, you need to record what you see or hear. In this moment, you can begin to ask yourself what do I really want in my life? Picture your dream self and write it out with no limitations.
Write out how you are feeling. Write out why you think you feel that way. Write out what is currently making you feel confused. Write out your fear.
Basically, pour out those thoughts on paper or in a voice note and just leave it. You can come back at another time or day to review. Sometimes, your answer(s) will be staring right back at you from that exercise.
Be an active participant : You want clarity on what next to do? Start to pay attention. If you have asked the Holy Spirit to direct you, key into His direction. Ask Him to open your eyes and to help you pay attention.
Expect to see a sign or receive a nudge. Don’t be passive and just be like whatever. Look forward to you receiving clarity. If you get a consistent thought in that direction, that’s a great head start. Also be mindful of restraints and unrest in your heart.
Start out with the little you know: Remember “little drops of water make a mighty ocean”, start out with the little you know. If it is a picture of writing a book you have but you are unsure what the title or content would be yet, write out a list of the topics that you could easily write on.
And jot one or two points from it. Sometimes, you do not get the full picture at once, so keep working with the current picture you have and continue to ponder on that.
Ask what if it goes right? Personally for me, sometimes I really do know or sense what I should do (if I am being honest), but I am just afraid to do it so confusion then becomes the disguise I hide under in order not to step out. One of the ways I have found to help me walk through this is whilst or after pondering on what could possibly go wrong, I then think about what could possibly go right.
This always changes the game. This can be in terms of having a hard conversation or dealing with imposter syndrome on something I am working on. If it doesn’t go as planned, pick the lessons and keep going.
Talk with experienced or/and older people – Talk to someone who might have walked your path. Explain how you feel. Ask them for advice on what to do, especially if you think that they have gone through something similar. This can also extend to reading books or listening to audio/video resources on the matter. Immerse Inner Circle provides helpful resources.
Written by Temiloluwa Durojaiye.