The Sun by Edvard Munch

by Beth

Clarity is an essential quality to embody to understand who you are and what difficulties you face, how they make you feel, and why you react or respond to them the way you do.

Clarity is related to the niyama in yoga called svadhyaya (self-knowledge). It means seeing things as they are, not how you want or wish them to be. When you bring clarity to your life, especially during times of change and turbulence, you will have a better understanding of yourself on all levels of being, physical, energetic, psycho-emotional, intuitive wisdom, and bliss. You will understand the what, why, and how your thoughts, emotions, and beliefs (helpful and unhelpful) feed your habits, health, behavior, and well-being.

BE-ing clear is BE-ing self-aware. It is svadhyaya. When you bring clarity, especially mental clarity, to an issue or situation, you see what is happening, correctly assess the situation, and then consciously choose to take action to support your goals. If clarity is not one of your strengths, you will likely find yourself bumping into the challenge of misperception, the opposite of clear seeing.

Misperceptions is a wrong or incomplete understanding of what you think and do. It is often influenced by past experience and how we may mis-remember it. This, coupled with unconscious thought and belief patterns, affects our thinking and feeling in the present and often results in wrong or incomplete understanding.

Here are three examples of how misperception can play out:

  1. If your perception of a situation is wrong, wrong action likely follows.
  2. If your perception is correct but you doubt yourself, you may take no action or wrong action.
  3. If your perception is correct and you are clear in your understanding, right action will result even if the outcome is not what you expected or hoped for. This, in a nutshell, is the goal of yoga.

To increase the presence of clarity in your life begin with the guiding light of svadhyaya, or self-knowledge, a journey you take to become fully self-aware. It’s a process that can involve reading, workshops, self-reflection, journaling, therapy, support groups, a daily yoga practice, or meditation to name just a few techniques. The clarity you gain from the process will help you:

  • Find better solutions for your issues
  • Make better lifestyle choices
  • Manage stress
  • Improve relationships that can be improved
  • End toxic relationships that cannot be improved
  • Lessen the tendency to judge yourself and others
  • Understand what you can and cannot control

Research shows that people with self-awareness skills tend to have better psychological health, a positive outlook on life, and are likely to be more compassionate toward themselves and others. This larger sense of self results in the ability to navigate life from a calm center no matter the swirls, whirls, and storms that will inevitably surround you.

One way to deepen your self-knowledge and increase clarity is with a short life-stage review. We all pass through several stages from birth to death. The yoga tradition calls them ashramas. They are:

  1. Student (Brahmacharya): As a student (or child) one learns about one’s role in family and society.
  2. Adult/Householder (Grihasta): As an adult one raises a family and/or makes a contribution to society through relationships, work, or volunteer efforts.
  3. Mid-Life/Forest Dweller (Vanaprasta): One begins the preparatory work for later life, and retirement for those with jobs and careers.
  4. Golden Years/Renunciate (Samnyasin): One may decide to turn the final years into a focused opportunity for creativity, volunteer work, hobbies, travel, caring for family, and/or spiritual pursuits

Life-Stage Review

To deepen your self-knowledge based on a short life-stage review, you can select and write down honest answers to one of the following questions using your life stages or feel free to develop a key question of your own. Start by selecting your question and then follow the instructions below.

  • How do I think/feel about my life?
  • What do I need?
  • What do I want?
  • Why do I act the way I do?
  • What do I believe about  ____________ (fill in the blank)?

Instructions:

Part 1: Jot down your current life stage. Answer your chosen question as honestly as you can.

Part 2: Now think about yourself in your prior life stage. Jot down what your answer was at that time.

Part 3: Now think about yourself in your next life stage. What would you like the answer to be when you reach it?

Part 4: Compare your answers and journal on any changes that stand out from your three answers. Consider reflecting on the following points:

  • What have I learned about myself?
  • Have I gained clarity on any aspect of my life?
  • How can I use what I’ve learned to bring more clarity in my life going forward?

Gaining clarity about who you are and getting clear about any issues you face will allow you to consciously make a change, choose not to change as long as you are prepared to deal with the consequences, or find your way to acceptance and peace if no change is possible.

 

Beth’s self-awareness newsletter is published six times a year. It features informative, inspiring and entertaining tips for finding clarity, contentment, and resilience in a complicated world. For more information and to sign up for the newsletter go to www.bethgibbs.com.

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