One Apple A Day #805 - within us
"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."
Henry David Thoreau
I used this quote a few days ago in an email as an invitation to self-exploration. And then it came back yesterday during a conversation about these turbulent time we are living. We were discussing the uncertainty of the future and how clinging to the past, hoping for things to go back as they were, doesn't seem to work.
What lies ahead is so uncertain that making predictions is an almost useless exercise. What lies behind us can't give us the answers we are looking for, because the rules of the game have changed.
Then, the wisest thing to do is to focus on the present moment and on what lives with us.
It is then, a time for introspection.
Introspection is a powerful yet very tricky practice.
In her book "Insights", Tasha Eurich reports about a study revealing that "more than 14,000 university students showed that introspection was associated with poorer well-being".
According to Eurich, the problem is not introspection per se, it is how we do it. We all approach introspection as a way to find the definitive truth, the final answer that will give sense to everything in our lives. But our inner world is as complicated and messy as the outer one. So, it is impossible to find a singular cause for anything.
As a result, many are frustrated for finding nothing after all their effort digging within their thoughts and emotions.
Using Eurich's words, "introspection should be a process of open and curious exploration rather than a search for definitive answers".
If we accept that our inner world is infinite and messy, like the universe, then introspection becomes an exciting, never-ending and rewarding journey.