Introspection

When was the last time you sat down with yourself, by yourself, and really inspected, analyzed, and evaluated your life?  When was the last time you allowed a second person to do it for you?

If it’s been a while, there’s probably a reason for that: it’s a very scary thing to do.  Who knows what you might discover?

For me, it was just last week. It surprised me on many levels. I was surprised that I needed to do any introspection in the first place and once I got started I was surprised by how hard it was to do. Mostly I was surprised by how good I felt afterwards.

It began with one innocent question, a variation of the typical “how are you?”. It turned in to an incredibly personal, amazingly deep four-day- long conversation and late night soul searching. While I won’t get into the details (see above adjectives) I would like to write about the results.

For better or for worse I have come to realize the following:

• I have many blessings in my life.
• I have talents that need to be put to better use. And I have the resources to make that happen. 
• I am ready to start making some changes in my life.

Instead of passively waiting for life to come to me, and instead of making excuses for my lack of personal progress, I need to get up and DO.

I need to set goals. I need to accomplish said goals.  I need to serve others. I need to find and/or work on hobbies. I need to be busier. And not just busy for the sake of being busy- I need to be doing something worthwhile with my time.

Don’t worry. I’m not going to fill my time with projects just so that I can avoid further introspection (although that is tempting). I need to start asking myself if the abundant amount of free time in my life can be put to better use than NCIS marathons on USA.

If you’re thinking about trying an introspection of your own, I highly recommend it. But beware. The results might surprise you.