Hello Friends and Fellow Travelers,
In addition to the podcast, here are some accompanying questions you can ask yourself as a yearly check-in on how you're doing. Listening to the podcast and considering your life and your growth are excellent exercises in self-care. Actually sitting down and pondering these questions, while time consuming, is time well spent. We all deserve the same attention and close examination, at least once a year, we give to other areas of our lives. Remember that a personal inventory is not a critique. We are taking a positive inventory too! We are seeking a robust look at our priorities and growth in the past year, and the goal is purposeful self-knowledge.
Here are the first episode's questions. We covered Spirituality + Love & Intimacy.
SPIRITUALITY
Awareness and Connection with the Source
Has my sense of myself as a spiritual being connected to a Larger Power changed this year? How?
How often have I or do I become aware of a larger power than myself? In other words, how often am I conscious of God, a Higher Power, a Power greater than myself, the Source of Life?
What do I call this Power?
What do I believe the nature of this Power to be? (kind, distant, merciful, punitive, etc.)
What have I wanted in the last year that I’ve received or realized?
What questions have been answered?
What situations have resolved or improved?
Have I connected this growth or gain with the Source or Higher Power?
Have I shown gratitude?
What does connection to the Source feel like to me?
How have I experienced nature this past year?
What has it taught me?
(Note: The purpose of “religion” is to re-connect. Re = again, ligio = same root word for ligament. Connecting elements. The function of healthy religion is to connect and reconnect you to yourself, to God, and to others.)
Take a look at your religion: is it connecting or disconnecting? Do you feel closer to God as a result of religious practice or further away? Do you feel closer to yourself as a result of religious practice or distanced in shame?
When do I feel most connected to God?
When do I feel least connected to God?
What is my spiritual practice: what practices work to bring me into greater awareness of myself as a spiritual being? What brings me into greater conscious awareness of God?
Awareness and connection with myself
Has my perception of myself as a spiritual being changed in the past year? If so, how?
What is my spiritual practice: what practices work to bring me into greater awareness of myself as a spiritual being?
Awareness and connection with others
How has my awareness of my spiritual connection with others changed in the past year?
How aware of my own energy am I, day to day?
What do I feel like on the inside?
Are my relationships based in love or fear? Which ones?
How aware am I of God, Energy, the Source, and/or the Higher Power in others?
How does this affect my relationships?
Do I have a sense of purpose, as I know myself today? WRITE IT DOWN. (You can always change it!)
LOVE & INTIMACY
Love: (M. Scott Peck) willing and acting in the best interest of another human being for their mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being
Love = two parts
1. The will = the feeling
2. The action = the choice
Intimacy: “into-me-see” = the state of being safe to be transparent, hiding nothing, being and feeling accepted and protected in that space
Relationship with myself
LOVE: The feeling that you’re worth it, the sense within you that your life is worth caring for and nurturing, the will to act towards your own care
Has this changed in the past year?
Increased? Decreased?
How do I actually feel about myself?
Do I love myself more or less?
Do I like myself more or less?
Greater self-understanding?
In what areas?
What areas remain mysterious?
What have I learned about myself?
How do I feel about the new knowledge I have about myself?
How am I using it, putting it to use?
The actions of love
Self-care = RENEW
Rest
Exercise
Nutrition
Emotional expression (processing)
Water
Investment of time in self-care
Meal planning
Cooking
The time it takes to exercise
The time it takes to get adequate sleep
Intimate relationship
Therapy
Intimacy: romantic/erotic relationship/partnership
How have we grown in our ability to meet our partner’s needs?
Which needs of theirs are difficult for us to meet? Why?
Where is the trust strong? Weak?
Where has the relationship grown? What’s stronger? Closer?
Where is the relationship stagnant? What needs to change?
Has the relationship regressed? Is anything weaker than it was this time last year? What is the plan to shore it up? Is it discussed? Out there in the open?
How intimate are we? Rate the intimacy of your relationship on a scale of 1-10.
What changes would need to happen for the intimacy to grow even just a little bit?
Is it time for counseling?
How is the friendship in your intimate relationship?
Does your partner know what is important to you?
Do you know what is important to your partner?
Are you stuck in a relationship that isn't going in the direction you want? Why are you staying/what needs is it meeting?
Has there been betrayal? (not just infidelity with another person but any kind of significant alignment away from the commitment you make/made to one another)
Intimacy: Friendships
Do I trust my friends? Which ones?
Who really knows me?
Who have I grown closer to? Why?
Who have I grown more distant from? Why?
(more on this next week!)
Checking in on boundaries...
Easier for me to set?
With whom? Why?
Still a challenge?
With whom? Why?
Intentional relationships: who is worthy of the investment of your time and energy as a friend? (We aren't talking about inherent worth as a human being but rather a friendship that is worth the time spent cultivating it.)
Who are we spending time, energy, and money on?
Are these friendships, the ones in which we are invested, meeting our needs for belonging, confidence, intimacy, encouragement, and safety?
This is enough to get us going!
Tune in next week for our second installment of "The Yearly Inventory."
We'll cover Life Work/Career + Community + Health/Fitness.
Walking with you,
Vanessa