living from the inside out

a reflection on my journey of learning to live from the inside out.

Something feels different. The way I orient to my self, my world, and others no longer feels as it once did. There is a deeper peace, a quiet sense of purpose that feels less like something I have to grasp for and more like something that simply is. I wonder if this is the shift. The one that has been leading me to live from the inside out.

I’ve been on this path for some time. But lately, the knowing feels stronger. A knowing that living from my own source, my own internal indicators, the rhythms of my body, the wisdom of my emotions, is what leads to a life of fulfillment.

This knowing began with meditation and mindfulness. With journaling. With writing. Practices that allowed me to meet my own mind, to unravel the distorted illusions from the solid ground of reality. Practices that brought me closer to truth. My truth.

There was, and still is, pain in this journey. Resistance, too.

Peeling back the layers of armor I’ve built, revealing something more raw, more tender, more exposed to the burning sun, has been uncomfortable. But each time I let an old layer burn away, each time I trust the process of healing and regrowth, I feel a deeper wholeness. Or something like that.

Therapy deepened this practice. I went further into the darker waters of my mind, asking my protective parts to step aside so I could face my wounded ones. I thanked the parts that had kept me alive, the ones that fought for me, carried me, guarded me. I let them know they could rest now.

And I set a new intention. To be here for the parts of me that still ache. To listen to them. To ask what hurts and how I can be there. To nurture them. To love them. To love all of me.

This is what it means to live from the inside out.

We must go in. We must descend to ascend. We must examine the foundation, trace the cracks with gentle hands, tend to what is broken, and lay new ground with care. Only then can we rise, sturdy and whole.

Living from the outside in is a fragile business. Aesthetically pleasing, spiritually diseasing. It will crumble eventually.

For years, I bypassed what was truly needed. I poured my energy into polishing the armor, repositioning the mask. So much effort spent trying to keep the illusion intact. Like Don Quixote, lost in a fantasy, unwilling to face reality.

But we must descend to ascend.

The willingness to examine our minds, to seek truth, to meet the fractured and unintegrated parts of ourselves, to thank them, to love them, to heal them. That is the journey of living from the inside out.

And to live from the inside out is to live a life of peace, abundance, fulfillment, and meaning.

May you find the courage to turn inward and meet yourself with tenderness.

Be well,
Aurora