We spend so much of our time and energy investing into connections with others but we spend very little time investing in a connection with ourselves.

Sometimes it's hard to even identify what is our authentic self vs not. We live in a world where it's almost second nature to be followers and this in turn creates a disconnect with our internal awareness. Becoming more self aware is vital to any type of spiritual growth and authentic living.

One of the best ways to become more in tune with yourself is simply asking yourself questions. What inspires my soul? What brings me the most peace or inner joy? What challenges am I facing currently? What do I love doing? What is it that lights a fire in my soul? Even if you don't have immediate answers, just the very intention of searching for something deeper will set you on a path to a higher awareness.

Being our true selves as individuals is not an easy task in the society we live in. Those who show their authenticity are often subject to rash judgments, criticism, or even turmoil within relationships. But once you make the realization that whenever people are judging us or comparing, it is a projection of some kind of lack of awareness or possibly even a fear that that person might be holding onto. Often times our own actions or daily life choices can spark curiosity or questions in others minds but if that question in their mind brings them to an uncomfortable place - you will get resented for it.

It's important to remember in these situations that other people's reactions to us - it's none of our business - we have no control over it. It's only our business in the sense that every person and situation we encounter in this world is another teacher for us. A lesson. Being aware of our reactions or patterns when dealing with external judgements can teach us a lot about ourselves. If you have an unhealthy pattern of taking these judgments personally or responding in an angry manner, try to use that as a lesson and break free of these patterns.

Once you are able to rid yourself of these patterns, it unleashes a sense of freedom.

Inside your own mind without verbalizing this you can now say: "You're free to judge me. I'm not going to try to change your mind about me or this opinion. That feeling of judgment and energy is within you. It's not within me." How liberating is that?!

This goes both ways. If you are judging someone else it most likely doesn't even have anything to do with that person. But now you are the one with this unpleasant energy that you have to deal with. Those feelings of negative judgments are coming from a place within ourselves that hasn't been healed so it's a lesson for us to use that feeling and turn it into an opportunity to growth.

The world is always mirroring to us our level of consciousness or awareness.

Once we are able to tune into our inner selves on a deeper level we can unlock profound potential. Potential within our own spiritual growth but also a potential in a more worldly or physical sense. If we are in alignment with our truest self then nature and our external world begins to fall right into alignment with where it's supposed to be.