What is it that influences the way we relate to ourselves?  Understanding this is vital to creating harmony and peace.  I am not saying we need to be questioning ourselves constantly, but it is important to periodically check in with ourselves and draw our awareness inward.  Without bringing awareness to the seemingly automatic sub-conscious mind we may never realize the perfection of who and what we are.

Are we conscious of what is affecting our mood and our worldview?

Could it be that the accumulation of all past experience strongly influences the way we experience life?  I am not saying that we are not unique and in some way untainted by the past, we are, but how strongly does the past presently exist within you?

Understanding the past and how it affects our perception is key to understanding how we feel and experience life.  Ever have one of those “ah ha” moments?  I am sure you have.  Most likely it came about as a result of some inner reflection into some past experience and humbly acknowledging how our behavior led to a particular outcome.  This is how we witness how our relation to the past influences our reality.

It is through these “ah ha” moments that we find motivation to grow and evolve.  Taking time to reflect is important if we want to enrich our lives.  When we give ourselves time to be inwardly aware we start the process of transcending old patterns and belief structures that no longer serve us.  And how do we know whether particular patterns and belief structures serve us or not?  First and foremost, growing takes a certain kind of humility.  Without being honest with yourself you will not grow into the person who your higher self years to be.

If you want to grow you must humbly ask yourself a few questions from time to time:

Does this way of relating to the world bring me peace?

Does this way of thinking enable me to be inwardly aware and sensitive to myself?

Does this way of thinking allow me to see people and things as they are or do these thought structures create a reality before me that is based in some pre-conceived notion?  If so, does this limit my ability to see things as they are and be grounded in this moment?