The beauty of my journey is that it’s always been pretty unpredictable, so stay tuned.
Andreja Pejic
What Is Self-Inquiry?
Self-Inquiry is the art of finding and asking yourself the most important questions.
These questions are always specific to your individual journey though life yet they revolve around 2 major themes:
What is it like to be me? (and is it what I thought?)
Do my thoughts and beliefs about my experience match my direct experience?
“Heart”, “Logic”, and “Feeling Into”:
I am sure you have heard the term “follow your heart”?* Have you noticed that in our modern society we have a tendency to either:
- Let our emotions guide our behavior. (Usually what feels good)
- Decide what we “should” do by logic and problem solving. (Usually in an attempt to move towards pleasurable experiences and avoid unpleasant ones)
What we know from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is that from the Eastern perspective thoughts (logic) and emotion (feelings) are actually both arising from the same “organ” of the Mind. (thinking/emotional brain).*
This actually runs parallel to what we now know from modern neuroscience (Western perspective). Which is that what we feel (emotions) actually strongly affect what SEEMS logical to us. In fact in clinical experience I often see that the most strongly held beliefs my clients have (that are causing stress and suffering) are often the least logical.
Self Inquiry requires something very different than the usual approach of feeling vs logic. It requires looking past or through both how you think and how you feel to see if you can become conscious of the difference between what you experience and your reaction your experience. (Huh? Don’t worry it becomes clear on the next page!)
*One of my teachers did a great blog post on this topic here if you are interested in further reading.*
*The interplay between Body Brain and Thinking/Emotional Brain can be a bit confusing. Here is a quick recap.
Up Next: The Difference Between Experience And Your Reaction To That Experience