Self-discovery work is not indulgent, but self-doubt is

I am genuinely surprised at how often people express guilt and shame around doing self-discovery work. I just welcomed a new cohort into the Vision Program and already this has come up in conversation. Some perceive themselves as being self-indulgent – irresponsible, even.

They question: Who am I to be sitting around figuring out what inspires me, especially when there is so much suffering in the world?

My response is: Who are you not to?

I don’t see this kind of work as a privilege, I see it as a responsibility – to ourselves and to humanity-at-large.

Self-discovery work allows us to be in service

Every atrocity perpetrated by humankind is committed in an attempt to gain power from outside of ourselves. When we are disconnected from our internal source of energy, we will attempt to steal it from others – be it in the form of their money, their land, their dignity, their well-being, or their rights. This thievery is done from a place of inner lack – always.

Every conflict is some form of a power struggle, including those in the workplace. One of the most common reasons people engage in the act of work is to “get” money. Already, this is approaching it from a place of externalizing our value. When we enter into relationship with work operating at a deficit, it never plays out very well.

The intention of self-discovery work is to reclaim our sovereignty. As a sovereign being, we do not seek anything outside of ourselves, especially our worth. When we remember the truth of who we are, we retrieve our inherent value, and then we are able to be who we are in service to the world.

The process of self-discovery work is to chip away at the encasements we have used to protect ourselves. While they may have been necessary at one time for safety, they also serve as a shield that prevent us from recognizing our own magnificence. Each person has a tremendous amount to give – our strengths, our light, our authenticity, our creativity, our love. When we block ourselves from seeing our true selves, we doubt our value. We even doubt our own existence. Stuck behind this wall of self-doubt, we deny the world our precious gifts. 

Your self-doubt keeps you from giving that which you are here to give.

As we remove the barriers to who we really are, we reconnect with an infinite source of energy within. This is what it is to be inspired. When we know we already have access to everything we need, no longer do we need to “get” anything from our work – we relinquish the power struggle. Then, we are free to give our whole selves in service to humanity. This is our inspired work.

Is it worth it?

People also question the affordability of doing this kind of work. There is a difference, however, between simply not having the resources available to participate in a program such as this and perceiving it’s not worth it. A big difference. Still, I hear protests about the privilege of being able to have this kind of experience when others cannot. It is true that not everyone has the means to do self-discovery work in this format, nor do they need to. There are an infinite number of paths to knowing our true selves. I just happen to offer a process that facilitates the journey in relationship with your work. Your willingness to discover your inspired work allows you to be in a position that you can offer your life in service to others who are taking a different path.

Your inspired work allows you to be in a position that you can offer your life in service to others.

Of course, we all have to allocate our resources in a responsible manner. We have bills to pay and children to care for. However, it’s interesting to me that some people are willing to spend twice the cost of this program on things like:

• A two-week vacation
• A gaming console
• A rider lawn mower
• A back row ticket to a Taylor Swift concert
• A pair of Jimmy Choo shoes

People will pay for experiences to find distraction from their unsatisfying life, yet to spend half the equivalent amount on a process that will help them fall in love with their entire existence is considered irresponsible. Your life, your livelihood, and your life-force energy are not worth the price of one Jimmy Choo shoe? I find this an alarming comment on our collective state of self-worth. Why should it not be that we lavish our money on our own being? Are we not worth it?

Are you worth it?

Throughout the latter half of my 20s, I splashed out a fair portion of my monthly paycheque for therapy. It didn’t actually help me much because I spent the majority of the time talking about my wounds and all the people in my life who “wounded me”. I just kept perpetuating stories that reinforced the externalization of myself. Rarely did I take responsibility for my own experience. And I most certainly did not get at the core of my own being. The work I offer is different in that we don’t focus on your wounds, we focus on YOU.

Yes, our wounds are a part of the experiences we’ve had in life, but they are not who we are. At least, not the truthful part. They are the propagation of a lie. They are the false stories we have accepted about ourselves as being real. The purpose of self-discovery work is not to “heal” those wounds, but to make it safe for them to reintegrate into our being. Our suffering is not caused by the wounds themselves, but in our resistance to them. Our perception is that they need to be “fixed” or to “go away”. In stiff-arming those parts of ourselves away from us, we also hold back the flow of our own life-force energy. This leaves us feeling depressed on the good days, questioning the point of our existence on the worst.

The purpose of self-discovery work is not to “heal” our wounds, but to make it safe for them to reintegrate into our being.

For self-discovery work to have effect, you must give yourself permission to focus on yourself for awhile. This can be challenging to those who feel called to do this as most have an ingrained sense of wanting to do right by everyone. But it is only when you reclaim yourself that you can actually be of service to others. For you to do your inspired work in the world, you do not have to “heal” your wounds, you simply have to welcome them home.

The act of taking responsibility for our lives and reclaiming our sovereignty is probably the most challenging work there is – and the most rewarding. Whether you choose to do this self-discovery work in the form of the Vision Program or some other path, I encourage you to give yourself the gift of your own inspiration. You are worth it.

And the value of your self-discovery is that we all benefit from you bringing your true self to the world. Of this, I have no doubt.