The Importance of Doing Your Inner Work
The Inner Work
The emphasis on goal is both right and it is wrong. The goal is important. The inner work – the transformation of beliefs, thoughts, and habits that stand in the way of achieving your goal – creates the possibility and opportunity for you to move to levels you haven’t been before. Often, it’s the inner work that makes achieving your goal possible.
Achieving Your Goals
Achieving your goals is both an external and an internal process. If you have goals you’re not reaching, you may be paying too much attention to the external, while it’s the internal work that needs to happen.
The Importance
It’s important to act and to do and to get going. But it’s also important to value the quiet time of reflection, of stepping back and considering the situation from a perspective that allows you to take stock and notice where you need to head.
Changes
True change takes time. In this world of quick results and impatience to
get to where you want to go, the essence can get lost. Give yourself space and time for the process to unfold. Be patient with yourself and the time that it takes to achieve your goals.
The Ones We Love
We can’t keep the ones we love from suffering, but we can offer compassion and love. When you notice that someone you love is suffering, let this person know that you love them very much and you wish them well. You can offer suggestions for things they might do that you think could help, but putting pressure on them to do these things only increases suffering – theirs as well as yours.
Ask Yourself
When you 
are feeling unhappy, or overwhelmed, or any other negative emotion, ask yourself, “Is this how I want to be in this moment?” If the answer is ‘no’, you have a choice. Recognize that.
Then ask yourself, “How do I want it to be?” That’s all.
Staying on Track
When you’re on track it’s easy. You feel joy. You notice the benefit. It’s smooth going. When you get a little off track – and we all get off track from time to time – all it
takes a small adjustment to get yourself back on track. The further you go from
being on track, the more difficult it is to get back on and the more anxious,
upset and unwell you feel.