Knowing is different from having an information of. Knowing is experiencing. Knowing is actually having visited a place and feel how it is to be there.
We all have an information about our inner self; it is only but information. We actually have not visited our deepest selves. I do not have an idea or a percentage estimate about the number of people who would want to know about themselves, their true selves but I am sure some one who wants to be there may find this content supportive for his or her journey. Here are a few ways to do that:
Schedule a day or regular hours away from external environment
We only begin to know ourselves when we are not busy in external environment. When we are not watching TV, when we are not busy with the kids, when we are not getting ready for a dinner, when we are not preparing our tax return, when we are not worrying about a family issue, when we do not have to rush for our kids’ school, when we are not remembering some thing, when we are not planning our next week, only then we begin to get ready.
It is but just the beginning. If we do not have a committed, deliberate willingness, our journey is most likely to end very much there, with only experience of having spent a calm afternoon or evening.
Find someone whom you can talk to at a deeper level and ask him or her to blatantly speak about you.
This is extremely useful however carries certain risks. (a) Do that only if you are really ready to listen. For if you are not ready, you may find a negative feeling in your heart, or you may find a hair line in your heart just like that in a glass before it breaks (b) If you can listen to the comments without having any reverse thought about that person (c) If you are sure that such a truth about you shall not jeopardize your relationship with that person. (d) Truly thank the person after you have done that. (e) Do not offer the same activity to him/her for it may contain a will to justify or contra-comment towards him/her.
Decide to not commenting
Decide that you shall not comment about or on anything: moral or immoral, negative or positive, good or bad. For anything that we comment on, expands and becomes an external influence. Just observe and let it go unattached to your thoughts.
Find a mentor
You must know what to look for in a mentor. Patience. Preparedness. The Knowledge. And most importantly Love, for without love it is impossible to travel such a journey. Spend time with your mentor. Be respectful. Be genuinely respectful. Only genuine respect cultivates the soil of heart in which the seed of spiritual knowledge stays. Do what your mentor tells you to. Do not doubt.
Touch the nature around
Find a place where you can visit frequently. And go there frequently.
Be Nothing:
For a fixed part of the day decide to be nothing. Decide just for an hour of the day that you shall not identify yourself to be an achiever or a successful businessman or a great teacher or a wonderful mom or any adjective. Just assume nothing for yourself. Dive into nothingness.
Know the difference between going with the flow and going with the heart
The two necessarily are not the same. Some times the flow has its source from social norms, values and morals or what most of the people do for fun or for achieving a certain outcome. Go with the heart, even if it opposes the flow.
Go with the flow of universe
and not what majority of people around are involved with. To feel the flow of universe, become it. To become it, adopt its patience. To adopt its patience, adopt its speed of achieving results. This is the same speed at which a child takes her shape in her mother’s womb or a wheat plant grows inside the soil. Its slow yet very thorough and yet very disciplined and yet very regular.
Know God
For your knowledge about your God may just be an extension of your perceptions and projections. Know God what He is, not what you think He is. You would know thyself.
And that would create the greatest joy you would ever come across.