Self-Power

(jiriki, "Inner Work")

Positive Support from Deep Within

As you begin traveling The Path to Good Work, you can strengthen your connection with positive support from deep within by cultivating the “self-power” half of your “launch platform.”

(CW: Some call this “cultivating intuition”. I call it “personal mastery” or “skillful means”. See “Other-Power” for the other half of your “launch platform.”)

Image of CW sitting cross-legged, meditating on a beach, while watching the sun set.
Contemplation, Reflection, Self-realization, Individuation, Self-discovery
“Am I awake? Or am I asleep just dreaming I’m awake?”

Through "self-power" (the inner work) you can:

  • Cultivate deeper self-trust and self-support.

  • Open up to the “big picture” or an embodied vision of the world as it really is.

  • Clarify your personal purpose.

  • Concentrate your energies on defining the goals that naturally arise from that purpose.

  • Define the milestones and measurable objectives that will reach those goals.

  • Execute the action steps that will complete those objectives and reach those milestones.

  • Persevere. Do what needs to be done, regardless of how you feel.

  • Watch patiently for the expected positive outcomes.

  • Make adjustments based on a realistic assessment of results.

  • Begin and continue.

Mindfulness is the Key to Increased Self-Awareness

Mindfulness is the most powerful force you can use for increasing awareness. It’s your best tool to break through to get what you want.

With mindfulness, you can:

  • Make ecological, social, and spiritual values an integral part of your life
  • Sustain work that is both meaningful and nurturing to self and others.

With mindfulness:

  • Awareness naturally arises.

Increased awareness compels you to learn how to:

  • Identify and overcome the negative inner voices that hold you back.
  • Practice self-acknowledgment and learn to minimize risks.
  • Raise self-esteem and build motivational energy.
  • Learn to tap into your inner wisdom and use it as a guide for this journey.
Two young men sitting cross-legged and meditating on the beach.

Self-Power as Values Clarification

Inner Work.
Doing the "Inner Work"

It also helps to get clear about your “true” personal values, not just those that have been imposed on you by family, community, and society.

Top Three Awareness Challenges of Self-Power

Many of the inner obstacles to getting what you want arise from your own attitudes and behavior.

Self-power relies heavily on your willingness to become more aware of these challenges.

The top three awareness challenges of “self-power” are:

Calligraphy Square
  1. Identify and overcome inner obstacles and challenges
Calligraphy Triangle
  1. Uncover and detach from feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that cause harm to yourself or others
Circle
  1. Cultivate thoughts and actions that reduce harm and increase well being for yourself and others.

Top Four Awareness Practices of Self-Power

The top four specific mindfulness practices that can aid in expanding your self-awareness to meet those challenges include:

  1. Focus
  2. Concentration
  3. Patience
  4. Perseverance
Bodhi Tree Leaf

1. Focus

  • Narrow your attention to a specific action or task bringing it into the foreground.
  • Include a soft focus on the background of circumstances and conditions that action or task is enmeshed within.

2. Concentrate

  • Bring full attention to bear on doing that action or task in a manner appropriate to that context. 
  • Like a seasoned surfer, you concentrate on the ride along the curl of the background wave, while you “hang 10” and point your board down the foreground shoot that unfolds ahead as it simultaneously collapses behind.

3. Be Patient

  • Relax into the probability that desirable outcomes can take time to unfold.
  • Be alert to subtle changes in the curl as it unfolds, and practice non-attachment to the urge to push the wave.

4. Persevere

  • The truly great rides come to those who “hang in there” well after most others have given up and headed for the safety of the beach.

Create Your Own Mindfulness-Based

Personal Learning Environment

Image of people working together to build and furnish a structure.

Mindfulness allows you to  . . .

. . . recognize the present moment

. . . again and again.

From the present moment, you can . . .

. . . discover clear thinking

. . . build a strong connection

. . . to deep intuition. 

From the present moment, you can more easily:

  • Clarify your vision of life and your personal purpose.
  • Concentrate your energies on the goals arising from that vision and purpose.
  • Patiently wait for positive outcomes.
  • Persevere, doing what needs to be done, regardless of how you feel.
  • Practice self-trust and self-support.
  • Seek support from an experienced guide and those close to you or people new to you with whom you feel a deep rapport.

Returning to the present moment, again and again, provides you with an environment conducive to learning and growth. With mindfulness as a regular practice, you can rely on this for the rest of your life.

Regular Mindfulness Practice Becomes

Life-Long Learning

In such an environment, you will learn how to . . .

  • Identify and overcome the inner voices that hold you back.
  • Practice the steps to self-acknowledgment and risk minimization.
  • Raise self-esteem and build motivational energy.
  • Learn to tap into your inner wisdom and use it as a guide.

Want to Learn More About

Using Mindfulness to Find Meaningful Work?

Good Work Guidance™

For employees, managers, and executives who work for others (and prefer it that way).

Click here to learn more.

Good Business Advice™

For creatives, activists, and entrepreneurs who work for themselves (or want to).

Click here to learn more.

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