Self Connection + How to Look Within Yourself (10 epic tips)
It’s a noisy world out there. Our feeds are full and clever marketing is constantly telling us “you need to do this, then you’ll be happy…better…pretty…etc.”. My remedy? Learning how to look within. It’s a pretty sweet skill.
So welcome to my self connection guide.
The tips here are the things that help me the most.
So let’s get to it!
Table of Contents Show
What Is Self Connection? (meaning + benefits)
Self connection is a form of introspection. It’s a deep connection with yourself that, through self reflection, unlocks more clarity and closeness with who you are.
Connecting with yourself is building a stronger relationship with yourself. It’s knowing who you are, what makes you tick and why you do certain things.
It’s that old mantra: know thyself.
But why bother at all with this, anyways?
Show me the perks!
11 Sweet Benefits of Looking Within
Greater self awareness
Better decision making
Know what you want and manage your time more efficiently
Understand your personal weaknesses and strengths better
Improve your EQ (emotional quotient) skills
Improve perspective-taking (understand yourself – understand others)
Boost awareness for subconscious thoughts and/or behaviors
Strengthen your creativity muscles
Increase your self confidence
Cultivate a greater sense of purpose
Be more authentic and true to yourself
How to Look Within Yourself (10 epic self connection tips)
Introspection is a soft skill. And (like any skill) it’s something you can get better at.
So try these tips out!
1. Try Meditation
One of the best ways to boost your self awareness and look deep inside yourself is through meditation.
If you’re new to it, it may take a little while to get comfortable and feel the full benefits.
But rest assured (as I speak from personal experience), it’s one of the best habits you can start to amplify your life.
There are numerous benefits, but one of the more immediate ones is introspection and a sense of self awareness.
You can learn more about my personal style and approach to meditation for creativity and clarity here.
2. Talk It Out
Talking things out with someone can seriously help when trying to connect with ourselves more deeply.
I think the reason is twofold.
First, we get an outside perspective on things.
Second, turning thoughts into words (rather than leaving them merely as mental notes swirling in our heads) creates more clarity and organization.
Close friends, family or speaking with a professional (such as a coach or therapist) are all great options here.
Whoever you decide to speak with, it’s just nice to have a sounding board to bounce thoughts off of from time to time.
3. Write It Out
If talking things out isn’t your speed, then writing is worth exploring.
It’s cathartic, free and self reflective.
Journaling and intuitive writing (brain-dumping without a plan) is a great option here.
Here are some quick tips to try intuitive, or consciousness, writing:
Don’t worry about grammar or spelling
Set aside a dedicated time block for writing
Try using a writing prompt
Don’t judge yourself or your writing and ideas
Write continuously without stopping (save reflection and review for after)
Don’t compare yourself to others or worry about “rules” or what you’re “supposed” to do
4. Walk It Out
Taking a stroll is a great way to clear our minds.
With a little intention, it can also be a nice way to hit pause, reflect on things and look within.
You can walk through the woods, the city or your favorite spot and just watch your thoughts float by as you stroll along.
But I also like to keep my Notes app open on my phone so I can jot down any epiphanies or aha! moments I may have while walking about.
Either way, going for a walk is a great way to get perspective, reflect on things and look deeper within.
5. Practice Intuition Exercises
Let’s take intuitive writing one step further.
Intuition exercises can be a great way to connect with yourself more deeply. These are like training sessions that help you develop and strengthen your intuition.
And stronger intuition makes looking within much easier.
So here are a few quick tips and ideas for trying intuition exercises:
Try journaling
Boost your mindfulness with meditation and visualization
Practice paying attention to and getting in tune with your body and mind
Try remembering and reflecting on your dreams
Stay patient
Take a social detox and get in touch with yourself absent of outside influence
6. Take A Test
Who doesn’t love a good self-reflection test?
I mean, it's usually pretty fun to learn more about yourself. And these can be a great way to dig deeper and look within.
You may have done something like this before. But two great self assessment tests to try are a personality test or personal value test.
Both of these self assessments offer key insights into who you are, what you care about and why.
I recommend this personalvalu.es test and this personality test.
Both are free and I’ve done both myself (multiple times).
7. Use Entertainment
Let’s use entertainment for this next tip.
Music, movies and stories give us a lot of inspiration and opportunities for self reflection.
Whether it’s an old song that creates nostalgia or a movie that expands your perspectives, these external connections can strike a chord and resonate with us in various ways.
The trick is to become aware of those moments and dig deeper by asking why.
Understanding why we connect with particular content and things gives us clues about who we are and what we like.
The simplest way to look within using our favorite entertainment is to go from passive to active reading, watching or listening.
That is, pay more attention to your emotions and reactions to things. Keep a journal and track your mood and preferences this way.
8. Design Your Dream Life
What does your picture-perfect, ideal life look like?
Designing your dream life is a cool exercise and a fun way to look within yourself.
I think we all do this to some extent (let’s call it daydreaming). But we can make things a little more strategic and self reflective.
Designing a dream life means you’re dialing in on the specific details and nuances of what it is you want.
It’s a great way to look deeper inside to uncover (and create) the ideal life you want.
Here are some quick tips to get started:
Connect with your future dream life emotionally (what would it feel like to live your dream life?)
Get extremely detailed and consider every aspect of your future dream life (smells, sights, sounds, etc.)
Borrow inspirations from your idols or favorite movies and shows
Practice visualizing your future dream life, and living it as if it’s already happened
9. Play With Different Personas
In business and marketing, it’s common to create a customer avatar.
These are personas that organizations and entrepreneurs can use to create customized content and messaging for a particular audience subset.
Among other things, this keeps a brand aligned, strategic and intentional.
So let’s borrow this move and create (or play with) our own personas.
Actually, creating an alter ego is nothing new – many famous and successful people do it all the time.
It’s a great way to uncover fears, discover goals and realize interests or things that resonate with you.
It’s like giving yourself the green light to become the person you truly want to be deep down.
It takes self reflection and digging deep.
So who would you be if you could be anyone?
10. Stay Patient + Open
As they say, the only constant is change.
This advice fits for our purposes here.
Connecting with yourself and understanding who you are on a deep level isn’t always easy (and can often change).
So we need to stay patient with ourselves and be open to change.
If you’re feeling frustrated or rushed to connect more deeply, it may be helpful to practice patience and mindfulness over self reflection and looking within.
Because introspection requires mindfulness and patience.
It’s like building our foundation and having a long-term, sustainable mindset.
So try not to get mad at yourself if you’re not finding all the answers straight away (or seem to be changing your mind too often).
It’s all part of the process.
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