Ascending oneself via introspection and a basic understanding of body language

Dr Jekyll *

In today's world, we are bombarded with various distractions that detract us from focusing on ourselves analytically, mainly due to social media, TV, or video games. While we deal with the world around us, most of us do not take time to take stock of the seemingly insignificant aspects of our lives: such as how we literally carry ourselves, expressed through our body language, or how we automatically react to certain situations without a second thought.

These 'insignificants' are key to becoming a better version of yourself, provided you genuinely take the time out for introspection. Hopefully my words will prove instrumental, at least as a starting point, in guiding you on your path to ascending towards a better version of yourself through understanding and influencing your deeper emotional and mental processes.

Before we get to the heart of the issue, there is an underlying condition that makes it difficult for us to properly peer into our thoughts and emotional functioning: distraction from electronics and social media. These two combined act like Donald Trump's proposed wall, which is supposed to keep immigrants out.

In our case, the immigrants are highly skilled labour, itching to work on improving your mental and emotional faculties! Unfortunately for most of us, Trump has taken over the Presidential seat in our brains and has already put up his walls, as seen with us indulging in social media and electronics. The process of impeaching him starts with understanding why you are hooked on social media or electronics.

For the majority of people, they rely on social media and electronics to avoid boredom, or to avoid being left with just their own thoughts. The crux of the wall being put up lies in how society has shunned the concept of being a loner, or having few friends, which is understandable given our evolutionary trait of relying on each other to succeed as a species.

I am not proposing anything extreme like cutting contact with your friends, to attain a better understanding, like a monk. Letting go of social media or electronics when you have time alone and indulging your thoughts is the very first step you have to take in introspection.

To make things interesting on your path to self-revelation, I highly recommend keeping a journal that you go to at the end of your day, instead of opening up your phone to check up on social media or play Candy Crush. Write upon a thought, concept, or experience that has been nagging your mind and explore it through written words.

You want to direct your thought process by following a very basic pattern of what, why, how, and when (if applicable) regarding the thought. This will give you insight on how to deal with, or at least understand, most concepts or events that irradiate the corners of your mind.

The goal with this is to analyze a situation, concept, memory, or thought from every possible angle, in order to obtain a clear understanding of it. Only resort to writing about your day, if you do not have any issues nagging you.

With your path to introspection well on its way, the main thing that will aid you in keeping a positive mindset lies in how you literally carry yourself. Body language is a powerful indicator of how people perceive you, including yourself, and it is an essential factor in non-verbal communication.

Even in the absence of others, if you walk with your back straight, chest out (up to an extent), hold your head high and look ahead instead of downwards, and walk with long strides, imbued with purpose, you will feel confidence surge through you.

Slouching or making yourself small by keeping your arms crossed or keeping your limbs very close to your body affects your mental state negatively, because these traits in a posture strongly indicates low self-esteem, lack of energy, etc, to yourself and those around you.

A confident person sure of him or herself will normally take up more space (up to an extent that does not encroach on other people's personal space), square their shoulders, keep their back straight, let their chest out and look people in the eyes when they are engaged in a conversation. These attributes show a lack of fear, being comfortable in your skin, and a silent certainty that nothing will faze you.

The transition from having a submissive body language to a confident one will be tough and will be fraught with your mind going on overdrive with countless possibilities on how things can go wrong. This is the case if you generally have a fear of having people's attention on you, or if you suffer from a number of anxiety related issues.

However, I urge you to power through, begin by adopting this body language when you are by yourself, then try it out with close friends or family, and so on, until it becomes a natural part of you.

The saying 'fake it till you make it' applies here really well, because it is usually your own thoughts that will bombard you with negativity, while physically you might maintain a positive body language, giving off an image of a very well-adjusted person to those around you.

The goal with this is to feel at home wherever you are, which will become a natural part of you without expending a second thought.

I hope my words will help you in ascending to a better version of yourself. What I have laid out for you is just the starting point by providing you with the basic tools.

The rest is up to you to carve out your own path, just make sure you do not let your inner Hyde, who has a skewed moral compass, dictate how you utilize these skills.