Understanding Your Psychology as a Spiritual Being

As someone on a spiritual development journey, it’s imperative to know why you do the things you do, think the way you think, or are the way you are. It’s important to know what serves you, what used to serve you, and what no longer does. You don’t have to be an expert in psychology to understand how your very own mind works, but having a liking for psychology helps. If not, knowing how you operate mentally and where adjustments are needed is highly important for self-development.

Self-reflection, or what some people call “facing your own shadow” isn’t always easy or pleasant. In order to develop, you have to understand what needs developing. Is there a “wrong” or “bad” attitude you’re carrying about something? A bad habit you want to break? Where did these things originate? What was going on at the time you developed these negative traits? What has you attached to them? These are a few questions you can ask yourself and investigate in order to cull what doesn’t serve your best interests or align with your future goals.

I didn’t need a therapist to tell me that I was experiencing depression in 2016, a time when I started to have a sort of career crisis soon after graduating college.

Post-graduation, I struggled with getting a job in my field and with my degree in general and suffered self-esteem issues from multiple job rejections, which ultimately led to a deep fear of rejection in jobs and even relationships. I began to settle, although inside I was far from settled with the career choices I was making. From deeper self-reflection, I realized that I was experiencing some confusion about what it was I actually wanted in my career, deepening my issues with low self-esteem.

By that time, I actually realized that I started exhibiting some depressive behaviors several years before this. Symptoms such as isolation, deep sadness, heightened anxiety, and more actually began in my junior year of college. I had a hard time socializing and making and keeping friends.

I hesitated about the idea of therapy before signing up for my first session. While it was an okay feeling to open up to a professional about what I was struggling with, it seemed that the doctor needed therapy herself and that the session was geared around what she was experiencing, and this turned me off from therapy for a while. I’m a firm believer that therapists also need therapy, but that therapist was not me. Strike one.

I started to struggle with workplace stress and anxiety. It seemed like I was being held up to unreasonable standards and workplace goals set for me by the company I was working for at the time. So, I thought, “Hey, maybe I’ll give this therapy thing another try.” Another bad experience ensued, with the therapist giving the very bare minimal in the session, one I could have given myself. Strike two. And you’re OUT.

These experiences were all it took for me to realize that I’m my own best therapist, along with a few close friends with empathetic, listening ears who gave me more sound advice than the “professionals” I was dealing with.

Self-reflection, self-inquiry, and a true will and desire for change are the main ingredients. And of course IMPLEMENTING such changes. But you have to face and know thyself.

Don’t get this confused—by no means necessary am I suggesting that someone shouldn’t seek professional help if they truly need it, but time and money can be saved with deeper self-reflection, analysis, and making efforts to change your mental circumstances on your own, leading to these changes manifested in your physical reality.