Archive for the What Is An Inner Adventurer? category.
To free up time and energy…To discover more about myself…To embrace the unknown for all it has to give…That’s why this is my last planned post for now.
Why? Inner urges are calling me to something new. What it is exactly, I’m not sure yet.
One thing I do know: For greater things, and anything new, to show up in life, one has to create a void. You have to create space for it to exist. You have to let go. And then, just let it be. So that’s what I’m doing now by shedding some current things I currently do, creating a void for something new to enter. Space opens up and expansion becomes possible.
Sharing these posts with you has been a wonderful experience. I’ve learned the discipline of writing on a regular basis. I’ve explored topics at a personal level that I may not have shared any other way. I revealed truths about my life that I hadn’t spoken of before, except to very close friends. I tried to challenge you to explore your own depths, too. I hope it has been worthwhile and fulfilling for you as it has been for me.
One of the hardest things to accept about our human existence is the absolute impermanence of everything. Things change. They move and shift. Nothing is as we knew it only moments ago. And so, too, our lives change and shift.
Most of the time, we fight against the shifts with resistance, denial or excuses. Emotional energy can build up, especially when a change is forced on you such as with my hiatus here, and one can easily feel resentful or want to whine a bit.
What would it be like to embrace change? To relish in it? To feel exhilarated by it? To let go and wander expectantly into the unknown?
Why not give it a try for yourself? That’s what I’ll be doing!
Best wishes for now. I may show up again when something burns to be shared.
I hope that this discourse has helped you in some way. I’d like to leave you with these words:
Forever Young
By Jim Cregan and Rod Stewart
May the good Lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
Surround you when you’re far from home
And may you grow to be proud, dignified and true
And do unto others as you’d have done to you
Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart you’ll always stay
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young 
May good fortune be with you
May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
With a prince or a vagabond
And may you never love in vain
And in my heart you will remain
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young
And when you finally fly away
I’ll be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell
But whatever road you choose
I’m right behind you, win or lose
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young
For, forever young, forever young
I’m off to reside in the void and expand once again.
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
To work with Sarah in a one-to-one confidential relationship that brings you confidence, self-esteem and inner peace, contact her to explore your promising future
More ways of the Inner Adventurer:
-
You are sensitive to your environments
-
When you are upset, it affects you deeply on many levels
-
You can feel off kilter for what seems like the slightest reason or cause
-
You question things more than others do
-
You value your physical possessions less than others, in favor of your inner resources
-
You willingly wear your heart on your sleeve, open to all of life’s emotions, ready to be hurt but more often rewarded with love
-
You wait for others to speak first, reserving your input for later in the discussion, if at all
-
You carefully consider what others seemingly answer in a snap
-
You are cautious about first-time experiences
-
You tend to avoid thrills, like amusement park rides
-
You prefer the company of a good friend to a party
-
You dislike small talk and talking about yourself
-
Your personal awareness is very keen (After all, you are an Inner Adventurer!)
-
You respond more slowly than others to outside stimuli
-
You pull back from obvious power plays
-
Lots of what goes on in this world turns you off
-
You distinguish between acquaintances and friends
-
You make friends slowly
-
You easily see through hype and other phoniness
-
You respond to offers slowly, investigating and sensing what is best for you
-
You volunteer your time for causes you care about
-
You root for the underdog much of the time
-
You value peacefulness and harmony, so much so that you tend to avoid conflict or confrontation
-
You avoid violence at all times, such as in your choice of movies or television shows, even in the news
-
You have a love for all animals
-
You enjoy helping things grow
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
No, this is not a takeoff on the comedy routine. Just a simple list to help you see if you might be an Inner Adventurer. You are one if you can claim the majority of these as your traits or patterns:
-
You enjoy spending time with our own thoughts
-
You can ruminate on an idea for quite some time
-
You can feel exhausted after being with people
-
You pick up on details that others don’t see
-
You value your integrity as one of your prize possessions
-
Your awareness is so much keener than most other folks you know
-
You realize that acceptance is easier than trying to change things in many cases
-
You are sensitive to energies from people or their moods
-
You love silence
-
You renew and rejuvenate deeply in nature
-
You can’t multitask with any degree of success
-
You find value in ideas that others might consider weird or strange
-
You are spiritual in your outlook and ways of approaching life
-
You would often rather read than be with other people
-
You are very curious about how you came to be the way you are
-
You are eager to heal past hurts and move onward
-
You recognize your ego and how it operates
-
You have explored, recognized and tested many of your inner resources
-
Subtle energetic forces, like art or music, easily move you
-
You find fascination in things that others ignore or miss
-
You find it difficult, on average, to initiate action
-
You find taking action easy when it is fully aligned with who you are
-
You consider yourself very creative, even if you never show your creations to anyone
-
Your thinking is often divergent from other people
-
Self-help or personal development may have become what seems like a way of life for you
-
You willingly embrace every emotion you have, regardless of depth
And there is more. Help me develop this definition. Please post a comment with your suggestions.
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
When do you shift to becoming an Inner Adventurer?
The answer to that question comes in two parts:
-
Whenever the burden of living as you are becomes too heavy
-
Whenever the search for answers outside of yourself doesn’t yield answers any longer
My experience has shown me that the burden part comes first. I felt the heaviness of all I was carrying with me: self-limiting beliefs, trying to be like others and failing miserably, trying to please others so they would like me along with a deep sense of being flawed and deficient. Gee, just thinking about it now feels weighty.
When you are tired of carrying the burden, it is common to be an avoider, too. By avoiding the fact that you have any influence on your situation, it becomes the world and other people who have to change to have things feel better for you. Precious energy and time is spent trying to shift others to make your world seem right. I tried that, too. I’d talk a lot about “Wouldn’t it be better if…?” and it always was about what someone else could do. I never had to change at all.
Finally, when the load became too heavy and I failed at getting others to shift, I started a long search for answers beyond me. I read every self-help book that seemed to fit my situation. That’s when the light started to dawn. The underlying theme of all I read was heal yourself.
Looking at what needed healing was fascinating. That’s when my Inner Adventurer kicked in with its inspired momentum. I found many things I could heal. So where to start? I started with whatever I felt I was willing and able to work on. Willingness is essential, because when I carried the burden and searched outside of myself, there was no willingness. Willingness engages personal responsibility, too, which melts your avoidance.
A distinguishing characteristic for Inner Adventurers is that they eagerly confront what doesn’t suit them. They realize they can have whatever they choose, so they choose wisely and with gusto. They are willing to do what it takes to create their desires.
Inner Adventurers set themselves in motion. They don’t need any external stimulus. All their mojo comes from within. And when they get what they want, inspired momentum fuels the desire to seek more.
What is within reach of your inspired momentum?
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
Having just completed the Independence Day celebrations here in the US, I got to pondering some of our inalienable rights, granted in the US Constitution…from the Inner Adventurer perspective, of course.
I’ve noted that many who are on their way to becoming Inner Adventurers can feel as if they are inferior to other people. When you embrace your right of life, that changes. You were born equal to everyone else. It is only in your mind that you come up second. Once you identify the thought patterns that continue putting yourself as lesser than others, you can shift your thinking to that of being equals.
Another pattern on the way to becoming an Inner Adventurer is to not feel so free. Part of it can come from “people pleasing” in order to be needed, accepted, respected or loved. If you are familiar with that pattern, you see how it backfires. All the while, the people engaging in it diminishes themselves and separate from their own liberty. 
Liberty is also obstructed when you choose to participate in life on others’ terms. One prominent example is succumbing to the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life as others live it instead of setting your own pace.
The world beckons for everyone to do more and do it faster. It also asks us to be constantly connected. Neither of these conditions helps the Inner Adventurer find themselves. Once one can begin to hear their own inner callings – what pleases you and what pace works best for you – the barriers to becoming an Inner Adventurer start to fall away.
When that happens, the budding Inner Adventurer realizes that they have been standing in their own way. They held the keys to happiness all along and didn’t see it. Then the pursuit of happiness is fully engaged. Not in a reckless or self-serving manner, but in our usual compassionate and empathetic way we choose to live.
Live your inalienable rights!
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
What is the reason the Inner Adventurer gets out of bed each morning? To take in something new about themselves or about life.
The reward for the Inner Adventurer is to explore and discover, followed by investigation to gain understanding. Now, I know all that sounds like work, but it can actually be entertaining at times, though not always. That is especially true for the Inner Adventurer, because they enjoy playing with those discoveries in their inner realm.
I, too, enjoy this pattern. I’m consistently looking at people, events and situations to gain something new from them. Such findings often lead to breakthroughs, as it did for me recently.
My breakthrough was about someone I’d known for the greater part of 2 years now. Something about the person was making me uncomfortable and I hadn’t been able to put my finger on what it was. When it got to the point that I felt dispatched into the background again and again, I decided to explore and discover.
With the help of 2 very close friends, also Inner Adventurers, I revealed what was going on and my frustration with it. Each knew they could be honest with me, so they openly shared what they saw. Goodness, my eyes were opened. What they shared was realistic, not exaggerated or self-serving in the manner that would benefit themselves and not me. Both are true friends in every sense of the word, and for that I am eternally grateful.
After careful consideration and testing what they pointed out to me against the person’s current behavior, I knew I’d gotten great value from my dear friends. I now understood and verified what I hadn’t been able to acknowledge before. That opened the second part: the investigation of what to do about it.
Finally seeing how deeply the other person was into their own game, I felt it was fruitless to attempt to bring it to them. Besides, I’d tried that before on something really small in my eyes, only to be met with their anger and justification for seeing and living life the way they were doing it. My options were obviously narrowed by my past experience with them.
Since I couldn’t stay in integrity and in the relationship, I had to cut the cord. Sadly, sometimes this is the only way to protect your sensitive self and stay true to your own beliefs.
This process of taking in new truths takes the ability to confront oneself and be honest. It would have been very easy to deny what my friends had pointed out to me in hopes of keeping the relationship. That’s where ultimate honesty with yourself comes into play. Inner Adventuring is often about not hiding from what you don’t want to see, whether it is about you or someone else. Any resistance to this confrontation is denial.
After the self-confrontation, congruence is the next concern. Inner Adventurers don’t do well realizing their inner truth is in conflict with their outer reality. That tension can be excruciatingly difficult. So, the pressure is to resolve that tension and foster congruence in both these dimensions.
Then comes action to assure congruence. The main ingredient for this is often courage, which comes from that tension and desire to create the most wanted congruence. Still, resolving the tension is not always easy or pleasant, although it doesn’t have to be.
How do I feel today? Free and resolute. At the time of year when Americans salute their freedoms, it all seems quite fitting.
Happy Independence Day to our US readers!
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
The news media is providing heavy coverage of the surprising passing of Michael Jackson. Hard to miss it, huh?
I’d like to take a different look at him. As you read on, please suspend your thoughts and beliefs about how he lived, what he created with his music and dance, how he disfigured his appearance, whether he was guilty or innocent of any legal charges and the like. I’d like to ask you to look deeper into the person he was, beyond the human level until you get to his soul.
I believe we are all here on earth to advance our souls in some way. Whether that happens depends on the choices we make while we are here. I’ve found that this simple thought can bring empathy for any person or any action they take, even yourself. It can wipe away judgment in an instant. Hold onto that thought as you look at his life.
We don’t know what it was like to grow up with all the pressures he had. He was performing by the time he was 4 years old and doing it under the rule of his strict father. We don’t know what experiences he missed that could have made him a different person or how those experiences marked his soul. Still, it was from that place that he was shaped.
It’s hard to ignore his creativity. He was diligent in studying others, like James Brown, to learn how he wanted to dance. He became one with the music when he moved to it. It absorbed him in its energy. No thought at all. Simply pure expression through his physical body.
He also wore his social conscience on his sleeve in many of his lyrical messages. This tells me his passion was for making some positive change in this world. Did he succeed? I’ll leave that answer to you.
There are signals that he was a HSP (highly sensitive person). One I heard recently was that he had a very sensitive stomach. Ah! Those of us who are HSP can see it show up in many ways through our body and its systems. Having to handle his sensitivity with so much public intrusion into his life must have been difficult. Imagine it as if it was you. Would you like it? How would your body react?
He was also known to be very shy. How could a shy person be a performer? It’s easy – planning and rehearsing. How often do you rehearse in your head before doing something? I heard that the night before he passed, he had an inspired rehearsal for his upcoming concerts in the UK. It sound like a true final performance! If it couldn’t be bettered, then why stay on earth any longer?
These characteristics point to his being inner-directed, although I don’t know that for sure. If it is true, being in such a public life made it difficult for him to simply be himself. Yet with his creativity and passion for music, he couldn’t turn it off and do something else. Being in that public life definitely amplified the impact of the choices he made. And did those choices advance his soul? I’ll leave that decision to his Maker.
Such pure talent yearning to be expressed. Another tender heart departed to answer for the life lived on earth. Rest in peace, dear soul.
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
The audience I’ve worked with for the past 7 years are wonderful people. They are conscientious, good-hearted individuals who have the ability to sense and feel deeply.
It’s the sensing and feeling that often gets these folks down. It can be difficult to screen out or filter what they take in from others and the world around them. That can be a lot of energy to deal with. When day-to-day living gets demanding, it can befuddle and stymie them, not knowing how to process it or let it go.
I call this type of person “inner-directed.” In dealing with these folks, I noted that many saw the traditional labels of “introverted” or “highly sensitive” like an albatross to bear. Also, those labels imply a clinical diagnosis of a problem. That’s a downer, too. It can help them to feel as if they are a square-peg person living in a round-hole world. 
Being inner-directed is not a problem. Yes, we have a distinctly different experience of this world than so many others and it might not always be pleasant. Life isn’t always suppose to be happy and kind. It’s more about learning to find your place and unearth the gifts, talents and strengths you have…or what I call your Natural EdgeSM.
I believe it is a benefit and a privilege to be inner-directed. We don’t need a diagnosis. We simply want to be understood and accepted as we are, which is different than most other folks. The benefit and privilege come to the forefront when you peel away whatever is in the way of you simply being you. That means a different recipe for life than we see modeled in the world.
So what does this have to do with being an Inner Adventurer? Many inner-directed people naturally are great Inner Adventurers. Those who choose to work with what life has given them become those who dive within to harvest the gems and discover what they have to offer. That’s where one’s individual recipe is written. These are the Inner Adventurers and they likely are inner-directed, too.
Want to know more about being inner-directed? On May 18 at 2:00 PM Eastern time // 11:00 AM Pacific // 7:00 PM GMT, I’m going to be interviewed by Anne Walsh, a fellow coach from Galway, Ireland, about the gift of being highly sensitive and other inner-directed topics. If you want to join us on the call, you can register here to get all the details .
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
Recently, I got an e-mail message from a new InnerVantage subscriber. She was getting the series of special messages that comes at the start of her subscription. She wrote:
In reading your first two emails, I feel so understood. I feel like somebody really gets me without judging me. This feels so good. In spite of doing transformational work for five years and receiving lots of email information from coaches including HSP coaches, I’ve never felt this response to an email. I feel like maybe there’s a way I can thrive with this trait instead of hiding…I feel so encouraged reading these emails.
Gee, I sense how great she felt. She helped me feel pretty special, too, by sending the message.
There is a tendency for the Inner Adventurer to feel alone, as if no one else is like them. As a result, they can tend to cower and hide without even trying to see if anyone shares their traits. That mode of behavior, for certain, will leave someone all alone.
Feeling misunderstood comes from another source. It comes from expressing yourself and having others not appreciate where you are coming from. Many of these instances come from comparing ourselves to others and thinking we all have to be the same as each other. Tribe mentality, so to speak.
I remember when folks looked at me as if I had three heads. Sometimes it came from being so quiet and then speaking up. Other times, I shared what everyone else was ignoring or didn’t see. (Ah, a great HSP trait is sensing what others don’t quite get. How valuable!) The quizzical look you get when these things happen can make anyone feel as if they are flawed or different.
Now, I realize that I simply surprised others by being me. It wasn’t any flaw, but instead my strengths that surprised them. I don’t have to tuck my tail between my legs and creep away. Alternatively, I now choose to stand tall and proud for what I have to offer, even when no one else gets it.
Are you one who hides? Do you hold on to all your strengths instead of sharing them? Could you try to learn new ways of being that honor you and all you have to offer? If so, try a subscription at InnerVantage to start to find your Natural EdgeSM gifts, talents and strengths.
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
image courtesy of www.schultzmuseum.org
Have you ever seen the Peanuts cartoons where Lucy is in her psychiatrist’s booth? Dispensing advice and telling others what they could do can be easy. Living it isn’t.
Sometimes being an Inner Adventurer isn’t’ any fun at all. Being “in” and processing life can often take all you have to give. It consumes much energy and can leave you with few resources left to engage in your daily activities. You simply feel off kilter.
I’m sharing this with you because that’s where I am right now. I got a major awareness this week around a lifelong pattern. It has shed a whole new perspective on some major disappointments that were a complete mystery to me before now.
So I’m processing and assessing. Generous close friends are providing insight and support. I’m allowing myself to be with what is and opening to new ways to handle it.
What I know for sure is “this too shall pass” and I’ll be back as I was before. In the meantime, being in feels the best.
5 cents please…
For more of what Sarah has to offer about living an inner-inspired life, visit InnerVantage
