Discovering your Essence

In our modern world, we are affected by so many influences that it can be very difficult to become centered and truly know who you are. Social media algorithms and societal pressures corrupt our sensibilities and hide our essential being. We are composed of body, mind, and soul. Our self, or essence, resides in the mind, overseeing a complicated relationship between knowledge and instinct. The question is, how to access our essence by filtering out our programming, calculations, and reflexes.

How do you get to know this essential you?

• So Much Noise: Your self is very polite. It will patiently wait to be heard. When it speaks, it does so softly. You will have to strain to hear it. Our usual environment makes it nearly impossible to hear the self. Not only are we bombarded with too much information, we must filter out the insistence of people, ideas, problems, and tribal identities. All these things, collide and speak out of turn, so the self cannot be heard. The essential you can remain unheard and unknown.

• Reduce Inputs: The first step is to eliminate the physical noise around you. It is impossible to eliminate all sound. But turn off the devices around you that make noise. If you can’t, you should find a quiet place somewhere else. Next, eliminate the visual noise. Make it dark, or at least close your eyes. Think of no one, nothing but the natural world. Now eliminate your internal voices. Speak to all the pressures competing for your attention. Social pressure, financial pressure, and relationship pressure. Tell them to be silent. They must wait. Guard your silence. Repeat the word hush, elongate the shh. Say it over and over until you are in control. Do it as often as you need.

• Receive the Self: Some people find it helpful to have the sound of water running, and to use a diffuser with some essential oils. Try Frankincense, Cedarwood, or Ylang Ylang. Don’t play music, only natural sounds have neutrality and your goal is to be neutral. Now open your inner perception and search only for you. Listen with your mind and you will hear something, some word, or a phrase, it doesn’t matter if it seems insignificant. It is a meeting and a beginning. If you receive peace, embrace the peace, until it passes.

Repeat this whenever you can. Eventually you will recognize this small voice inside of you. It holds your wisdom, and it will help you find your center. Eventually you will be able to take strength from your identity. Don’t make it religious, but if you are spiritual, use this method to seek truth, and receive only what calms and brings peace.