STRATEGIES OR PRACTICE ON HOW TO ACHIEVE AN INTEGRATED SELF:

Introspection, Self-observation, and Reflection

Our self is like a house scattered in different directions, with thoughts flying in one direction, feelings in another, and the body and action following their course; how all these can be integrated so that the self grows harmoniously and peacefully is the real challenge. The integrated approach lies in integrating all these dimensions under one central being so that the self can develop towards perfection, purifying its mind, body, and spirit and bring out the best in oneself. It can be achieved through the process of introspection, self-observation, and reflection. These enhance self-understanding and self-knowledge and enable the individual to move towards integration gradually. The concept of 'self in western thought is usually operationalized through the term self-concept. We all know that a strong positive self-concept shows good mental health and is something we all strive to achieve. Self-concept refers to the total of the thoughts, feelings, and experiences a person has with respect to himself. It is shaped by questions such as "what are my strengths and weaknesses?" "How do I feel about my life experiences?" "How do others behave toward me?" "What are my achievements in life?" etc. In answering these questions, one develops an image of oneself (self-image). One also estimates how others perceive and accept one (self-esteem). These collectively constitute the self-concept; a person's self-concept is dynamic. It keeps on changing concerning the nature of life experiences that one knows. If these experiences are positive, one's self-concept will also be positive. If they are negative, one's self-concept will be weak, leading to feelings of self-doubt and inferiority. If the experience is mixed, self-concept will waver between positive emotions and self-doubt.

Change by choice, not by reaction

In addition to being oneself and the correlation to the environment that may vary, Hesitation can also be an essential manifestation that is directly linked to another strategy or practice that is change. As we all know, change has different purposes that can be the leading cause of a particular encounter, lesson, or anything that someone considers to make a change. As humans, we must be sensible that change can be done as a choice rather than a reaction to in efforts to take our time and reflect due to some occasion or an inevitable phenomenon that may affect a person varying from emotional, psychological, physical or other aspects that constructs the own definition of a person. The question at hand is, why to wait on changing yourself when you can change when we are currently in a state of either pain and suffering or joy and inspiration. We are limited to being uncomfortable and distorted by bumping into something we are not familiar with and do not know much about.

Knowledge is something we acquire as we age, and we mostly learn from past mistakes and errors that we had made when we were not sure of a specific situation. From embarrassing moments to being horrendous at your chosen sports, we always start clueless; But since it is in our nature to pick up errors and turn them into lessons, we get back up and avoid what we have done transitioned into a mistake. For example, as a youngster, I have always learned through doing instead of watching. I easily comprehend situations that require action, such as sports. At the end of the day, it is me placing my energy into my environment. Thus, I affect the material world. With this, not only do we learn from mistakes, but we also get to feel. And what I meant by feel is to perceive what is happening around us and provide thought, emotion, and action. 

Be the quantum you

What is worthy of your attention? Do you value where your attention goes? We, humans, are the creator of our thoughts. We can decide where our attention goes, and energy flows. It is essential to know where we should put our attention— as this will allow us to adapt better to change, determine which aspects we may need help or work with, and discover more about ourselves. As from the book Joe Dispenza's "Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself." Chapter one—The Quantum, it talked about some concepts of quantum physics and its relation to our life. It also tackles the importance of embracing and applying this concept in ourselves, as our mind can think about how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. As the observer effect in quantum physics states that we direct our attention to where we place our energy. Furthermore, a quote from the book says, "if an atom is 99.999% energy and. 00001 % physical substance, then we are more nothing than something." This means that we should not dwell on a small percent, as everything is energy. One of the reasons why some of us have a predicament in breaking away from the chain and being stuck on things that keep on haunting us; some of us are paying and focusing too much on unnecessary attention on smaller than more important things. Our imagination and intentions set as the blueprint for that .00001% to formulate our reality. Our responsibility is to change ourselves first and be astonished as our world transforms to match the vibration we are expressing and creating. Thus, it is essential to know where we direct our attention and avoid paying more attention to unnecessary matters that will lose more of our energy and waste our time.

Do not be a prisoner of your past

People all have suffered from painful pasts that seem to go on forever. However, holding on to pain and repeating what has transpired in the past over and over again does not relieve your suffering, nor does any good. Instead, it negatively directs you from finding your sense of self, a self-defined not by your past but by who you want to be. According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, "Most of us live in the past and resist living in a new future because the body is so habituated to memorizing the chemical records of our past experiences that it grows attached to these emotions." Painful feelings and experiences can be comfortable for some odd reason because the body is conditioned to remember the feeling of suffering. The brain is better at recalling negative experiences because they require more thinking and are processed more thoroughly. Hence, it is definitely a struggle to change and move past from these experiences because the body suddenly runs automatically and repeatedly recreates the same emotions the instant when a similar experience of the painful past occurs once again. Although it feels almost impossible for us to move on from these circumstances, you can bring our attention to what you can control: the present. You need to accept the things that you cannot change and get yourself to the present moment. You have the freedom to choose how you want to respond and make decisions in the present to help yourself move past from everything that is causing you endless pain.

Be you for you

Every human being is not perfect; therefore, we know that we need to change a specific thing about ourselves. It may be from our physical attributes, habits, or traits. A change of mentality may result in a change of life as a whole. How we see life and most of our decisions in life are dependent on how our mind works. We are all aware that our mind controls our body and soul; therefore, we see negative energy if we have a defeatist mentality. As Kant said, we are the center of our lives; hence, our choices somehow make our identity as a person. Our physical body is our primary identity; thus, what our body does reflects who we are as a person. Changing our bad habits will make us a better person, and changing this also means we are changing our lives because we don't practice what we used to do.

            Moreover, the pain in the past or the experiences are one of the few reasons why a person changes. A person changes maybe because they saw something within themselves that made them think that improving it or forgetting it will make their lives better. But not all change to a better individual; some do change to an evil person because of their grudges. And so these people change their lives in an unhealthy way. It is what we choose in life that defines our lives. We either change to be a better person because we want to have a better life or change to a bad person because of the painful happenings. In the end, we are responsible for our own lives. Changing our minds may also lead to changing the way we live life. We may be wiser and wiser in this way to integrate ourselves may happen. Even if our mind controls our actions, it still doesn't change the fact that our body is our real identity.

Recognize your problems and conflicting parts of the self

You should identify the problems and conflicting parts of yourself. According to Joe Dispenza, "Fixing anything is to understand what is presently not working. You have got to know what the problem is, and after that, you will name it to have control over it". It is like having a life survey each day. Since you've got all of the equipment in your brain to notice who you're becoming, with practice, this sort of awareness can assist you to override what would something else be your brain and body's predetermined destiny. As you create the skills of contemplation and self-observation, you're developing the capacity to separate your awareness from the subconscious programs that have characterized your old self. Moving your awareness from being the old self to being the observer of the old self releases the association to the old you. As you recognize, like who you have got been through the skill of metacognition, for the first time, your consciousness is not immersed in unconscious programs, and you're getting to be conscious of what was once unconscious. It is like a life review. This will help to make you change. Name your problem even though seeing it objectively, and after that, you will know what you would like to alter in yourself.

Morality being the essence of personal identity

To discover one’s identity entails a journey of exploration in life. By allowing the authentic self to emerge, discard the destructive emotions which no longer serve you. The search for true identity involves discovering the meaningfulness of life by humbly acknowledging one’s life as truly good, genuine, and beautiful. By achieving this, we need to understand the essence of identity that comes down to committing a meaningful life with the absence of evilness and developing moral quality. We need to recognize that human persons afford the opportunity to attain morally significant goods granted to us in making human life worthwhile and fulfilling. We are vulnerable and exposed to loss, misery, and countless negativities. Still, these will not diminish the importance of the availability of the moral goods such as moral development, compassion, love, and a broad range of positive character traits. By discovering the fact that these goods exist and are always within our reach, it expresses the meaningfulness of life and what kind of life a human person should live to experience the anticipated relief for knowing the truest sense of identity.