**On introspection**

One’s internal self is a complicated room involving thoughts, emotions, motives, and many other abstract matters. To unlock its door, an individual should exist in a place that has no distractions—just them facing themselves. The means to do this is called introspection, which is the art of looking inward and questioning oneself with honesty and bluntness.

The quiet of the chosen environment allows the mind to replay past situations and conversations as they were. By internally reflecting on their own role in those events, a person can recall them from a third-person perspective. This is crucial because in-the-moment feelings—such as numbness, impulses, and excitement—can easily hijack our interpretation of reality.

The result of spending time getting to know yourself is gaining self-awareness. You reach realizations about who you are, what you want to be, what you want to achieve, and what you will not tolerate. Answering these important questions helps an individual see themselves more accurately, which ultimately results in making better decisions in the future.

However, there is a dangerous side to introspection that must be addressed. While introspecting, you shift your consciousness from the outside world to the inside of your head. The danger is that this shift makes it harder to simply do things and move on without constant mental work. You might find yourself narrating events instead of living them, or analyzing moments and ideas instead of doing them. It leaves you feeling stuck, living in your head like a cage.

This type of introspection is the root cause of many mental hardships, such as overthinking loops. Some introspective individuals see their mind as a broken record that won’t shut up and let them live. Even the most serene places cannot heal that; in fact, it often reinforces it by giving the mind a chance to be even louder.

There is a cure, actually, but it is not as effortless as flipping a switch. It requires patience and effort. Instead of feeding these thoughts, you must treat them like visiting guests. When intense, these visitors try to take control of your house and rule it. Yet, if you do not treat them as significant and simply continue your day without letting them impact your choices, they will see how mundane your home is and gracefully leave on their own through the backdoor, like flowing water.

Because that is how the intensity of thoughts and feelings works: they rise, they peak, and they slowly fall down. So, allow yourself to feel things without either indulging them or fighting them, knowing that one’s emotions follow the pattern of consistent actions.

In the end, this process is a double-edged weapon; just know that even a laboratory can turn into a prison if you spend too much time inside.

Thank for reading 💜 

Share your thoughts in the comments and check my other articles 🍃 

I reply and engage with them in seconds★