INNER WORK of 12 + years , and grieved the passing of her grandfather . The second half of 2014 , she spent in the crushing darkness of depression , convinced she would not make it out into the light , struggling to lift her head off her pillow to care for her children .
The humbling convergence of these events propelled her to begin a more intentional relationship with inner work . She realized she had become disconnected from her genuine self , having spent years in an unhealthy marriage , working in a job that was deteriorating her soul , and building walls between her and the rest of the world . Through the journey of that year , she discovered it was only through the darkness that she was able to emerge into the light with renewed understanding of self .
Today , we find ourselves in a time of global darkness , giving us the opportunity to reconnect with our inner selves . This time of disruption can act as a catalyst for the modern person to reconnect to indigenous healing in a way that is relatable . Trauma , the separation from the self- causing dissociation , has been a norm of the human experience for the majority of our existence . This trauma is so much a part of our inherited biology , passed down from generation to generation , and a part of our socialization , that we have lost the ability to recognize much of the trauma we are experiencing . The mind that is separate from the self , from the dimension of the heart , ancestry , and nature , is what we call a colonized mind . In reconnecting with ourselves we reunite with our genuine selves , our ancestry , our communities , and our world .
“ Today , we find ourselves in a time of global darkness , giving us the opportunity to reconnect with our inner selves .”
Defining Inner Work
“ Consciousness precedes being , and not the other way around ... For this reason , the salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart , in the human power to reflect , in human meekness and in human responsibility .” - Vaclav Havel
In preparing to write this article we were reflecting on the definition of inner workings , the mechanical interior that produces the outward results but remains invisible to the observer . If we translate the definition of inner workings to inner work , then inner work involves a metaphorical “ looking under the hood ” to discover what mechanisms are driving our behaviors . If we do this internal tinkering , we can begin to recognize , appreciate , and understand why we are who we are .
Yet this definition seems to fall short of our personal experiences with inward journeys , ones that are much more wrestling with , a reckoning with , and a revisiting of our authentic self . Havel ’ s assertion that consciousness precedes being is fundamental to understanding not only why we journey within , but what the journey entails : inner
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CSEE Connections Fall 2020 Page 9