By Denise Turney

There may be no journey as hard or as rewarding as the inner journey. Unexpected experiences, outright shocks, long awaited successes, heartbreaks and joyous, peaceful events that can stretch into weeks, sometimes years, are part of the inner journey. If you’re up for it, you could be in for the ride of your life.

What If Hope Doesn’t Know The Way

Play it safe (stay where you) and you may find yourself in need of help, particularly as it regards mental health than if you had stirred your courage, gotten started and stepped right into change. Whatever your prior decisions, if you want your life to improve, don’t keep doing what you know isn’t best for you.

Don’t just hope that an old situation will get better with time. After all, instead of enduring defeat, you could seek help. This article shares three ways to receive help for the inner journey.

To begin, practice mental health awareness to avoid getting stuck, burned out or anxious. Mental awareness could help you to get and stay mentally sharp. No need adding more struggle to your journey.

Stay Mentally Sharp on the Inner Journey

Fortunately, achieving mental sharpness may not be hard, especially if you are committed to your journey for the long term. If you’re looking for ways to get or stay mentally sharp, here are a few suggestions:

• Add at least three activities that you enjoy into your day (e.g., a hot, scented bubble bath, listening to your favorite music, reading a good book)
• Get enough deep sleep
• Meditate or still your mind
• Pray and trust the Creator
• Pay attention to your dreams and other forms of inner communication
• Treat your body to a healthy diet (e.g., fresh vegetables, delicious fruit bursting with flavor)
• Daily exercise (get your body moving)
• Write down your dreams (Don’t get too surprised if you start spotting dream themes or recurring symbols that your subconscious pushes up to your conscious in your dreams.)

Different Kind of Travel Map

Next, take inspired action. This means that you’re not just throwing paint against the wall, hoping that it lands in the right spots. Also, don’t worry too much about getting it right. You’re going to make mistakes.

Yet, don’t accept mistakes as habits. Steer clear of convincing yourself that taking the wrong action is “okay” just because everyone makes mistakes. Examples of inspired action include:

• Signing up for a free training
• Joining and actively participating in a support group (e.g., mental health support group, startup founders support and networking group)
• Attending a specific event
• Contacting a certain person who can aid your progress
• Waking in the morning when your brain is most alert, allowing ideas and answers to bubble up

You’ll know in your gut when the inner voice of wisdom is prompting you to take action. That inner voice of wisdom is your real voice. Even in this world, you can listen to it.

Seek Help from Someone Else

Should you feel stuck or confused (circling the mountain because you don’t know what to do), seek help. Avoid limiting “help” to mental health therapy with a licensed psychologist.

After all, bonding with friends, truly listening to the people who you partner with, and working with someone who has been stuck before (and who found her way forward) are other ways to seek help. Key is to seek input from someone who can offer you a new perspective, someone who can speak with conviction.

As an example, you could seek the support of a life coach who has deep experience in your field. A coach could help you to see your blind spots. Just be open to listening.

Above all, keep going. Your beautiful life won’t unfold with the snap of a finger. But it will unfold if you listen to your inner wisdom, practice mental awareness, stay mentally sharp and, if when you get stuck or confused, you seek help for the inner journey.

Making the Inner Journey Easier

As a final thought, when it comes to covering inner ground, consider external travel. Think about it.

New York to Kenya may be a long way to travel, especially if you go by boat. Oahu to Tuscany isn’t better. Yet, technology has helped to make it easy to see the path that you must take to get from one of those travel destinations to another. Do your homework, and you can even know what to expect when you arrive.  

There are plenty of travel websites and travel packages you could use. Talk about taking the fear out of making a decision about a new journey. Technology has taken a lot of unknown out of world travel. Mental awareness and the right support can do the same for the inner journey.

Although your life’s detailed plans aren’t uploaded on a travel website, you aren’t absent help. In fact, the more you listen to the inner voice of wisdom, the better. Listen to the inner voice of wisdom and you could avoid mental health roadblocks.

That alone could keep you fueled with enough motivation to keep going, and you need to keep going. After all, how else will you know what this phase of your never-ending journey will look like? Even more, how else will you come to know what you really are?