There are two different realities: what happens (an actual event in the physical world) and how we hold the event (our inner experience or perception of the world colored by our feelings, beliefs, and prevailing state of being).

For Descartes, there was res extensa, the world as it is, and res cognitas, the world as we perceive it or as it appears to be.

With introspection, honest observation, and careful self-analysis, we recognize how seldom our inner experience coincides with outer reality.

Inner observation shows us that our feelings, thoughts, and beliefs shape and color our experiences of the “outside” world to such a degree that two people can experience the same event in divergent ways. Consider how two intelligent, sound people can have conflicting views about politics or religion.

Our task, then, is obvious: bridge the gap between our inner experiences and outer reality, bringing us closer to the truth. The more our internal interpretation coincides with actual events, the more fluid and harmonious life becomes.

With less reality impairment, there’s less conflict with others. Conflict arises because we misinterpret events (and people’s behavior), projecting our own meaning onto events.

Bridging the Inner and Outer World

The mind has numerous ways of distorting reality, but negative emotions are a primary reason people misinterpret events.

Simply put, negative emotions signal a distortion: when you’re feeling angry, fearful, prideful, lustful, shameful, or resentful, it’s almost certain that you’re seeing a distorted reality.

This truth is often difficult to accept at first, as our minds hold strongly to our grievances and our belief in “justified resentments.” We nurse our emotional wounds, secretly believing that we are hurting those who wronged us by withholding forgiveness.

But, as students of A Course in Miracles discover, there are no legitimate grievances or justified resentments. (Of course, our minds hate hearing this and want to believe there are exceptions to this spiritual dictum.)

As soon as we identify the presence of negative emotions, we can begin clarifying the inner distortion through various spiritual practices such as practicing compassion, praying for forgiveness, opening our hearts, letting go of the emotion, or asking a Higher Power for a miracle. In the context of A Course in Miracles, we might ask to see things differently so that our perception will be altered and a miracle can occur.

Watch your inner state carefully. Become your own therapist. Be mindful of your feelings when you’re conversing with others, working on a project, or making decisions.

Mindful awareness alone can make you more conscious of your reality distortions. This awareness, combined with willingness and humility, will lead to an entirely new perception of reality, one that will bring greater levels of compassion and peace.

Last week we took a hard look at negative emotions, the role they play in our lives, and various ways of transcending them.

We mentioned how the mind tends to repress negative emotions, pushing them down into the unconscious where they can wreak havoc in subtle and overt ways.

Sometimes, however, we don’t repress negative emotions, we express them. Anger gets triggered; we scream loudly and slam doors; some people are even brought to violence. The more we express negative emotions in this manner, the more relationships (both personal and professional) we destroy.

Other times, when negative emotions become too intense, we seek escape. Escape takes many forms: drinking, taking drugs, watching excessive television, over-eating, playing video games, and so on. The goal of escape is to divert our mind in a particular activity in order to avoid feeling the negative emotion that’s calling our attention.

The Internet has become another popular outlet for escaping negative emotions. We can easily use our computers, smart phones, and tablets (like iPads) to divert our attention from our feelings. The Internet is an ideal tool for distraction, perhaps the most seductive and sneaky outlet for escape mankind has created.

Internet Escapism

One form of escapism on the Internet is obvious: recreational activities like watching videos on YouTube, social networking, online gaming, aimless websurfing, and in some instances, even shopping (“retail therapy”).

A popular cultural belief or meme is “It’s important to always stay connected.” Anchored to this belief, many of us spend endless hours on Facebook and Twitter. The pervasiveness of this belief is undeniable: Facebook boasts over 500 million active users; Twitter has over 200 million users and over 95 million Tweets each day.

The other form of Internet escapism is more elusive, disguised as work. Since many of us use the Internet for professional reasons—email, video conferencing, and online collaboration tools to communicate with clients, vendors, customers, and team members, for example—we associate being online with “working.” We easily convince ourselves that we’re working any time we’re engaged with technology.

And since our Western culture dictates that working is always good—that staying perpetually busy is critical to success—many of us never consider how many hours a day we spend staring at our computer screens.  We never evaluate if our enormous time investment with technology is life-enhancing or not.

Also, with our Infolust, we have a tendency to stay hyper-current with updates in world affairs, weather, sport scores, stock prices, and so on, occupying our minds with a barrage of ever-changing information. Bombarded by “status updates,” we’ve become addicted to all things digital. Busyness now is business.

It’s revealing to calculate honestly the number of hours we spend actually “working” while interacting with technology versus the total number of hours we spend online in a given week.

Behind our Digital Addiction

What’s driving our obsession with the digital world?

Could it be that repressed emotions and our need for escape are primary reasons for our addiction to technology and the Internet?

Could repressed emotions be at the root of our drive for constant busyness? Have our unconscious emotions made us slaves to technology instead of its master?

The only way to evaluate these questions is through devoted inner work, exploring the nature of our emotions, and consistently and consciously applying effective techniques to fully “process out” our negative emotions (we mentioned four such techniques last week).

Only then can we evaluate our use of technology with honest observation. Only then can we uncover our true motives for trying to stay busy all the time, convincing ourselves that this is just how life is and that we have to stay connected at all times. Only then can we uncover our own pathway to inner freedom and peace.

The more we explore our mind’s inner terrain and undergo self-analysis, the more repressed emotions we tend to uncover.

Each event from childhood, for example, leaves its mark on the psyche. Each time a salient experience occurred, our minds saved the related emotion in its database. Every negative emotion we’ve ever experienced—every emotion that hasn’t been “processed out,” deleted, or removed—is brewing quietly within us.

Generally, we are unconscious to most of these stored emotions, which is why we call them “repressed” emotions.

Negative emotions are like ancient programs—software that’s been running in the animal brain computer for millions of years. Emotions like shame, grief, guilt, apathy, fear, desire, anger, and pride represent primitive energies.

When we get angry at someone, we project the cause of anger onto that person. We might say, “You made me angry.” In reality, however, that person’s actions merely triggered the “anger program” within us. If that anger wasn’t available, if we didn’t have repressed anger, we wouldn’t be able to experience anger.

Many of us have so much repressed emotions like anger that we project hostility onto others and constantly expect antagonistic situations, which then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more repressed emotions we have, the more they dominate our thoughts, actions, and behaviors.

Conversely, the more negative emotions we’re able to transcend, the more freedom, peace, love, and joy we’ll experience. We don’t need to try and be more peaceful, loving, or joyful; these Divine qualities shine forth when we remove what’s blocking them: negative emotions.

Four Ways to Help Transcend Negative Emotions

1. Twelve Step programs help us uncover these repressed emotions (largely through “Fourth Step work”—taking a moral inventory) and then letting these emotions go (Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Step work).
2. A Course in Miracles teaches us how to forgive the past, thereby letting go of our resentments and grievances, allowing us to perceive the world anew.
3. Releasing techniques like the Sedona Method help us release our negative emotions using the more cognitive approach of a well-crafted, question-asking process as well as teachings ways to “experience out” the negative emotions themselves.
4. The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) helps us remove stored negative emotions by “tapping them out” via specific acupuncture points.

There are many other programs and techniques available and new ones continue to emerge. I reference these four programs and techniques with frequency because I’ve personally found them to be invaluable in dealing with negative emotions.

If we don’t consciously adopt means of letting go of negative emotions, these lower energies can dominate our lives, and often lead to serious illnesses (repressed emotions can lead to ulcers, allergies, and a barrage of other illnesses).

The amazing thing we learn by adopting these various methods is that we need not be afraid of negative emotions. All negative emotions have a limited amount of energy and when we welcome these emotions within us (instead of repressing or expressing them), we uncover an extraordinary sense of inner freedom.

So be brave. Become mindful of the negative emotions swimming below the surface. Dive down and meet these emotions full on. They can’t hurt you.

Each time you process out a negative emotion, you’ll become lighter. Building momentum, you’ll come one step closer to realizing your natural Self.

Control. We all want it. It’s an in-born drive. The animal seeks control for its survival. If the animal fails to find food, water, and a safe place to sleep, it dies.

Humans, too, have an innate drive to control themselves, their environment, and those in it. Some of us believe we are in control, assuming there is power in having control.

With wisdom, however, we find that control is an illusion; the more we try to control ourselves, our environment, and others, the more unmanageable our lives become. Recovery programs, like Twelve Step programs, are based on the understanding that recovery and healing can’t occur until we acknowledge that our lives are unmanageable, requiring the assistance of a Higher Power.

Our drive to control ourselves, others, and our environment evokes the lower emotions; it is at the root of shame, guilt, grief, fear, apathy, desire, anger, and pride.

Control’s Dark Side

The more we try to control others, the more others instinctually distance themselves from us. The more we try to control events, the more frustrated we become. The more we try to control ourselves, the more chaotic we become, restricting our sense of fulfillment and freedom. Although we believe that control brings freedom, freedom is realized when we let go of wanting control.

The desire for control saps our energy: The more we try to control, the more effort we use. The more effort we use, the more energy we expend. The more energy we expend, the less power we have. Martial artist Bruce Lee knew this well: “The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”

Wanting control limits our creativity by blocking our natural flow, which is critical for the creative process. Controlling the creative process is like grabbing a slippery water balloon with our hand: the harder we squeeze, the more difficult it is to hold the balloon.

A drive to control others will destroy our personal relationships; it will drive our customers away; it will lead to unhappiness and being disconnected from our Source.

How to Let Go of Wanting Control

There are numerous ways to let go of wanting control. The first step is always the same: with humility and inner honesty, we admit that we secretly want control. (Many people never make it past this step.)

The ultimate remedy for wanting control is surrender. We surrender our drive to control to a Higher Power, channeling our faith into something bigger than our limited egos. This represents Steps 1 through 3 in the Twelve Steps: (1) we realize we are powerless over everything we want to control; (2) we believe that a Higher Power can help restore us to sanity; and (3) we turn our lives over to the care of “God as we understand Him.”

When we’re able to turn our will and life over to God, we finally relinquish control. We begin to allow life to be as it is, accepting the world as it is right now. We ask Divinity for guidance, acknowledging our limitations and fallibility, accepting our lack of omniscience (despite what our egos want us to believe).

There are other techniques and programs that help us let go of wanting control. A Course in Miracles teaches us to let go by showing us that we’re seeing a false perception of the world. Once we see what the world really is, it becomes clear that there truly is nothing to control.

Releasing techniques like the Sedona Method are based on the notion that control is a fundamental block to our freedom. These techniques provide cognitive means to letting go of our drive for control.

When we let go of wanting control, we can accept how things are in the present, find courage to change what we can, and allow love to enter our hearts.

Joseph Campbell noted that the Judeo-Christian traditions are the only world religions that create a viewpoint where man is above nature—that man is meant to dominate nature.

All Eastern traditions, in contrast, seek to find a harmonious balance with nature. In light of current environmental concerns, the Eastern viewpoint seems more enlightened.

The last decade has seen a surge of interest in ecological awareness. It’s no longer a secret that pesticides are harmful both to humans and the environment, giving rise to the organic movement. It’s now widely known that the planet is overpopulated; that we produce far too much waste; and that industry has damaged or destroyed much of the planet’s natural resources.

In the past, we simply threw things away, with little care or concern for where it might go. Now, with images of oceans of landfills fresh in mind, more people are concerned about what they consume, the packaging that is used, and how easily it can be reused or recycled.

As we become more aware of these concerns, our responsibility for the planet increases. Habits change as what’s “easy” or “convenient” is often sacrificed for what’s sustainable. After all, if we all did what was “easy,” how long would it take before the planet became unlivable?

With ecological awareness, new habits emerge like:

• Bringing reusable bags into every store;
• Using cloth napkins instead of paper;
• Composting as much as possible;
• Opting for paperless billing statements from every service provider;
• Learning about recycling and becoming diligent about it;
• Using reusable bottles, no longer buying plastic bottles of water;

More important than these new habits, with greater ecological awareness, many people begin to experience a greater reverence for life—what  transcendentalists like Thoreau and Emerson saw as the divine in nature.

Ecological awareness doesn’t have to have a political agenda—it doesn’t necessitate environmentalism, or any other –ism like activism. Its message doesn’t need to be proselytized through fear of what will come if we don’t change. (Although I have compassion for those who use fear to drive the message due to the masses’ ignorance and resistance to change.)

But a person needs to grow (developmentally) before ecology can become a concern. (From the perspective of Spiral Dynamics, it isn’t until the Green meme is activated that ecological awareness becomes of interest.)

Ken Wilber, a contemporary American philosopher, often cites the three stages of moral development: First, people are egocentric, focused almost exclusively on their own interests. Second, they become ethnocentric, focused mainly on a religious affiliation, ethnic identity, family, or social group. It isn’t until a person reaches the third level, worldcentricity, when we are developmentally ready to embrace a larger perspective that includes ecological awareness. From a worldcentric viewpoint, it’s natural to think in terms of global concerns and sacrifice self-interests for the greater good.

Remember that everything you do leaves a mark. When you have reverence for nature, you have reverence for all life. Ecological awareness need not be about “saving the planet,” but about living in harmony with it.

What if there was a guide to being still? What might it tell us?

It might say that the importance of learning how to be still is greater now than ever before; that we live in a neurotic age—busy, noisy, and restless; that this hurried pace is developing crises of the body, mind, and spirit.

But the Guide wouldn’t perseverate on the problem; it would quickly move to the solution, providing instructions on how to be still. It would explain that by learning how to be still—to quiet the mind and body without anticipation of thought or movement—we find peace and wholeness, a harmony with Nature. Doing so allows our bodies to return to their natural rhythms. Stillness allows our minds to rest, like returning to a warm home with a roaring fire during a blizzard.

The Guide would explain that stillness is a practice, a discipline that is cultivated over time. Learning stillness requires willingness to learn the way; patience to practice it diligently amidst failure and frustration; and faith that we can attain stillness in the end.

The early morning, the Guide would tell us, is the ideal time to be still. Before our minds get entrained to the busy details of the day, we can settle into a quiet space.

The Guide would then invite us to:

1. Sit comfortably, close our eyes, and take several conscious deep breaths.
2. Then, sink into the quiet recesses of our minds, entering a state of allowing, listening to our hearts, not our heads.

The Guide would explain that we have become so focused on our thoughts and actions of the day that we’ve forgotten how to simply sit and listen. To be still, we must allow ourselves to listen deeply, letting go of the need to be in control of every moment.

The Guide would tell us that being still is an act of surrender where we give our lives over to a Higher Power, if only for a few moments or an hour. This act of surrender is the secret key to stillness that anyone possessing the qualities of willingness, patience, and faith can access.

This instructional guide wouldn’t need to be long, for the process of stillness isn’t complicated. What’s difficult is the deprogramming required to experience the stillness of the moment. There are many false programs or beliefs that, the Guide would tell us, hinder our ability to be still including:

• We are in control and need to be in control of every moment.
• We must stay active in order to be of service to others and ourselves.
• If we stop thinking, we’ll die of boredom.

Stillness, the Guide would inform, is attained when we let go of beliefs such as these. We must be patient with ourselves because these beliefs are deeply entrenched in our psyches.

The Guide might end with a few encouraging words, reminding us that once we begin to experience inner stillness, our commitment to practicing stillness will be strengthened. Each day, each morning, we’ll be given a precious gift—a time of serenity and quietude where a Power beyond our own leads the way to stillness and beyond.

Thus endeth A Guide to Being Still.

The mind is not our friend. It robs us of the peace of the present moment; it hinders our experience of the presence of love that surrounds us at all times; it constantly finds ways to “hook” us with negative emotions.

The mind has its own agenda: It wants to be right above all else. It thrives on the approval of others. It wants to change everything it can, to control every detail of life. It doesn’t perceive our own best interests.

The mind is structured around specific habits, faulty habits that deny us of our innate peace and happiness. Becoming aware of these faulty habits lessens the mind’s negative impact on us:

Faulty Habit #1: Judgment

The mind judges everything, classifying information it receives through the five senses. The basic classification is binary: good or bad. If we like it or if it conforms to our moral code, it’s “good”; if it doesn’t fit our definition of morality, it’s “bad” or “evil.” Watch out for labels like “good” or “bad.” The mind loves to take the moral high ground, using judgment as a tool to look down on others, giving itself a false feeling of importance. Only an omniscient being is in a position to judge someone else.

Faulty Habit #2: Projection

The mind projects its own shadow onto others. It takes its own faults, shortcomings, and moral defects and projects them onto other people so that it sees its problems “out there.” As long as we project our moral defects, we don’t have to work on them; the mind would rather keep things as they are. Our projections also justify our resentments and grievances toward others. Projection is a clever, yet destructive ploy of the mind.

Faulty Habit #3: Positions

Like judgments, positions are built on duality—this, not that. When we take a position, say a political position like being a Democrat, we instantly create an illusory opposite, like being a Republican. Now, we’re rooted in a set of beliefs that often turn into moral laws, developing opposition toward the “enemy.” Most of the mind’s positions are unconscious: these positions are so fundamental to our model of the world that we aren’t even able to question their validity. When we hold positions—consciously or unconsciously—we see things in black and white instead of realizing the relative degrees and levels of reality in between.

Faulty Habit #4: Attachments

The Western mind believes attachments are important. We are told that if we don’t get attached to the things we love, we won’t care about them. Yet, all Eastern teachings demonstrate that attachments are at the root of suffering—that peace is discovered when we let go of our attachments and aversions. The mind gets attached to things, projecting specialness and importance onto objects and people, claiming them as “mine.” Once the mind forms an attachment to something, it immediately fears losing it. Once attached, it projects its source of happiness onto the thing or person. Then, all is lost because once we project happiness outside of ourselves, we are destined to chase a quality that is only found within us.

Faulty Habit #5: Thoughting

Psychiatrist David R. Hawkins draws a distinction between thinking and thoughting. While thinking is deliberate and focused on a task, thoughting describes the predominant activity of the mind—aimless, unfocused, and repetitive. The mind does everything in its power to stay active, believing that if it doesn’t stay busy it will get bored; and boredom equals death. Notice how the mind engages in useless games, playing back events, ruminating on past mistakes, and anticipating future events. These mental games serve no useful function; they simply rob us of the peace available only in the present moment.

Watch out for these faulty habits of the mind. Catch the mind in the act. Doing so repeatedly will automatically lessen the persistence of the mind’s faulty habits, improving your life experience and facilitating spiritual growth.

Mission statements help businesses stay connected to what’s driving the business forward. A good mission statement keeps all employees aligned to a singular mission.

Purpose statements help individuals stay connected to what’s driving them forward within their careers, keeping them aligned to a higher calling, value, or cause.

A compelling purpose lights the fire within you, enabling you to create value. When challenges arise in your life, purpose drives you forward. A higher purpose, like providing for your family or contributing to your community or mankind, can get you up early and keep you up late. People with such a purpose brew a quiet yet unstoppable determination, allowing them to work through difficult situations with a smile.

Each person’s purpose is unique—we each have personal drivers that propel us to do what we feel “must” be done. Aligned with a Higher Intention (something beyond ourselves), the “impossible” manifests in daily life.

What is your ultimate purpose for growing your career or business?

1. Why are you doing all of this? Who are you doing this for? We tend to do much more for those we love than we’d ever do for ourselves. A strong sense of contribution is the drive behind any great business.
2. What excites you about your Ultimate Vision? Why does it get you up early and keep you up late? Why does it make your face light up? Developing your professional life is a choice. If you’re not energized by the thought of it, why do it? It’s important to identify all the reasons why you love what you do, or why you could love it. This is especially helpful for those extra-challenging times that are inevitable.
3. What do you want your career or business to give, create, feel, or share? Playing off question #1, now you have an opportunity to really define what your business or career will mean for your customers, suppliers, employees, partners, and family.
4. Do you feel divinely guided? No comments here—this is a personal, internal question.

If you’re interested in crafting a purpose statement, reflect on these questions. Then, open up your journal and capture your ideas. When you feel like you’ve answered these questions the best you can, craft them into a single purpose statement that highlights the most critical points.

Rhetoric is the art of persuasion; it predates what we call Ancient Greek philosophy. In fact, Socrates’ dialectic and the writings of Plato arose as a response to rhetoric.

The Sophists, the pre-Socratics, were rhetoricians; they were also the first professors as they were paid to educate the youth on the art of rhetoric.

In Athens, politics played a major role for every citizen. Your success in politics was dependent on your ability to persuade an audience to your idea or to discredit your opponent’s idea. The Sophists didn’t teach specific values or principles; they taught you how to win an argument—regardless of which side of the argument you were on.

Successful Sophists of Ancient Greece like Anaxagoras, Protagoras, and Gorgias found fame and fortune; the same is true of today’s Sophists, now called Postmodernists. (I’ll refrain from listing any as to not seem critical or contentious.)

I find it helpful to contrast the Philosopher with the Sophist. The Philosopher intuits higher truths, having faith in a set of Absolutes from which life itself is based, even if these truths cannot be proven.

The Sophist believes that ALL truth is relative, that it changes all the time and is different for each person. To the Sophist, there are no absolutes about anything.

From a spiritual context, it seems appropriate to relate the Philosopher to Spirit, and the Sophist to Ego. Aligned to Spirit, the Philosopher intuits truths beyond the grasp of his rational mind. Aligned to Ego, the Sophist simply wants to be right, or to win above all else.

Modern politics is built on rhetoric, as everything said by a politician is calculated, designed to elicit an expected response. A statesmen like Winston Churchill, in contrast, possesses guiding principles and does what he believes to be right regardless of public opinion.

Rhetoric is fundamental to other professions like marketing, which is a discipline centered on influencing others on the sale of a product, service, or idea.

If you want to build a mass following—for anything, really—then rhetoric is a valuable tool. Blogging, in particular, has made the proliferation of rhetoric easier than ever before, allowing bloggers to find masses of followers to persuade and sell their ideas.

Discerning Truth from Rhetoric

As we increase our awareness of the world and ourselves, discerning rhetoric from truth becomes a vital skill. We must be able to determine when someone is trying to persuade us versus when they are providing us with meaningful information. In the modern world, this discernment seems more difficult than ever before.

Notice that the content of rhetoric is constantly changing based on prevailing beliefs and memes of the culture in a given period. Rhetoric is often provocative and engaging, artfully finding ways to “hook” the ego, eliciting specific emotional responses. You need look no further than any film Michael Moore creates to see illustrations of the art of persuasion, spinning ideas in favor of a position. (Oops, I guess I named a modern Sophist after all.)

Wisdom, in contrast, is based on principles, and principles are timeless. Wisdom and truth are not provocative or sexy. Truth doesn’t command attention and often isn’t popular since the media can’t “sell it” as easily as it can sell rhetoric.

I believe one of the best ways to learn how to distinguish between rhetoric and truth is by studying Plato’s work, as he was the original defender of truth in the face of rhetoric. But at the very least, we must come to question everything we hear and see, acknowledging that we’re more often coming in contact with rhetoric than with truth.

Then, with an awareness of our innate innocence and naiveté, we can successfully wade through an ocean of rhetoric to discover islands of wisdom and truth.

These terms are often misunderstood. Extroverts are thought to be well adjusted, generally the life of the party: sociable, gregarious, and out going. Introverts are believed to be quiet and timid, uncomfortable or awkward in social situations.

In Psychological Types, however, Carl Jung used these terms to represent differing attitudes toward life and designated where a person derives his energy—internally or externally—and not necessarily how people react in social settings. With introspection and self-analysis, I believe we find that Jung’s distinction is useful and accurate.

You can’t always tell if someone is an introvert or extrovert by observing him or her in social situations. An introvert can be just as sociable as an extrovert. The difference is seen after the party: Is the person fired up, ready for the next group event? Or is he ready to collapse, climbing into his personal cocoon for an indefinite period until he feels recharged?

Extroverts derive energy from others. Introverts derive energy from themselves.

Although most of us have degrees of both types, society is biased toward extroversion partly because extroverted people are in the majority.

This bias is even found in the Oxford American Dictionary, which defines introvert as a “shy, reticent, and self-centered person.” This definition was clearly constructed by a panel of extroverts, as “shy, reticent, and self-centered” is how an introvert might be perceive by an extrovert who doesn’t understand him. With such a definition, it’s no wonder that introverts are so misunderstood.

Introversion is often perceived as a handicap, and as Marti Olsen Laney points out in The Introvert Advantage, happiness studies and surveys are biased toward extroverts because the questions assume that outgoing people are happier and better adjusted than introverts. This isn’t true; introverts simply experience happiness in different ways than extroverts. And I would argue (although I am biased) that the introvert has the advantage because he doesn’t need others to rejuvenate or to experience a sense of happiness and completion.

Ultimately, neither type is “better than” the other, but certain types have natural propensities and advantages in different situations. Corporate organizations, for example, with their endless meetings and committees, are designed for extroverts. Vocations like writing, or professions that operate one-on-one like therapy, coaching, and counseling are natural fits for introverts.

Through extroversion we learn to enjoy the active life, variety, and exchanges with many people (friends and strangers alike). And through introversion, we learn how to listen, how to be alone without being lonely, and how to become self-reflective and focused.

By learning to honor both types within us, we take one more step toward wholeness.