Soul Searching

It means delivering yourself to a level or two or three deeper into your thoughts and motivation.

Not just "what should I decide?" 

But rather "Why do I make the decisions I do?" or "Am I happy with that?"

Digging up that much uncertainty and, often, old scar tissue, might be painful to some.

But its just that; the uncertainty makes you doubt, makes you think twice.

The pressure to do something with your life, the pressure to "do whats right" really can eat away at you.

Society set standards that you "have" to live up to.

People set boundaries and draw lines of which you can't cross or break.

But who are they to say that "you can't do this" or "you're not supposed to be like that?" 

Saying "oh, I really messed up" may only mean you are not thinking or

behaving the way they would like you to: the way they do.

Or they may be better than that and genuinely and neutrally concerned.

That's one of the judgments to be made: are they giving good advice or being manipulative?

Am I? Who knows? You can do whatever you want with this, its yours to keep, but not to be guided by.

Soul searching means looking inside yourself and deciding if the person

you are or are becoming is the person you really want to be.

Get a journal, that's always a good start.

Think about your past and your future.

What events and people, both good and bad, have made you who you are?

Who are you, and are you happy with who you are and how your life is going?

Who do you want to become and what do you want to accomplish in life?

Will the life you're leading now lead you to those goals?

If you get lost, or don't have the answers to these questions, don't worry, that's normal.

Think about it as you go about your life.

Examine the things you do and say and your reasons for them, then write these down.

The more you think and write, the more you'll come to understand yourself.

Then you can start making plans.

What things about yourself or your life do you want to change?

What influences do you want to cut out and which ones do you want to increase?

Are there bad habits you want to get rid of and good ones you want to put in their place?

What things do you need to do to reach your goals?

As you go through this process, you may come up against roadblocks,

things you can't seem to change no matter how hard you try.

If this happens, you may need to seek out professional help to get over them;

there's nothing shameful about this, most people need help at some point in their life.

With thought, planning, and action, and some help from your friends, your life will be happier than you can imagine.

Enlighten yourself, break the fetters of what binds you, what concerns you.

Don't hang under the wing of the tutelage set by the people in life.

Give yourself freedom, give yourself some leg room to just breathe.

Once you've been enlightened, you have the freedom to think for yourself.

Do some soul searching if you're stuck. 

More or less, it's like taking a compass to gauge what is the best direction for one's life.