One of the most important parts of our spiritual work is making time to look inward, reflecting on who we are, who we want to become, and what it will take to get there. Self-assessment is a powerful tool tied to our self-awareness, internal feedback, and internal validation. The kabbalists refer to it as “accounting of the soul,” a process that has a number of spiritual benefits.
Here are 3 reasons that self-assessment should become an everyday part of your spiritual journey:
1. Self-assessment inspires you to make positive change. Consistent, deep, and honest introspection can reveal the direction we want our lives to go and the changes we need to make to reach our goals. This can be really exciting because it reminds us how much we are capable of and gives us a clear path to follow. However, there is a danger that we often fall to when self-assessing, and that is succumbing to self-judgment.
Self-assessment propels us toward our goals with enthusiasm, while self-judgment holds us back through feelings of sadness and depression. It can be daunting to realize how far we have to go to reach our goals or how many mistakes we’ve made in pursuit of them. We sometimes judge ourselves so harshly that we paralyze ourselves with self-loathing. It can start to feel like an impossible task to the point that we just give up.
When evaluating yourself, your goals, and your life, there is one surefire way to know where your thoughts are coming from: do you feel inspired and excited about making change or depressed and deflated at the thought? If you don’t feel enthusiastic about the steps you need to take, then your self-reflection is coming from a place of judgment instead of self-love. Let go of the fear, self-pity, and helplessness and embrace the possibilities of what you can achieve!
2. Self-assessment is the key to unlocking your endless potential. In the eyes of a child, anything is possible. As we get older, we often become jaded. We think we’ve seen enough hardship, failure, and rejection to just accept that maybe things will never get better and that we aren’t able to change. In reality, each of us is capable of so much more than we could ever imagine. In fact, the very purpose of our life’s work is to transform into something far greater than we are now. The only way that we can become the people we are meant to be is through constantly assessing ourselves.
No matter how many positive things you’ve done or how many amazing feats you have accomplished, know with certainty that the person you are meant to be is far greater than who you are today. This is not a negative thing! It means that your potential is so powerful and unlimited, you’ve only begun to reveal a fraction of it. What you are meant to do, accomplish, and bring into this world is so much more than you can conceive. And the only way to begin working towards this is through constant self-assessment of your soul.
3. Self-assessment helps you reach the true goal: to become like the Creator. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches that we are all meant to become like the Creator. It’s a lofty idea! Think about how much goodness and joy exists within the Creator – an endless source of sharing and Light. Most of us are just trying to have a little less chaos or lack in our lives. But knowing that we are meant to actually become like the Creator sets the bar even higher.
It means that our lives are not just about becoming better people. If we were meant to just be good people, there wouldn’t be a need for radical transformation in our lives. We might work on a few parts of ourselves and try to be nice to others, but to become a being of endless goodness, joy, and blessings – that takes real work. It is beyond our comprehension, but it gives us a sense of the real goal we are striving for.
The inspiring part of this is that it means each of us has the awesome potential within us to become like the Creator. At times, all we can do is keep our heads above water, but eventually, we must make time to focus on the true end goal of being like the Creator. Only through self-assessment can we even begin to work towards this goal.
Self-assessment is a key part of our spiritual work and one that is so easy to overlook. It puts us on the path to transforming our lives and revealing the immense greatness of our souls. Make time every day for honest introspection and reflection, and see just how powerful you really are.
