April 7
Inner Growth Word of the Day: Identify
Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition: (v.) 1 a. to cause to be or become identical. 1 b. to conceive as united (as in spirit, outlook, or principle) groups that are identified with conservation. 2. to practice psychological identification.
Identify in a sentence: Who you identify with and how you identify yourself changes in time depending on how much you know about yourself.
Identify in action: When you notice that you experience or do things similarly to another or when you feel part of a group due to the same outlook and perspective, you identify with the individual and/or group.
Identify and inner growth: Looking into how and who you identify with is one way you start exploring how you see yourself, which leads to inner growth because from this exploration, you move to finding your own true identity and move away from one that is based on another person or group.
Identify and inner growth action steps:
- In-depth self-exploration questions: What have I learned about myself from exploring how and who I identify with? When I think of the word identify, who comes to mind? How has identifying with someone or something affected my life? What are some of the biggest life lessons and takeaways that have come from my identifying with someone and/or a group? Do I know others who identify with me? If so, how and why do they identify with me? What have I learned from them about myself?
- List or word bubble: Make a list or word bubble with identify at the center and then list or put around it all the other words that come to mind associated with it. From the words you listed see if you notice a pattern (in how you feel about identifying or if you judge it somehow or maybe there’s a pattern in how you feel about it, etc.) and use one word to describe this pattern. From this word write out what you’re thinking and/or if a specific event comes to mind related with how or who you identify with, write about that.
- Bring your awareness to your feelings about who you identify with and how you identify with others or groups. Focus on that first spark of emotion that arose as you read the sentence and allow a couple minutes or more for that feeling to spread across your body. Keep your mind as silent as possible, but after the couple minutes or time you decide to spend on the feeling, allow your thoughts to guide you as well. Focus on one thought and the feeling it brings about within you at a time, and then move on to the next, and so on.
Your turn – Share your identify sentence, life examples, and inner growth action steps; and let me know if you’d like to see something added to our Inner Growth Word of The Day explorations 🙂
