What's the inner and outer world?

The INNER WORLD refers to your internal, subjective realm of thoughts, feelings, and perceptions.

💜 Subjective Experience: Your thoughts, emotions, memories, beliefs, and perceptions. This is the realm of consciousness that is unique to you.

💙 Imagination and Creativity: The inner world is a fountain of imagination and creativity. This is the space where you generate ideas and mental imagery.

💚 Self-Reflection: Within your inner world you can contemplate your identity, values, and personal experiences. This introspective process contributes to your self-awareness and personal growth.

💛 Dreams and Fantasies: Dreams, fantasies, and the subconscious mind are integral parts of the inner world. These aspects can influence emotions, behaviors, and decision-making.

The OUTER WORLD indicates the external, objective realm of tangible reality and interactions with the external environment.

💜 Objective Reality: The outer world is a world we share with others, which includes the physical environment, other living beings, and observable events.

💙 Social Interactions: Our interactions with other living beings, social structures, and the natural and artificial environment are key components of the outer world. Social norms, cultural influences, and societal expectations shape our behavior in this realm.

💚 Sensory Perceptions: You perceive the outer world through your six senses—sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and proprioception. These inputs your senses bring in, contribute to the construction of your understanding of the external environment.

💛 Observable Behavior: Behaviors that are visible and measurable by others occur in the outer world. These include actions, speech, and non-verbal expressions.

Now, you might ask yourself, how do the inner world and the outer world interact?

The inner and outer worlds are not separate entities but interact dynamically. Your thoughts and emotions from the inner world can influence your behavior in the outer world, and external experiences can shape your internal state.

Perception acts as a bridge between the inner and outer worlds. How you interpret and make meaning of external stimuli is influenced by your internal thoughts, beliefs, and past experiences.

Reality is a subjective construct influenced by both the inner and outer worlds. You may interpret and experience the same external event differently to others.

For the coming week I invite you to take a moment, each day, to reflect on what happened in your outer world, and what in your inner world. Take a pen and paper and journal on it.