Go back over your day before retiring, and whitewash those things that are not applicable to your spiritual growth; you do this by becoming aware of the things that do not work in your life, or cause hassles in your relationships. By whitewashing, I mean going backwards over the events of your day from evening to morning and becoming aware of any circumstance that needs to be changed to make your life work better for you.
You will find that after a while of practicing this method, your life will take on a different quality of inner peace and your relationships will become more harmonious. By daily examining your experiences you will gain useful insights into your life goals, and if you are on the right track to realizing them. When you become aware of any negative trait, make the effort to transmute it into the opposite polarity.
Learning to be introspective will also give you clues on how to act, how to respond to others better, and how to conduct yourself in the midst of any situation. Like any skill, introspection can be learned; all it takes is a little daily practice. Also, make notes in a journal so that you can monitor your progress, and if a trait keeps reappearing, consciously make the effort to eradicate it by nipping it in the bud. Persistence will pay off in the end. Continue to focus on the positives to assist your overall improvement.
Always remember that you are a spiritual being that has clothed itself with a mental body, an emotional body and an etheric body to gain experience in the earth plane phase of your existence. Do your best to bring your personality under the guidance of your soul, so that by dedicated daily living, your soul may infuse your personality with higher vibrations until you experience yourself as a soul personality. Introspection of course is only one way of becoming aware of those things that hinder your personal growth.
Learn to become aware of the four temperaments that influence all human behaviour– choleric, sanguine, melancholic and phlegmatic. These temperaments are related to the original elemental principles of fire, air, water and earth that underlie all existence. Even in the Godhead we can see these principles demonstrated in the divine qualities of omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence and omniawareness. These principles have the greatest impact on your life and influence the way you interact with others.
