{"id":70929,"date":"2022-06-26T12:06:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T16:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=70929"},"modified":"2022-07-20T08:18:11","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T12:18:11","slug":"how-to-connect-with-yourself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-connect-with-yourself\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Connect With Yourself in a Disapproving Society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How does society suppress our true selves? What does it really mean to connect with yourself? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author Glennon Doyle observes that women are conditioned to please and seek approval from others\u2014as a result, they don\u2019t often trust their instincts and search externally for advice and validation. She wanted to find a way to connect with herself deeply to make decisions that were based on her inner wisdom and intuition rather than the opinions of outside sources.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to find out why connecting with yourself frees you from being controlled by society\u2019s expectations and empowers you to make your own choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Captivity and the Pathways to Freedom <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you ever feel that there is a more authentic, primal self<\/a> within you waiting to be free? Author, public speaker, and activist <\/strong>Glennon Doyle has felt this way, too. She used to feel like a wild animal in captivity\u2014conditioned not to feel, think, or trust herself until she learned how to break society\u2019s rules, upend cultural expectations, and rebuild her life. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Connect with Yourself: The Cheetah<\/strong> Story<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Doyle\u2019s inspiration for her book Untamed<\/em> came when she took a trip to the zoo with her family. She observed a majestic female cheetah tamed by her keepers and trained to chase a stuffed animal around her pen. Doyle identified <\/strong>with the cheetah because she also felt that she had been held in \u201ccaptivity.\u201d She\u2019d learned to chase the \u201cstuffed animals\u201d of domesticity and conformity rather than pursue her instincts and intuition. Rather than feeling connected to yourself, Doyle learned that society has conditioned us to deny our true, undomesticated selves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Doyle made this connection, she saw the cheetah looking out past the fences of her enclosure\u2014remembering her wildness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering the parallels between the cheetah\u2019s experience and her own, Doyle realized that captivity is the universal experience of women. Like this female cheetah, women have been made captive\u2014their primal instincts intentionally suppressed and devalued by society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Connect With Yourself: Doyle\u2019s Cheetah and the Wild Woman Archetype
<\/strong>
Doyle uses her cheetah metaphor to explore how women lose connection to the primal version of themselves when they become conditioned by the expectations of their society. Doyle\u2019s discussion of women\u2019s inherent \u201cwildness\u201d and their need to return to their primal state is not necessarily new\u2014.Jungian analyst and storyteller Clarissa Pinkola Est\u00e9s claims these concepts are as old as civilization. Est\u00e9s explores the historical and cultural background of these ideas in The Women Who Run With Wolves<\/em><\/a>.<\/em> 

Est\u00e9s analyzes myths and fairy tales to reveal common themes and characters that serve as mythological archetypes<\/a> in stories throughout the human experience. In these stories, the \u201cwild woman\u201d is a commonly-explored figure who resists civilization and lives in touch with nature and her soul. She often lives on the fringes of society, is not bound by its rules, and speaks the truth. Est\u00e9s says that reading about these figures can help women recognize these qualities in themselves and remember their primal nature. <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How to Connect With Yourself: Embracing Intuition<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, how do you connect with yourself? One of Doyle\u2019s pathways towards freedom is embracing your intuition, or being guided by a deep sense of inner truth. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doyle realized no one else shared her life experiences, and therefore she had to make this decision by herself. She had to find a way to connect with herself deeply to make decisions based on her inner wisdom and intuition rather than others\u2019 opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having landed on the right practice, Doyle no longer feels she has to consult others for advice or validation. Her intuition frees her from being controlled by society\u2019s expectations and empowers her to make her own choices. <\/strong>When making a difficult decision<\/a>, you can use Doyle\u2019s method for connecting with yourself on a deeper level:<\/p>\n\n\n\n