The deeper your awareness reaches, the more apparent it becomes that what is at play are multiple positions of self or nodes of awareness surfacing and dispersing. 

The kicker comes when there is conflict. 

You want to exercise but you don’t feel like getting out of bed. Which part of you wants and which part feels? Is that even the right question? 

What conflict tends to reveal is that the psyche isn’t just simply a linear, congruent pattern of thoughts, but can be a disharmonious cacophony of voices, interests, and needs arising from sources unknown. 

And whenever disharmony is present, progress stalls. 

It would be impossible to write about conflict and progress without bringing values to the fore, because values—or rather, the alignment of them—seem to sit at the very center of the conflicts that arise in your mind. Part of you wants comfort, the same part wants achievement, while another part just wants quiet and peace. 

Bringing harmony to these conflicting parts is the beginning of progress. And the way to inspire such harmony is devastatingly simple, yet incrediblg evasive: listen. Just listen. 

When the word listen comes to mind, what usually follows in the mind is imagining the act of leaning back to take in words as they come. But listening can be an active thing, and in moments of conflict it is best to engage in active listening. 

There are many ways to actively listen (to yourself), but the most accessible is conversational writing. Imagine it as writing a dialogue between yourself and your best friend, or your God, or your worst enemy, or the many voices that simply arrive. What matters is to listen, to allow space for the words, feelings, and nudges to be heard.