Nancy: No amount of gold stars will ever fill the void within. Everything we are seeking externally needs to be resolved internally first.
Welcome to The Nancy Levin Show! I’m Nancy Levin, founder of Levin Life Coach Academy, best-selling author, master coach, and your host. I help overachieving people pleasers set boundaries that stick and own self-worth anchored in empowered action so you can feel free.
Plus, if you’re an aspiring or current coach, you are in the right place! Join me each week for coaching and compelling conversations designed to support you in the spotlight as you take center stage in your own life.
Let’s dive in!
Nancy: Welcome back to The Nancy Levin Show! I’ve got a new episode for you today, and we’re going to talk about one of my favorite topics, which is really at the heart of creating a meaningful life—the value of deep and consistent inner work.
So, let’s be honest upfront—we all want a meaningful life.
We all want a life that feels fulfilling, purposeful, and authentic, but too often, we are looking for that meaning out in the external world. We’re searching for validation, for success, for someone or something to tell us that we are worthy.
But here’s the truth: the answers are not out there. They are within you.
And the only way to access them is by committing to the practice of deep self-inquiry and deep self-discovery.
So, grab your journal, settle into a cozy space, and let’s explore why this work matters and how it transforms your life.
Nancy: So, when I talk about doing deep inner work, I’m talking about the practice of turning inward with curiosity and compassion.
It’s about looking at your patterns, your beliefs, your fears, your desires. It’s about asking yourself the pivotal and profound questions like:
- What am I avoiding?
- What do I truly desire?
- What stories am I telling myself that keep me stuck?
Doing deep inner work is not about fixing yourself, because I am here to tell you—you are not broken, and you never were.
It is about uncovering the truth of who you are underneath the layers of conditioning, underneath the layers of shame and societal expectations.
So, I’ll share a personal story here.
There was a time in my life when I was so focused on external achievements—on proving my worth and value to the world, collecting all the gold stars—that I completely ignored what was happening inside of me.
I was living for everybody else. I was silencing my own voice.
It wasn’t until I began asking myself these kinds of questions:
- What am I avoiding?
- What do I really desire?
- What is the story I’m telling myself that’s holding me back?
That’s when I realized I had been abandoning myself all along. I had been projecting an image of perfection. I had been managing the perception of others.
I had determined my sense of value and worth by what I did for others, what I achieved, what I produced.
But the bottom line is—no amount of gold stars will ever fill the void within.
Everything we are seeking externally needs to be resolved internally first.
And this is the power of inner work.
It reconnects you to you. It’s the process of coming home.
Nancy: Now, you might be wondering, Why do I have to go through all this introspection? Can’t I just focus on creating the life I want and leave the past behind?
And trust me, I hear you. I used to think the same thing.
But here’s the catch—if you don’t understand and heal the parts of yourself that are operating beneath the surface, those parts will sabotage your efforts, no matter how much you want to move forward.
So, think of it like this—imagine you’re trying to drive a car, but the emergency brake is on. No matter how much you press the gas pedal, you’re not going to get very far.
That emergency brake—it is your unconscious beliefs, fears, patterns, and commitments.
Inner work is how you release that brake so you can move forward with freedom and ease.
Nancy: So, I’ll give you an example—if you have ever thought, I’m not enough or I don’t deserve happiness, these are shadow beliefs, limiting beliefs shaping every decision you make.
And until you bring these beliefs to the surface, until you make the unconscious conscious, question them, and shift them, these are the stories that will keep you stuck.
Inner work is the key to breaking free from your old narratives.
So, you might be wondering at this point, How? How do I actually do this inner work?
And I’m going to share a few tools that I find invaluable.
So, the first is journaling.
Journaling is like having a conversation with your soul. It’s a safe space to explore your thoughts, your feelings, your fears—without judgment.
You can give yourself a prompt to work with, a prompt like: What am I pretending not to know?—and write freely to see what arises.
I’ll also share with you that I have two journals that I have published:
- The Art of Change—a guided journal
- Embrace Your Shadow to Find Your Light
You can find both on my website. These are two journals that I’ve published that can support you in your self-inquiry and self-discovery doing the work.
The second—and this ties beautifully into the journal I just shared with you, Embrace Your Shadow to Find Your Light—is Shadow Work.
And I would say this is my most favorite tool and practice.
It’s all about reclaiming your wholeness. Embracing the parts of yourself that you’ve rejected or hidden. Because when you shine a light on your shadow, you harness and reclaim its power.
The third tool here is self-compassion.
Inner work can bring up difficult and uncomfortable emotions, and that’s okay. So, be gentle with yourself. Treat yourself with the same kindness you’d offer a dear friend.
And then the fourth is seeking support.
Because we do better when we do this work in community, and sometimes we need the guidance.
And so, I’m offering you an opportunity to come do this work with me in community.
I’ve got an eight-week group coaching experience called Your Inner Eclipse, starting soon.
You can go to nancylevin.com/eclipse to find out more and to join me live in real time.
Let me be your guide through this work for the next eight weeks—because the key is consistency.
Inner work is not something you do once and forget about—it is a lifelong practice.
And the more you do it, the more natural it becomes.
Nancy: So, let’s take a look at the transformation that happens when you commit to doing this work.
When you go deep and you do consistent inner work, you:
- Begin to trust yourself more deeply.
- Set and hold boundaries that honor your needs.
- Feel aligned with your purpose.
- Experience relationships with others—and yourself—that are authentic and fulfilling.
And one of the most beautiful shifts is the sense of peace and freedom you will gain.
You stop looking for external validation because you know your worth comes from within.
You stop running from your fears because you’ve learned to face them with courage.
And most importantly—you begin to live a life that feels meaningful. Not because someone else says so, but because it’s aligned with your own truth.
Nancy: So, what can you do today to begin or deepen your inner work?
I invite you to set aside some time for self-inquiry.
Start small—it’s all about micro-action.
Maybe it’s five minutes of journaling or meditating on a single question.
And so, I offer you this prompt to get started: What is one truth about myself that I’ve been avoiding?
Write about it. Sit with it. Get curious.
And remember, it is a process. It is not about perfection— it’s about progress.
And if you’re ready to take this work deeper with me as your guide, join me in Your Inner Eclipse, my eight-week group coaching experience.
You can enroll now at nancylevin.com/eclipse.
I want to help you uncover the life that’s been waiting for you on the other side of your fear and your resistance.
Thank you so much for joining me today and for your willingness to explore this powerful work. You are already taking a brave step, simply by tuning in and opening yourself up to this conversation.
And remember—the path to a meaningful life begins within.
So until next time, take gentle care of yourself, keep turning inward with curiosity and know that you are worthy of a life that is filled with meaning. and with joy.
See you back here again next week!
Nancy: Thanks so much for joining me today. I invite you to head on over to nancylevin.com to check out all the goodies I have there for you. And if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a rating, and a review. I’ll meet you back here next week!