Tuesday, February 4, 2014

On Knowing Oneself



       

Have you ever noticed that people who have a good sense of themselves do not much care what others think of them? Oh, they can be briefly and vaguely annoyed when some may spread a bit of gossip, but they do not walk around scarred for life because of it. They are simply too alert to their own thoughts and what lies in front of them. If I were to try to define how to know oneself, I’m not sure I could do it. Knowing oneself is not a commodity that can be parceled out or a set of invisible characteristics that manifest on command. I think that knowing oneself is something we grow into…or not, if we do not choose the challenge. It is one of the better reasons for growing older, for some attainments just do not come overnight!

No one can do this for us...

I think one of the best gifts we can give ourselves is self knowledge, self awareness, and no one can do this for us. Not being a natural athlete, I have often laughed and said that, if I could, I would pay others to exercise for me! Not gonna happen, of course! If I want a flexible body, I must be the one who moves it around. In a way, I think the acquisition of self knowledge is similar. There are introspections we must make and self honesties we must pry into, no matter how painful this may sometimes be. There may be hard things we must hear, so I suspect that encroaching self awareness is another one of those accomplishments that is not for sissies! 

Would we want it to be otherwise?...            

But really, would we want it to be otherwise? Would we really want to live a life of total denial about parts of ourselves, always at risk that we may be missing something very valuable? No one can know us like we can, and therefore no one can live our lives to the fullest but ourselves. This sounds to me like reason enough to be open to our greatest good.

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