Warning: This article WILL make you deep your existence, be prepared.
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”- Socrates
Who are you?
What comes to mind when you're asked that question? Is it a type of person- someone kind, funny, intelligent? Or is it something stagnant that represents you: your profession, martial status?
What do we really know about the people that we are? We're the ones living our lives, day in day out. But when we get so lost in what's going on, do we forget who we actually are?
How can we cultivate a life worth living if we don't know what matters to us?
Self reflection
By definition self reflection is "The capacity of humans to exercise introspection and to attempt to learn more about their fundamental nature and essence."
More simply, what this means is: self reflection is the power we possess to look within ourselves at who we are and what we are like. This could be, what is important to us, our aspirations and goals, our nature and innermost qualities etc.
When we take a moment to self reflect, that small moment can have limitless effects on our lives. This can be in a personal sense, professional, spiritual and much more. We have to stop letting life go on without being properly present. Through self reflection this is possible.
When you look inside at the person that you are, you have to be happy with it. Else, how do you ever find contentment? Every day we should be striving to be a person that we are happy with. However, this doesn't mean that we can always be happy with the situation that we are in.
It is possible for us to not be satisfied with our situation however this does not have to overlap with our attitude to who we are. Who we are and who we want to be is always changeable, it is always something that we can work on. Our situation, on the other hand, is not always of a similar essence.
When we learn to separate our situation from who we are is when we can properly practice self reflection.
For example, someone may have a deeply rooted nature of creativity. However, the job that they practice may be very dull, yet they may be unable to leave this job as they have to pay the bills. The situation that they are in should not stop them from continually striving to fulfil their potential- no matter how small the steps they take are, you can't ever stop going.
When we make time for self reflection, we are able to cultivate a life worth living for us. We can map out our lives using self reflection by asking ourselves the following:
What is important to you?
What makes you happy?
What is your purpose?
Who are you and who do you want to be?
Through asking ourselves these questions we can start making small changes in our lives to reach self actualisation (a state where our full personal potential is achieved.)
So I ask you again. Who are you? And what are you doing to be who you are?
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