The statement, ‘Man know thyself’ is attributed to Socrates, an Athenian moral philosopher. The basic explanation for the term ‘man know thyself’ is that knowledge of one self-leads to a possible mastery of self and a development of self for the benefit of self, others and the society at large.
“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power.” ~Lao Tzu
Most times, we tend to focus too much on others that we forget about ourselves. We know so much about our spouse, our family, friends, colleagues, etc. This knowledge helps us to adequately meet the needs of others around us. We are able to give others the support they truly require. We know others so much that even before they open their mouths to speak, we know exactly what they want. When it comes to knowing what we want, we are completely lost.
It’s okay to help others and make them feel better but it’s also important to get to know yourself too. You are as important as others. You need to understand yourself just the way you want to understand others.
Understand what makes you tick, happy or sad. You also need to know your fears so you that know how to deal with them. Understanding helps you become aware of your strengths and weaknesses. With time, you will be able to harness your strengths and turn your weaknesses into strengths
The following are four tips that can help you discover yourself:
- Purposeful thinking and evaluation
One way to know yourself is taking some time out to evaluate your life. Most people are afraid of silence so they never stay alone for too long. You, however, cannot truly discover yourself until you assess yourself and tell yourself the truth. This process involves sitting down with yourself, thinking deeply about your life as well evaluating your life. By doing this, you will discover the good and the bad as well as your strengths and weaknesses.
- Identify your strengths and weaknesses
Understand what you are really good at. Find out what interests you as well. This would help you set goals and work towards achieving those goals. Also work hard at dealing with your weaknesses so that they don’t deal with you in the nearest future.
- Discover your passion
Discover your passion and pursue it. This is a sure way to discover yourself. You will learn a lot about yourself by pursuing your passion. Don’t limit your passion to just work, do your best to bring elements of your passion into different areas of your life.
- Ask for Help
Another way to know yourself is to ask those around you. You should, however, disregard the opinions of some people as they will be biased. A few people especially those closest to you will give you unbiased opinions that could help you in the self-discovery process.
Apart from the aforementioned tips, there are also self-assessment tools online that can help in the process of knowing who you are. Just like knowing others takes time so also does knowing yourself require time and discipline.
Once you understand who you are, you will find that your interactions with others will become better. You begin to relate to them based on who you really are rather than on pretense.
The best thing you can do for yourself is understand and accept yourself for who you truly are. You don’t have to be anyone else, you have your own potential and uniqueness. You can, however, strive to be a better version of yourself.
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