Knowing Self

Helen Keller said – It is not so much a tragedy to be a person with no eyesight, but it’s a great tragedy to have no vision.

There is a common way of thinking that has caused most people to live their lives on a lower level than they were created to live. Many people live and die never knowing who they really are. They never allow a better self-image to be created in their mind. They always consider themselves secondary, less capable, less competent, and less fortunate to do anything worthwhile and be a person of any consequence. The misconception that some people were born to be great and the others just showed up to fulfil a destiny of struggle and lack is a falsehood that must be corrected before abundance, success, blessings or freedom can be enjoyed. If we know our true personal identity, we will have the ability to use our mind, will, emotions and physical body as the tools that they were meant to be. If we don’t not know our true identity then we will most likely mistakenly perceive that we are inferior beings and the achievers, successful people, rich people come from a different breed of humankind.

We do have experiences of working tirelessly for hours together on a project or some assignment because we loved doing it, and may be it was an extension of our passion. We forget to have our meals, don’t feel tired, and were always in full energy mode, irrespective of time of the day. Some of us who got a chance to work during Durga Pooja celebration as part of the organizing team, would certainly understand this feeling. I used to be a part of Pandal committee and in those days there were no big event organizing company, and even if there were any such company, the Pooja committees in small towns could never afford it. I was part of such committee in Faizabad, my job was to draw the design on the Thermocol Sheet, and then cut the design using hacksaw. I remember our team working continuously from evening 6 pm to next day forenoon, then taking a rest of few hours and coming back to work, and did this for 3-4 days continuously, the important thing to note is that we were not paid to do this and also none of us were professional workmen, I was a student and others included a doctor, an entrepreneur and clerk working with electricity department.  We were always in high energy mode and remained joyful, despite of the tedious nature of the job, because we were passion driven, which helped us keep positive control of our mind and emotions. Our willpower and physical energy are directly affected by the condition of our mind and emotions at any given moment.

Our state of mind determines our emotional state; our mental/emotional state determines the strength of our willpower and, to a great degree, our level of physical energy. Our quality of life is also experienced in direct proportion to the extent to which we keep our mind and emotions in a positive healthy state.

The mind and emotions can be very fickle. One phone call with good news can send us through the roof with feelings that life is wonderful, the future is bright and all of our dreams will come true. Conversely, one phone call with bad news can cause us to crash through the basement floor and have to look up to see the bottom.  The truth of the matter is that our ability to process what we perceive as a “good” or “bad” situation and the positive or negative resulting outlook is an automatic by-product of our mental and emotional stability at that time.

Many people give up their hopes and dreams for a better life because of frustrations born out of a feeling that they can’t sustain enough strength and momentum mentally and emotionally, which results in a lack of persistence and resolve. They really want to live life on a higher level; and, somewhere deep inside, most individuals feel that they should be enjoying a better life than they are now experiencing. 

But then there are those old CDs, and tapes running in the mind that remind them of the times when they attempted to live life on a higher level and it didn’t work. Mentally, they review snapshots and action footage of the times when they attempted to create a more prosperous life. They start out motivated to see greater spiritual, financial, mental, emotional and physical freedom, as well as a life filled with better loving relationships. Then they remember experiencing the frustration and disappointment of getting down the road only to hit a roadblock that has seemed insurmountable.

Though they know others who have risen above similar circumstances, they are now faced with the fact that they are too mentally and emotionally drained to go forward.  Even if victory were only a few steps away, getting to the next higher level of fulfilment spiritually, financially, relationally or in any other area of life seems impossible because of their depleted mental and emotional state. This could be one of the reason, why many people reading self-help and motivational books, and watching inspirational tape, are not able to achieve much and leave in midway. The seed of inspiration, motivation and positivity can germinate only on the ground of belief and confidence in self. Self-evaluation and criticism is good, but self-bashing, admonishing and running oneself down can never help. I am not a psychologist but I trust these tools are used as excuse and protection mechanism to save oneself for external criticism. Its like do it yourself before anyone else does it to you.

Much, if not most, of the common thinking that people buy as truth has no foundation whatsoever. The average person will check a house out thoroughly before buying it. The person will do a title search, try and get municipality record, would check with courts that there is no pending litigation against the property he intends to purchase. Will do a physical check, check the basement walls for water leakage and inspect the floor and roof of the house. When buying a car, one would do an extensive research through internet, would seek expert opinions from friends and families using the car, may also go on internet and check with discussion forums and sites dealing on the subject. But the same person will buy the average person’s common way of thinking and adopt it as the absolute truth without giving it a second thought.

The only way to create real freedom is to know the truth, or “the way it really is,” which includes the truth about you. You were not born to simply let life just happen to you. You were born with a built-in creative ability to live your life totally on purpose. Discover your purpose, discover yourself, as Socrates said “Know thyself”; the set of chromosomes in you are enough to help you achieve or do anything that you might conceive. Trust it.