Creating
Your
Destiny
Table
Of
Contents
Self-Awareness
I
kno
w
a man who sees himself as a real player-"A-Team" all the way.
He talks and carries himself as if he were the embodiment of every great
spiritual leader across the ages.
The
interesting thing is that neither his friends nor family see him in this
light: no one does except himself. Further, those who sought
to gently disabuse him of his illusion and point out that leaders usually
had followers were quickly excommunicated from the orbit of his greatness.
Have
you ever known someone who saw himself as a real ladies man…but never
had a date?
What about the Information Management Guru who can't hold a job longer
than a year and just knows it is due to jealousy rather than the fact
that he is incompetent? Or what about the individual who complains of
loneliness while having offended every person who ever sought to befriend
him?
Progress
in our life journey requires self-awareness. Who am I, really?
Is my behavior congruent with my stated beliefs? Are my values consistently
reflected in my decision-making? Do those who are closest to me see me
as I see myself?
The fact
is that I can see myself as a loyal knight of the Round Table, but if
I run from every dragon and ignore every damsel in distress and refuse
to come to the defense of my fellow knights, the truth is that I am not
a loyal knight. My behavior trumps my professions.
T
hink
of your surrounding physical reality as hundreds of mirrors:
most of the mirrors will be accurate, some will not. The physical universe
is constantly giving you evidence as to who you really are (up until now)
and what you actually are doing or accomplishing. For example, if a majority
of the people-mirrors in your life respond to you as a demanding, self-centered
person, although you assert your humility and see yourself as a very easy-going
person, I suggest you consider the message of the mirrors.
Have
you ever listened to an audio recording of your voice? I remember
the first time I listened to a recording of me singing. My first response
was, "Who switched the tape?" I could
not believe the person I was listening to was me. The problem
was that I had always heard my voice from within my own head. This was
the first time I had heard myself as others had always heard me. It
wasn't that the voice sounded horrible: it was simply different-drastically
so.
Most
people never leave their own skin. All they have ever known
of themselves is what they see, hear, hear, smell, taste or feel from
within their own bodies. The consequences of such a life-style are quite
problematic.
- You
fancy yourself as a very funny person, but many of those closest
to you experience your humor as a lethal weapon.
- You
think your work habits are above and beyond the call of duty: your
boss thinks that, while you are always busy, you are rarely productive.
- You
believe your worth in the market place to be one thing, yet the market
refuses to endorse your opinion.
- You
see yourself as weak person with little to offer the world around you.
Your friends experience you as the most wise, kind, caring and attentive
person they have ever known.
The fact is that some people/mirrors are predisposed to reflecting their own presuppositions and opinions regarding who and what you are, regardless of evidence to the contrary. Such people should not be taken seriously.
However,
when a majority of people--mirrors in your world are reflecting the same
message back to you, it would be wise to consider the feedback.
The mirror of the physical universe is a gift to us. It reveals our weakness and strengths, it keeps us from illusions and it provides a constant reality-check on who and what we think we are. The trick is to remind our selves to periodically look into the mirrors!
Read more articles on this subject:
Written
by
Dr. Monte E. Wilson, III
Andrea
Higham, Editor
© 2004 God On The Net, Inc. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced
without permission.