What is self-knowledge
The process of a person learning about himself never ends. Throughout life, a person develops, gains new experiences that change his view of the world around him and himself. Self-knowledge is understanding, studying oneself.
Life is full of different events, so a person gets to know himself gradually, his opinion about different things is constantly changing.
Self-discovery is quite a fascinating process. People are constantly faced with situations that affect their values. Some event can completely change the idea of the world.
Why does a person need to know himself?
In simple words - to become happier. We can live without really thinking about what we are doing and why. Doing a job you don’t like for years, not realizing that it’s not good. And then at one point, realizing how much time was wasted on something you didn’t like, you feel a huge disappointment. This situation can arise in any area of life. To avoid this, you need to listen to your desires. If we look at it in more detail, the goal of self-knowledge is self-improvement.
A person who understands himself feels that life has meaning.
We are not talking about 100% understanding: the world is changing, people are changing. A person continues to learn about himself throughout his life - this is not bad. Even while searching for yourself, you can feel joy and happiness. As a result, a person understands who he is and gets rid of internal conflicts.
A conscious person takes actions that fit into his value system and are needed to achieve goals and be happy.
Such people will not do something simply because it is customary or because they do not really think about their actions. Let us examine in more detail the methods of self-knowledge.
Self-improvement – getting closer to the ideal
Self-improvement and self-knowledge, in their properties, are immanent in the nature of every person equally. All people strive to achieve the ideal, that maximum, which will mean that their life is going the right way. Probably, a statement of this nature is too loud, and yet it is necessary to understand that an individual who is driven by self-knowledge always strives for self-realization; it would be stupid to underestimate this. Such a desire sooner or later leads a person to acquire certain knowledge and master new, previously unknown skills. The path that everyone goes through, wanting to know themselves, implies a revision of goals, values, beliefs and everything else.
Self-observation: beginning to learn
A mechanism of self-awareness, which is characterized by the desire to know oneself better. Watch yourself: what actions you take, how you react to different situations. A simple method is to hang stickers with guiding questions in a visible place:
1. What am I doing now? 2. What is the purpose of my actions? 3. What are my thoughts doing right now? 4. How do I feel at this moment? 5. When do I feel alive and real? What awakens these feelings? 6. In what situations am I a hypocrite?
When answering questions, objectivity is important. It is also important to learn without judging yourself.
If you don’t like something, just admit that such a trait is present in your character, perhaps preventing you from moving on.
Another effective way is to write down what you do throughout the day. After a while, you will notice that you monitor your emotions and actions, that emotions and actions are not automatic. This is a sign that you have completed the first stage, and it’s time to move on to the next one. You need to continue to monitor yourself. You need to return to this periodically so that over time you begin to understand even better the motives for your actions.
Personality and society in the works of M. Lermontov
The poet’s lyrical hero constantly comes into conflict with the world, but at the same time maintains objectivity and tries to look at life realistically and soberly. The constantly evolving man-crowd motif appears in many of the author’s works, but his famous psychological novel “A Hero of Our Time” occupies a special place.
And here the main character is an individual who comes into confrontation with society, only this conflict is more of an internal nature. which is subsequently realized in life.
Lermontov pays significant attention to the formation of the human soul; he provides readers with the opportunity to observe how the hero’s personality is formed and what circumstances determine his choices and actions.
This led the writer to write such an amazing work as “A Hero of Our Time,” where Lermontov artistically reveals many levels of human psychology using the example of the main character Pechorin.
Self-analysis: continuing the research
Now the features of the cognition process will be revealed more deeply. A person begins to reflect more on his behavior and thoughts.
You need to monitor your actions, see where they lead and try to understand their reasons.
This moment can be quite difficult psychologically. Perhaps you will understand that many reactions come from childhood, that your actions are controlled by the subconscious. Sounds complicated? Remember: you have a choice - continue to figure it out on your own or contact a specialist (psychologist or psychotherapist). If it seems that you can do everything yourself, I advise you to write everything down, as in the first stage.
First of all, pay attention to negative thoughts that arise frequently.
If you are offended, feel angry, apathetic, like to criticize others - display this in your notes, with examples of situations.
Once you deal with at least one emotion, you will notice changes in your life
.For example, you often get offended. Pay attention to the period that passed without offense.
You felt better then, right?
Imagine how much better your mood will be if you stop being offended by other people. Assessing yourself and exploring your essence is not easy. Often there is a lack of knowledge and experience. To fix this, I advise you to read books on this topic. They can be completely different and approach the issue from different angles. Gradually delving into the topic, you will understand what is closer to you, what helps you understand yourself. Alternatively, watch films about negative thoughts and how people who are authoritative to you fight them.
Comparison: Let's go even deeper
At this level of self-knowledge, you will understand that comparing yourself to others is not always a good thing. Comparison is in our nature. We look at other people, think in terms of “worse”, “better”. And this can interfere with knowing your true self. But sometimes it can help.
If you compare yourself with another person and feel sad or envious, this is a road to nowhere.
Such emotions will only do harm.
If, on the contrary, you feel a surge of inspiration and motivation for development appears, such a comparison will be useful.
The goal of self-knowledge is to know your true self.
But if you develop and improve yourself at the same time, that’s wonderful. If you follow the example of successful people, it can energize you and make you understand that you also want to achieve something. The main thing is that it really is your desire, and not an opinion imposed by others.
Find your own path to happiness.
If you take specific traits into pieces, nothing good is likely to come out of it. For example, you think someone is lazy. If you delve into this, you can begin to notice laziness in yourself.
You don't always want to work hard, right?
But such “laziness” can be completely justified: the body must rest, a person must gain new impressions, and then begin work with renewed vigor.
And if you start to consider any vacation as laziness, then this will only ruin your mood. Nobody can work all the time, that's normal.
Try to focus on the positive. Be inspired by other people, take an example from them if you consider it worthy. Resist the temptation to criticize everyone. If someone doesn't want to do things today, it doesn't mean they're lazy. This finding applies to different traits and situations.
If something doesn’t work out today, it doesn’t mean that you are not capable of it in principle.
Adequate self-esteem is important in self-knowledge.
Conclusion
To summarize, it should be said that self-knowledge as a process, the presence of which is extremely important in our lives, is certainly thorny and difficult. For many, it raises doubts about their own abilities, which fundamentally prevents the beginning of self-development as such. The main thing is to understand for yourself! Nobody but ourselves. can't go this way. Without hard work, determination, and perhaps even sacrifice, it is impossible to understand your inner “I”. All aspects of our essence, or as we often call them “troubles,” make up this unpredictable individuality of each person.
The process of self-knowledge: the result of the analysis
Now we have come to the final stage.
A person must accept himself as he is.
This can be difficult, but it is necessary. This does not mean that you need to stop at a specific point and not change. Self-development of the individual continues throughout life, and this is good. But now, when you accept yourself, you realize your strengths and weaknesses, understand your desires, goals, principles, values. Now you know where to start. Sometimes it won’t be easy, but you need to be able to overcome the barriers that arise.
It is important to understand your shortcomings, but not to criticize yourself.
Look at the shortcomings from different angles, find something good in them. This will allow you to perceive negative traits less painfully. Then everything depends on you: you can gradually get rid of shortcomings that do not suit you and interfere with your communication with others. You will do this consciously, understanding how to act and what to strive for. At this level of self-knowledge you need to be especially flexible.
You are constantly changing, a person is constantly changing and developing, so you need to periodically reconsider your conclusions and judgments.
If you now see some of your traits and goals, soon they may be completely different. It is important to capture this moment so that your understanding of yourself corresponds to reality and does not become outdated. Follow the changes - this way you will better understand your personality and see what self-knowledge leads to and what results it gives.
Values in self-knowledge through yoga practice
The first stage - the pit - contains the following rules:
- satya - only truth and truth;
- aparigraha - partial renunciation of worldly goods;
- ahimsa - condemnation of violence in any of its manifestations;
- brahmacharya - non-promiscuity;
- asthenia – stealing is bad.
Second phase:
- santosha – modesty;
- svadhyaya - reading primary sources;
- shauchya – purity (both internal and external);
- isvara-pranidhana - ideal;
- tapas – self-discipline, self-restraint.
Techniques: we understand in practice
We examined the theoretical aspects, the structure of self-knowledge. Now let's look at the specific techniques used for this.
Journaling
First of all, it helps to get rid of excess negativity.
When a person writes down what happened during the day, it is as if he is cleansing himself, washing away unnecessary dirt.
This helps you calm down, return to your true self, and stabilize a positive attitude. Keeping a diary allows you to better analyze what is happening. In the fast pace of modern life, it often happens that you do not have time to think about what is happening. At home, in a calm environment, writing everything down, and at the same time thinking about it. As you fill out your diary, look at how your day started.
Think about it, is this the beginning of the day you dream about?
This is another item on the list of actions that lead to awareness. Keeping a diary will help you track your ups and downs, which is also very important for development.
We know from history that many successful people kept diaries.
Psychological tests
Simple tests will help you better understand your emotional state and evaluate your actions. By giving clear answers, at the end of the test you will receive a finished result, which will display a specific aspect of your personality. There are many tests for self-knowledge, thanks to which it is easy to understand many things. They will help you see the signals of the subconscious, better understand your character, and determine which activities you should give preference to.
You can go further and study psychology.
This will help you learn to understand yourself better, which will contribute to constructive relationships with others.
Yoga
Helps you find peace of mind, tone your body, remove blocks and clamps, and become more resilient. While doing the exercises, it is important to fully concentrate on what is happening, without being distracted by extraneous thoughts. You need to be able to enjoy the sensations, even if some pose is not easy. After class you feel incredible lightness and relaxation. When you are here and now, literally dissolving in each exercise, it gives excellent results. You learn to be in harmony with yourself and the world around you, to feel your emotions, your body. As a result, you become calmer and more stress-resistant, and believe in yourself.
Creation
Any creative activity helps you understand yourself better. It doesn't matter if you do painting, dancing or cross stitch. All this is a way of self-expression.
In the process of creativity, a person reveals himself, can learn about some unexpected sides of himself, and find new goals.
Movies, books
Watching movies or reading books, we involuntarily try on situations for ourselves, look at the actions of the characters, and compare ourselves with them. This makes it possible to see different situations from the outside and analyze them objectively. Take a closer look, it may seem that the characters are behaving ugly, but in a similar situation did you behave similarly?
Working with a psychologist
A specialist will help you open up as much as possible, understand your problems and find internal resources to solve them.
The specialist will notice what the person himself does not notice, helping to continue self-knowledge and self-improvement.
Participation in trainings
Group work aimed at self-knowledge and self-development.
Relaxation
Relaxation in order to focus on the inner world, calm down, reflect.
Reflection
Analysis of the situation and your actions from the outside.
