Learning Through Life
Self-awareness lies at the heart of any meaningful personal growth and development. We need to understand what makes us tick. The more we understand that, the more we can maximise our talent and potential.
The problem many of us have is that we don't know what motivates us. We haven't figured out key elements about how we're wired. So the question then becomes: how do we discover what motivates us? How do we become more self-aware?
Sadly, there is no quick answer. Self-awareness is a life-long journey. The key though is to make sure we are on that journey. You can only become more self-aware if you choose to.
Having made that choice, it is then about putting ourselves into lots of different environments and situations that stretch and move us outside of our comfort zones. It is in the midst of these moments that we need to reflect on what we can learn about ourselves.
Great discoveries are made in the midst of great experimentation. This is true whether we are talking about inventing the light bulb or taking our own personal journey of self-discovery. If we want to 'find ourselves', we have to step out and embrace every opportunity to learn and experience and feel and question and explore.
Having said all of that however, the journey of self-discovery is rarely successful when the focus is solely self-orientated. Whether we have discovered this yet or not, humanity is wired to truly come alive when we involve ourselves in things that are bigger than ourselves. We were made to be part stories that are far bigger than 'Me, Myself and I'.
Not only this, we rarely make truly enlightening self-discoveries in isolation. We are designed to function in community, not in isolation. Living life with others whilst doing stuff that matters is what creates the most powerful space for self-discovery.
Like scientists who spend countless hours in their laboratories experimenting and discovering, we need to do the same with our lives - always learning and discovering.
Ultimately, we must never forget that self-awareness and discovery do not primarily come as a result of endlessly looking inward; they emerge through simply reflecting on our life whilst we are in the process of doing what we do with others and for others.
- When was the last time you did something new, different, or challenging?
- Who are the friends and family who make up your 'community'?
- What project could you take up with others to make a difference in the world?
Comments (2)
Hi Sam, I read your blog and thought it very good. The only thing is, I would argue that there are in fact rather a lot of scientists, writers and philosophers/theologians who flourished, in the main, when in self-imposed isolation or solitude of some kind - Newton, Rousseau, Michelle de Montaigne, Saint Simeon Stylites and Buddha to name a few - all of whom have played not inconsiderable roles in the advancement of civlization and learning. While man is not a solitary animal per se, the opposite case to the view you propound does have rather a lot of mileage. Perhaps the dilemma is summed up best by the overused but underconsidered words of Camus: 'solitaire ou solidaire'.
But how did they come to the place of realising that they worked best alone? I would argue that the process of discovering ourselves still happens in community and, out of that discovery process, we come to realise things about how we're wired and how we function best. So maybe the working in isolation is stage two, having made a degree of progress in self-awareness, rather than stage one.
Add a Comment