Know Thyself
One of the most important aspects of my coaching is the work to really understand yourself. As we work on our development towards higher states of being we must learn which parts of self help us in our aim and which hold us back. In order to become aware of these things within ourselves part of what we do is observe ourselves in our daily life and personal interactions. We catch ourselves in our behaviours and thoughts and we notice how they affect us. This is one of the ways we keep ourselves on the path towards our aim of Self-realization and higher states of being or consciousness.
Sometimes the work is enjoyable but often it is brutal or embarrassing as we discover things in ourselves that are dark, judgemental or emotionally immature. We all have these aspects of self and usually are completely unaware of their existence and their pull within us. Or we may be conscious of them and momentarily shut down our awareness thereby allowing them to leap into action. And it may take a while before we notice we’ve gone astray.
We’re All Human
It is also interesting to note that we can see other’s foibles quite a bit more easily than we can see our own so it wouldn’t surprise me to know many had already observed mine.
At any rate I caught myself today and I’m putting it out here as an example of what we can see about ourselves when we least expect it and to also say, “Yep, I’m human. I trip and fall too. And the work of Self, self observation and personal growth and evolution does not end.”
Ice Bucket Challenge
Recently on Facebook there has been much ado about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. There was a lot of very good, positive press and many people were participating. Suddenly, though things shifted and negative press started coming out. That was what caught my interest and I started posting under the guise of suggesting we need to think and make conscious decisions about where to put our focus and our energies. One kind woman even suggested this was my motivation. And in part yes it was. But not entirely.
Mea Culpa
During the course of these postings I suggested people were jumping on the bandwagon, getting swayed by their emotions and in a sense I was saying, “Look a little closer and don’t get yanked about by outside influences.” I might have heeded my own advice! For I jumped on another bandwagon “under the guise of acting through thoughtful, conscious decision making.” I did exactly the same thing just in a different costume.