How to Understand Yourself Better
Do I Understand Me?
I think it’s an ongoing process to understand ourselves. We are so pre-conditioned. As children, we are taught values and personal morals. We identify who we are quite often by how others see us and define us.
This begins with the mirroring of our physical self. Our skin, our eye color, the shape of our waiste and our hips, our height and our weight. People reflect their opinions of us from early on. Perhaps they remark that we are beautiful or plain. Maybe our features look like they are of a certain culture. Also, on another level, people might tell us what we need or what we don’t need. They might say to us what is right and what is wrong, and what to believe. Our families especially even often shape what or who we believe God to BE. We often agree because this is part of belonging.
At some point though, as life greets us, some of these identify points begin to crumble. The ups and the downs of life will show us a new way. This is actually good news. When we step outside our origin story, we get to wake up to who we really are. It’s an unfolding story of authenticity if we so choose. It’s an adventure that often requires courage, an open mind, and a choice to move into the mystery.
When we break the bonds of loyalty to the image of who we are suppose to be, we break apart, and we blossom through our essence. This is usually not an easy path- but it is a path of richer connection. It is one well worthwhile. To understand ourselves, we break apart and then re-build healthier relationships with ourselves and with others. We grow, heal, and we learn, attaining new depths of understanding.
The funny thing that often makes me smile though is that because of our dynamic nature, we are constantly changing from one moment to the next. Who I am when I started writing here is a different person than right now. So when we think we have grasped a sense of Self, like fluid, we transform into someone else.This makes life so interesting.
One Question that keeps us in the Present is, “Who AM I Now”? I don’t usually advise, but this is advice to keep this question ongoing. It helps us to stay clear and present.
What a gift it is to move through time and space always in flux, even when we resist. What a gift it is to know ourselves through investigation and experience.
As a Craniosacral Therapist, I have been privileged to witness many people transform and transcend their current struggles. It’s beautiful to observe the diving down into the deepness and the rise back up into the light. The dance between the shadows and clarity is meaningful and precious. Eventually finding balance brings in clarity and groundedness.
I’d have to say that discovering ourselves and understanding brings about a sense of empowerment and embodiment. What do you believe?
I leave this post with, “How well do you know yourself?”
Sharon Hartnett CST-D
703 509-1792
www.craniosacraltherapistcolumbus.com
