Second,
Everything that YOU are doing right now
Everything that YOU are thinking right now
And everything that is going on around YOU
Leave everything and everyone aside,
Pause!
Now take a moment and sit in seclusion and for once enjoy the peace in solitude,
Try to close your eyes and Take a long deep breathe in and out slowly, recognizing the constriction and tension you feel in your lungs as you breathe in and out
Slowly draw your attention towards everything that surrounds you, choose a perfect spot! Look closely to the space you have occupied consciously to sit in seclusion, think about whether or not the space you have selected would give you peace, if you think it does then contemplate the reason for the same; if it doesn’t then change the space. Turn your attention towards every object in the room and the memories you have made. Activate all your senses and feel the environment – look closely, feel closely, smell closely, hear closely and touch closely everything around you. Cease the moment try to conquer the situation. How often do we do that?
With each deep long breathe you take while sitting in one corner, try to erase everything out of the mind, Tensions, Stressors, and Anxieties of your present human existence; brush it off aside.
As you slowly empty your head with all the negativity of life that pulls you down try to only think about WHO AM I? And WHAT DO I WANT?
Most would struggle answering the two questions. While it is easy to define the “Problem part of the life” or “things that one struggles with” or “other people we are surrounded with” but what is particularly difficult for many is to understand one’s own virtue of existence. Our Mind is filled with thoughts, both positive and negative. The beauty of human mind is sketched in a way that it is very easy to think about negatives in one’s life than positives. The confounded part of human mind is how quickly it tends to multiply the negative cycle of thoughts that inevitably interrupts tranquility. The positives however require a lot of head scratching. While we turn to others to help us identify the goodness in us, look for constant validation and criticism to work upon our weaknesses. But what’s truly astonishing is how we aren’t able to see “Self” from our own eyes but relentlessly believes in “Self” defined by others. Our mind constantly reassures that the hindrance stays activated.
One of the essential needs of human existence is the “Need for Self Actualization”- a higher order need towards “Enlightenment”, “Wisdom”. “Nobility” and “True knowledge of one’s Existence” and that only comes when we truly have a self control over ourselves and our mind. The ladder to the path of Self Actualization is not easy and the path that helps one to attain it comes with a lot of emotional battles, conflicts, insecurities, frustration, mental blocks and distortions. It is only when one tries to put an end to all the negativity constructed within, does one taste victory and drift towards higher sense of being. But how does one reach on to the road of achieving a higher order need like this? Here’s how.
“Know thyself”- is a common phrase. Despite of its existence, it is repeatedly being confused with a lot of definitions that colors the essence of it. As easy as it might sound, not everyone is able to reach to the independent state of knowing self completely. I am who I am and there is nothing outside of me that defines me. I know my strengths, I know my weaknesses. I know my responsibilities and I know my duties. There is nothing outside of me that controls me and there is no one outside of me that shapes me. “The story of ancient Greeks who traveled miles to the Oracle at Delphi is quite famous especially to catch the very own beauty of the phrase. The move afar by the Greeks was just to attain knowledge and wisdom. As they entered, the entrance denoted “Gnothi Seauton” or “Know Thyself” which was intentionally placed at the entrance with a prominent statement, that everyone who comes to seek knowledge and wisdom must first be fully aware of who they really are before they think about obtaining enlightenment from the forces outside their true self. Miletus, sage of Greece, was once asked, “What is difficult?” to this he explicitly replied, “To know yourself.” Though the value of “Know thyself” is undermined, it is essential that we realize the importance and power it holds. If we only know ourselves shall we realize that everything that we are looking for around us is what lies within us. It is pointless to look for answers on the surface when everything is possessed beneath. It is vital for one to understand that we control our own life and nothing or nobody external to one’s being has any dictation on who we are and what decisions we take and how do we go about our life. When one realizes this, the life becomes very simple and the destiny thereafter is under one’s control. It is not wrong to say that once we get to know ourselves shall we get to know the world around us, the people around us. To know oneself is to be able to regulate oneself, to be fully aware, to practice self reflection and to be able to fully be in touch with one’s own emotions, perceptions, thinking pattern and behavior. It allows one to examine closely the way we think, react and act. Hence knowing thyself is world’s greatest weapon that can help one reach to his own true potential. Hence the road map to a man’s success is to know thyself. Modern day humans live in a world where there is a lot of potential stressors around, it is only when we take charge of everything that happens around us including our own mind can we really conquer the world and its manifested problem situations.
Warren Bennis, once said- “the most difficult task any of us faces is to know ourselves”. Hence until you know yourselves, strengths and weaknesses, you cannot succeed in the most superficial sense of the word.”
But the real question is how much do we know ourselves to reach where we wish to be?
