Most of us go through life detached from the most important person in our lives. We wander though life never getting in touch with the one who can make the biggest impact on us. We accept whatever comes our way and miss out on a passionate existence, and usually blame the world around us for what we see is wrong. We miss out completely with connecting with ourselves.
A friend once asked me “What are you passionate about?” It was a question I couldn’t answer. I had never got into the habit of looking within and learning what was going on inside. Life was full of external stimuli and little inside understanding. Life was happening to me, instead of me taking life for all it was worth. And when I talk with people, most times they have the same responses. They don’t often know what is inside.
For many years I never came to understand who I was. And missed out on some great understandings of me, and great experiences which I could have seized on if I truly understood me. So I started a journey of self-discovery. Because I am worth knowing and if I don’t know myself, I cannot expect anyone else to be willing to either. Without knowing yourself you cannot value yourself. And if you don’t value yourself, no one else will either.
The struggle to know oneself is a difficult path, but one that leads to rich rewards. Your relationships get better, because they are no longer based on circumstances but on who we are. Conversations can go much deeper because we have evaluated what we think, and why. We have also evaluated what we feel and why, so then instead of exploding at random events when everything comes to a head, or blowing up at family after a few hard days, we can begin to see things in a different light, and respond appropriately.
The journey begins by taking a look under our hood and determining what is there. For many people this will be a hard thing to do, because many don’t really like what they see. But as we do this we begin to see past the grease and the oil, and we see past the damaged areas, and we see things that are actually worthwhile. There is great value and priceless treasure inside each one of us, and unless we are willing to take a hard honest look inside, and get past the things we don’t like, we will never become who we were meant to be.
Jesus said to “…love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself.” Mark 12:31 (Voice) When we look around us at the world we live in very few people actually love themselves. This is evidenced by the way they treat the world around them. If we don’t love ourselves, we have nothing to offer others, and we treat them the same way we feel would treat us. You cannot love yourself without knowing yourself. And others cannot know you either if you don’t know you. And the world is crying out for relationships that matter. We are fed up with the empty social world, and are hungry for something deeper. And it begins by me knowing me.
The Blog of Tom Sanders 