Knowing thyself

I always believe that life is a journey of learning about yourself. When we were born into the world we learn how to breathe instinctively. Then gradually we learn the physical aspects of ourself from walking, jumping, running, swimming, smiling, eating, and to hold our pee when the toilets're full or too dirty.

However, it's not the physical actions of ourself i'm focusing on but more towards our spiritual side. Our personality, the character, how we handle ourselves etc. 

According to dictionary.com personality by definition is the quality of being a person;  existence as a self-conscious human being;  a personal identity.

As Paolo Coelho aptly said;

Man improves himself as he follows his path; if he stands still, waiting to improve before he makes a decision, he'll never move. 

When we made 'the' decision and move forward, we inevitably learn about ourself. Why did we made the decision, what did we consider when we made the decision? How will the decision affect us? Wether the decision we took is one we happy with or did we just made a mistake is not as important as the journey we go through when we made our decision. 

Life is about learning ourself and improve and make mistakes and continue improving.

Along my short journey so far in this world I've learnt many things about myself. I learnt that i'll cry when i see/be among others cry or when i see a touchy movie or drama. I learnt that i'm most emotionally vulnerable when i'm sleepy or when i just woke up. I learnt that i forgive but don't forget. I learnt how to appear happy and satisfied when actually i'm sad and disappointed. I learnt to be content. I learnt that i keep my secrets quite well that nobody (even my close friends) actually know my full story and history other than the normal trivial matters like where you were born, lived, studied etc. (as if anybody is interested).

Further up on learning about ourself is how we learn to react to others in a certain situation, how we control ourself when we are faced with something we truly despise or cherished, what path do we usually take when are given option to choose. To be safe or to take some risk. Will we take the scenic road or the bland one? Learning when we are the most effective, is it in the early morning? or late at night? will it be a long-focused several hours of concentration or we need to take some pause between the hours to stay sharp.

I learnt that to accept others and to not judge them by appearances is extremely hard. To accept them as they are in the belief that nobody is perfect and we ourself are never a saint to start with. How often do we ridicule someone out without even trying to know them by just looking at their Facebook profile picture or when we heard from a friend of your best friend's friend that his friend said something bad about him that when we actually met the person we already have bad thoughts about him?

Maybe we learn about ourself differently. Either by experience, stories, observing, reading and many countless ways. But ultimately to learn and accept being ourself is a journey in itself. I might write this post today after mulling about the subject for more than a month. Which i learnt that i'm not one to write something without preparation or knowledge with fear that it might be misleading or cause unnecessary problems :)

Have we learnt something about ourself today?

Sometimes in your life you will go on a journey. It will be the longest journey you have ever taken. It is the journey to find yourself. - Katherine Sharp