Know Thyself

I'm always amazed at how many things we think of to occupy the spaces in our lives. I'd have thought that since we live hectic lives, we'd appreciate having time to ourselves. But strangely enough, this is not the case. As if it's not enough to be busy at work, we need also to be busy outside of work. We pack things into our lives so that we can boost of living fruitfully and productively.

But how about spending time with ourselves? Listening to our thoughts and getting in touch with our feelings. I'm not talking about being a new age sensitive person. That, I think, is just being oversensitive and no one likes a naggy and petty person. I'm referring to knowing ourselves so that we're aware of what makes us tick, what makes us happy and contented and what makes us who we are. Very often, we go through life assimilating the wants and desires of other people (our parents, friends and society at large). We end up being one of the masses with no unique personality. To illustrate, one only needs to recall the movie "Runaway Bride". Julia Roberts' character never knew what she wanted until the right man played by Richard Gere came along. Her perpetual cold feet at the altar was not so much a sign of her inabilty to commit, but of her failure to find out what she wanted. And we're not talking about just what kind of man she liked. She didn't even know how she wanted her eggs done - sunny side up, scrambled, poached etc.

So for our own sake and sanity, we should sit up and listen to ourselves more. In the long run, it'll save us a lot of heartaches. For if you know yourselves, your decisions are likely to be what you want. If not, the break between what you choose and what you really want will come sooner or later. If it's a major decision and you choose wrongly, then be prepared to bear the consequences for a long time to come.