Self Examination

Do you get angry when people cut you off in traffic?  Do you cut people off in traffic?  Well let's not talk about fingering people or road rage because they can't get off the cell phone waiting at a light that has already turned green or texting on the highway with the elbows on the wheel.  No, this is not about traffic but this is about the very human tendency to apply rules to others and not to ourselves.  The religious word for this is hypocrisy.  The reality is that its a very human thing to do and probably innate to our nature in order to get ahead and survive.  Yet mature empaths and enlightened individuals should treat others as they would want to be treated (the golden rule).  The answer to this is self examination.  The way to do this is: by evaluating your emotional state when it comes to each issue; by recognizing that you are in a state of development; and by training yourself to change.


Say you find that your loved one seems annoying when they ask for something.  In such a situation ask yourself why does this bother you.  What fear do you have.  Is your fear founded in reality?  That is will your loved one behave or think of you in the way you fear?  This is the evaluating part.  These are hard questions.  If you feel that the situation is severe or your having trouble evaluating something perhaps it is time to seek professional help in a counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist.  Self evaluating is emotional and can be draining.  You may want to take your time with it.

How do you view yourself? Do you feel altogether and in need of no-one's help?  Do you feel inadequate?  Do you feel out of place?  However you feel about yourself, you should understand that your in a process of development.  That is, your on a journey to better yourself and you may not reach your ultimate destination in this lifetime.  Yet, it's the journey that matters.  Sometimes you get off course or even realize that a change in course is what is needed all along.  The point is that your working on it and learning as you go.  Who could fault you for that?  Understanding that your in a state of development is important to the self examination process.  It allows you to make mistakes and correct them and also to come up with some accomplished goals.  If you stop this learning process then you will not move forward, and you could get depressed.

Deciding on an action to take really depends on the situation.  If it is a case of how you think, then coaching reason into your thinking could be the answer.  If it is an act that you do, then training yourself to do an alternative act could be the answer.  You have to decide the course of action to take.  In any case, training yourself takes time.  It gets easier as time goes on, but you have to stay with it until its second nature.

 

Self examination is a good process to do.  Through evaluating yourself, understanding your state of development, and training yourself are simple steps to understand, but they take some courage and some work to get through them.  I examine myself many times and often.  That is excessive, I know.  You may want to do self examination maybe once or twice a year.  Don't discount what other people say about you, especially if they say the same thing and have no connection to each other.  Often, the help of others in this is important.  This process is a good way to get balance in your life.