The Path Of Self Discovery

1. Conducting A Self-Assessment For Self-Discovery

“There is no greater journey than the one that you must take to discover all of the mysteries that lie within you”

–         Michelle Sandlin

To a very large extent, many of us tend to see the wrong in others without taking into account or having a close look on ourselves.

We subconsciously judge others and not ourselves. Taking a self-assessment is important in realizing and shaping us to becoming the best version of ourselves. You also need someone who is very honest to help you in your self-assessment.

Usually the person who is able to help you is someone whom you can trust. It can be your significant other or a best friend. Also, there are a number of self-assessment tests that you can take for self-discovery.

Self-assessment involves looking deep into you for an INSIGHT.

Self-assessment does not meansyou are taking some time to reflect upon yourself and get to learn about the person you see every time you look in the mirror.

The first step to a definite self-assessment is to be HONEST about you. Take a good look in the mirror and take the time to study the person you see.

Describe the person you see in the mirror using up to a total of 25adjectives. Consider using both positive and negative adjectives. This exercise is important because you are being honest with yourself. Dig deep. Allow for self-discovery.

The next step is to consider your likes and dislikes. This is important to allow yourself to identify the root of your likes and dislikes.

Write down the activities you love doing.

• Which books do you enjoy reading?
• What kind of people do you surround yourself with?
• What are the activities you enjoy during your free time?

For all the answers that you give, provide an explanation.

Explore the explanations in depth.

The next exercise is to start writing a journal. For a whole week, write down all your emotions, actions and thoughts that you might have.

Write down what you feel most comfortable doing without much effort but is also very rewarding to you.

2. How To Know The Real You

“Anyone can appear beautiful from afar. The real test of character is how you are to those nearest to you. Good character means that the closer someone comes to you, the more beautiful you are”

–         Yasmin Mogahed

Discovering your real self can be scary sometimes. It demands an understanding of your personal aspirations, emotions and even spiritual values. It also involves knowing how best to fulfill the requirements you want in life. If you come to an understanding of all these aspects of life, then you are on the right path to self-discovery.

What we usually focus on in our lives is to make a living, chasing money and we tend to forget the spiritual part of our lives. We neglect the fact that we need to strike a balance between our physical, emotional and spiritual being.

You need to look inside your soul and search for what it needs. It is important to note that we are not just a vessel but rather we have an inner self comprising of the soul which also yearns for satisfaction.

We need to be connected with ourselves and draw attention or move away from distractions from outside. In most cases, our focus is tuned into meeting our external desires.

There will never be a sense of fulfillment if we keep looking at the outside. In most instances, we are busy with the desire to meet the needs of the physical and this causes one to lose him or herself. Take time to meditate. It will help you realize and know yourselves better.

Another way to help you discover your real self is by improving your relationship with others. It helps you to place your focus less on material gains and more on intangible values like love and honesty.

We will feel more content when we improve our connection with others by making the people around us happy and helping out where we can. This gives us more of a spiritual satisfaction.

3. The Value Of Spiritual Self-Discovery

“To make the right choices in life, you have to get in touch
with your soul. To do this, you need to experience solitude, which
most people are afraid of, because in the silence you hear the truth and know the solutions.”

–          Deepak Chopra

When people embark on a journey of self-discovery, they tend to focus on the physical and emotional side of their personality.

People rarely take into account the importance of spiritual self-discovery. Take some time to explore the spiritual aspect of ourselves. As a result, we will discover a unique and different aspect to our personality we may not even have realized existed.

We are made up of physical, spiritual, intellectual and emotional dimensions. We experience the universe through the individual and collective lenses of these dimensions.

This is not something entirely new.

We know that humanity has always considered these dimensions. We have been informed through Roman and Greek mythology, Roman astrology and ancient religion how spirituality has played an important role in human development.

We perhaps can relate best with moments like witnessing a sunrise or an amazing act of nature that leaves us in a state of awe and wonder, admitting there are things in our life that are beyond our ability to explain and control. We may consciously or unconsciously acknowledge the desire to discover this power and it is what we can term “spirituality”.

When we talk about spiritual well being, we inevitably think of God. Whoever or whatever we conceive “him” to be. Some consider him a supreme being and others consider him as “the man upstairs” a father figure. Some may reject the concept of any sort of being, and find their spirituality elements through earth, or in Mother Nature.

So how do we discover the spiritual side of our personalities?

There are various ways in discovering the spiritual side of our personalities. Some people seek spirituality by embracing formal religion; others discover it through yoga or some other form of meditation that enables them to focus on themselves. Others go on a journey of self-discovery and call this a religious experience.

Some have compared this spiritual awakening with a heightened sense of experiencing. As we consciously allow our inner selves to experience life at a deeper level as compared to what seems obvious around us, we begin to relate to things in a different way.

On the other hand, some of us subconsciously or consciously seek help and shelter from a higher being or some of us may refer to as “god” when we find ourselves in a dire position. For many people, this moment is also considered a spiritual awakening.

In order to embrace our spiritual side, we need to acknowledge it exists. As we embark on a journey of spiritual self-discovery, we often discover aspects of our personality and our character we have not come across before. Most of us find that it awakens our inner elements and fills a void in our lives.

Some people perceive having faith or spiritual awareness is like following something blindly without proof, as it is intangible. This is common in the early stages of spiritual awakening, where for many people it is an uncomfortable place to be in. But by the end of the day most of us come to accept there are many things in our lives we accept without proof.

When we discover the spiritual aspect of ourselves, we also discover our place in the universe. We often ask ourselves, “Why am I here” and “Where am I heading.” Whatever we call our spiritual reality; these are two fundamental questions we ask ourselves. Spirituality helps us discover the answers to these questions. Spiritual self-discovery can be a journey that fills us with a sense of personal “completion” and contentment.

4. Self-Discovery – The Key to a Happier Life

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you do, you will be successful.”

–         Albert Schweitzer

The term “Self-discovery” means identifying yourself and your needs. Self-discovery is very important. If you do not discover yourself, and know exactly what you want from life, you have no idea what you are living for.

A step to self-discovery is identifying your needs. Most people are clueless of what they want. To identify your needs, you first need to take a step back and think thoroughly.

Then, when you are in a relaxed state of mind, meditate and focus on your thoughts.

Ask yourself questions like what makes you happy, what makes you sad and so on. Along with the question of what, also ask why it makes you feel certain emotions. Seek a deep and strong reason behind it, not a common or general answer.

When you have identified what makes you happy and sad, you can focus on the things that make you happy and stay away from moments that make you sad.

After you have the answer to all of your questions, write them down on a piece of paper so it will be easier for you to view it whenever you need to.

5. We Are Responsible For Our Own Happiness

“Don’t ever feel bad for making a decision that upsets other people. You are not responsible for their happiness. You are responsible for your happiness”

–         Dr. Isaiah Hankel

We spend a lot of time looking outside of ourselves in search of happiness. We might feel the happiest when we are under the influence of alcohol or other substances. We might need our family or friends around us to feel happy or we might even think that losing weight or becoming fit is the way to achieve happiness.

Whilst these things may contribute to our happiness, our true happiness lies within us and as we find ourselves, accept ourselves and embrace ourselves only then can we find true happiness that is not dependent on external substances or factors.

This can be one of the most liberating thoughts of all self-discoveries.

Once we learn this fundamental lesson, we determine how we react when things are not going the way we plan. Until that moment, our happiness is mostly dependent on other factors rather than ourselves.

Many people perceive happiness as positive emotions. We associate happiness with feelings or emotions that can range from contentment to pure joy. A lot of us tend to put a lot of expectations on external factors to make us feel those positive emotions.

Until we can come to terms that we are our own source of happiness, it’s likely our relationships will never live up to our expectations. They may add to our happiness, but they can never be the source of it. Henry Miller said, “I have no money, no resources and no hopes, but I am the happiest man alive.”

How do we search for our own happiness?

Happiness is, more about the state of mind as a response to it. To seek happiness within, we first need to change our attitude. We must adopt the mindset that happiness exists within, despite external circumstances.

Perspective is the creator of happiness and it may also be the destroyer of it. Training ourselves to remain positive and content is an important life skill. Once learned, it will help us maintain healthy emotional responses to every situation we face. Alain-Rene Lasage once said, “I am happy and content because I think I am.”

6. Meditating For Self-Discovery

“Meditation means the recognition or the discovery
of one’s own true self”

–         Sri Chinmoy

Meditating can be a good way of tapping into the subconscious to understand your inner self. It will help you to answer questions you have related to life.

Meditation is important in making or deciding the path in which your life should take. However, you should not be discouraged if you do not seem to get the right answers straight away.

Keep on practicing and in the end, you will finally get the answers. When you are meditating, the brain transforms to a theta state. When you are in this state you encounter very minimal interference from the conscious state of the mind. Thus, you successfully make contact with the subconscious state of the mind.

Begin by sitting in a place that is very comfortable and a room that has very minimal disturbance. Consider lighting a few candles so that you have minimal light.

Take into account the pace of your breath.

You should practice deep, controlled breathing that comes from the diaphragm. Breathe in and out, where it is advisable for you to use your nose. Pay attention to your breathing.

As you meditate, your mind becomes engrossed in thoughts.

Pay attention as the thoughts come and go. If there’s a thought that keeps on coming for long, consider digging deeper into that particular thought.

This is the perfect opportunity for you to search for answers you have been looking for, as your whole being is at ease. Keep in mind that you should not force anything. Do not force the answers but have a receptive and open mind.  This will help you discover yourself better.

7. Questions You Can Ask Yourself for Self-Discovery

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens”

–         Carl Jung

Even though we are all different in terms of gifts and talents, unfortunately not all of us are well aware of what our gifts are. It is also true that most of us know what our strengths are but they do not know how to maximize them.

We also do not know how to use them both for our own benefit and for the benefits of others.  One of the main reasons why people do not maximize on their God given talents is the failure to discover them. Many young people have the problem of identifying who they really are and what they are in this planet.

There are a number of questions that you can ask yourself during self-discovery. These questions are:

• Do you still love doing the activities you were doing as a child?
• If you so happen to write a book, what subject would you write on?
• What area or aspect in life you feel you can comfortably help people in?
• What does your close associates, friends or even relatives say about you?
• What is your happiest memory? Search the memory within you and try remembering a certain day that you felt truly happy.

All these questions will lead to the discovery of the REAL you.

At the end of the day, you will have personal satisfaction of the direction or path that your life is ought to take.

You will feel motivated and inspired. You will also be more confident about yourself and you can handle anything that comes your way with ease.

8. What Are The Factors To Self-Discovery?

“Sacrifice today for tomorrows betterment, you are willing to pay those payments with pain, because pain is just a message when you are fixing something that’s insufficient in your life”

–         Greg Plitt

Self-discovery is not a thing that happens by itself. Certain situations and factors lead us to discover ourselves. When we grow up, we have to pass through many challenges and setbacks in our lives. These situations make you who you are.

Listed below are some situations that you may face:

1. Experience is the most important factor in discovering yourself.
   You react in a certain way when faced with certain adversities. This is the time you discover yourself. Even if you think in a certain way, your practical actions in that very situation may be entirely different.
2. Passionis also a major way to self-discovery.
   What you are truly passionate about gives an indication of who you are and what your purpose is.
3. Environment is another important factor that plays a major role in discovering yourself.
   The environment in which you are immersed in shapes who you are. If you are in a positive environment, you tend to discover yourself as a person with a positive outlook, and vice versa.

Thus, the elements of self-discovery are transparent and in one time of your life or the other, you get the opportunity to discover yourself. It is important to discover yourself not only for apparent causes, but also for your inner satisfaction.

9. Ways To Discover Yourself

“Some steps need to be taken alone. It’s the only way
to really figure out where you need to be”

–         Mandy Hale

There are millions of people on earth coming from different regions, religions, colors and cultures. In spite of so many differences, one thing is common; all of us have a PURPOSE. Again, the purpose may vary from one individual to the other. Many a times, you may have role models whom you want to follow.

However, many people instead of looking up to their role models for reference, they copy their role models directly. They lose their sense of self and originality.

To discover yourself and understand your abilities to achieve, you have to understand the basic fact that you are bound to face obstacles when achieving your target.

For instance, when a baby is growing, he first learns to crawl, then he slowly learns to sit, then he learns to stand and then finally, he learns to walk and run. Despite the obstacles he faces, he reaches his aim and successfully walks.

Focus is another important factor related to self-discovery. Many people do not know how to focus on a goal. They simply spend their time doing things that are a waste of time and without proper planning. Therefore, when you strive to reach for the goal place your utmost focus on factors that contributes to the achievement of your goals. You have to exert discipline in your life.

10. 10 Questions To Understand Yourself

“Find something you’re passionate about
and keep tremendously interested in it”

–         Julia Child

Do you understand yourself? Understanding yourself assists you in making decisions in life. Often the choices we make without understanding ourselves can be wrong decisions that create further problems. Understanding our strengths and weaknesses helps us guide our paths to experiences that will provide us with the best possible outcomes of our choices.

If you keep a journal these 10 questions may help you in discovering yourself and to get in touch with your inner thoughts and feelings. These questions can help you make choices in your private life, working life and in relationships.

1. Describe what you believe is truly important in life.

2. Describe what values you uphold in life that best reflects what you believe in.
3. Describe your dreams and what you would want to achieve for yourself personally in life.
4. Who is your mentor or major influence in your life and how do they help you make decisions? Why are they an important influence?
5. What do you consider your special talents and gifts?
6. What skills would you like to develop in either your personal or working life in the next 12 months?
7. What would you regret not doing if you look back in your life in 20 years’ time?
8. What do you consider as your greatest achievement in life?
9. What do you consider as your greatest failure, sadness or disappointment?

Remember there is no right or wrong answers for any of these questions. As you answer them honestly and thoughtfully, the answers will provide you with a picture of who you are and a summary of your hopes, aspirations and the things you can learn from your past choices. Turn your answers into life goals and use them to help make decisions that will shape your future.

11. There Is More To You Than You Think

“If you had not suffered as you have, there would be no depth to you as a human being, no humility, no compassion”

–         Eckhart Tolle

The person you look at in the mirror may not be the person you think he or she is. Most of our self-awareness comes from our perceptions of how we think we appear to others. Just how accurate our thoughts about ourselves are, is usually dependent on our life circumstances and the people and events that have shaped our perceptions.

Some people have achieved a sense of acceptance of whom they are and where they fit into the world. For many people however, the public image they portray to others may not be a true reflection of their inner feelings.

Self-talk convinces many people that there is nothing good in them or their lives. This creates tension and sadness that can manifest itself in destructive ways. It can affect relationships and health if not countered.

How do people develop negative feelings towards themselves?

Often, they are the result of events where someone we love or trust say or do things that make us feel bad about ourselves. It begins to affect the way we think and feel about ourselves and how we appear to others.

Escaping the negative feelings means learning to love the unique person we are. It also means learning to allow others into our lives again without the fear of hurt or rejection. We can do this alone by consciously rejecting the inner voice and countering it with a reminder of all the blessings and successes in our life.

12. Have You Ever Encountered Yourself?

“You cannot experience yourself as what you are
until you’ve encountered what you are not”

–         Neale Donald Walsch

Actor James Baldwin once said, “I have encountered a lot of people in Europe, I have even encountered myself”. It raises the question, have you encountered yourself?

To encounter means to meet by surprise or unexpectedly, amongst other meanings. When was the last time you experienced that type of surprise meeting with yourself?

Have you been in a situation where you found out you liked something you didn’t think you would enjoy?

You may try new food, or a new sport. Maybe started a new hobby?  When this happens without you orchestrating the situation, you are encountering yourself. Many people stay in their comfort zones, and rarely find themselves in a situation where they are challenged by encountering themselves in an unexpected or surprising way.

As a personal challenge, take time to do something different today.

Take a walk on the beach or through the forest and use your senses to experience the sights, smells and tastes around you. Walk slowly and keep a journal close.

Allow yourself time to experience things you may usually take for granted and write down the things that you are starting to become aware of. Write about the way they impact you and if they bring back memories or other significant thoughts, write them down as well.

If you are taking a journey of self-discovery, encountering yourself is the first step to learning about the person you are.  Another meaning of encounter relates to conflict and confrontation.

Much of the time we prefer not to confront ourselves and we certainly don’t want to know the inner conflict, but for self-discovery to be successful, we must be willing to consider even the inner conflicts we have constantly raging inside us. We must be willing to confront the unjustifiable fears and assumptions we make often with no reason.

13. Self-Acceptance Is The Key To Life Transformation

“Let go of who you think you are supposed to be and be who you are”

–         Brene Brown

Sometimes in the course of our lives, we find ourselves saying yes to decisions we later regret. As we think of them, we wonder why we keep allowing ourselves to make the same bad decisions. Dwelling on the decisions we make can create a cycle of negative thinking.

The desire to be successful is important to most of us.

We want to be the best husband, or provider for our family, or the best at our job. We want to bake the best cakes or be the best mother or wife. Our self-esteem is often dependent on how others think of us. Our struggle to achieve great things in our life is often the result of a desire to feel accepted by others as a means of feeling self-accepted.

Even the most confident people have their own insecurities.

For instance, celebrities often resort to face lifts and heavy use of makeup to protect their public image. Being insecure does not indicate failure, but it is part of humanity. When those insecurities begin to drive our decisions and our choices, then we risk making poor decisions and creating inner tension and negative self-talk.

To help develop a strong sense of self-acceptance, it is important to ask ourselves about the intentions we have in making our decisions and what our motivations are behind them. Sometimes the good decisions we make are not the best decisions. Instead, they reinforce the cycle of trying to find self-acceptance by the acceptance of others.

Taking an inventory of our own dreams and strengths is essential to breaking this cycle. Our value and worth aren’t dependent on what others think of us, but more on how we think of ourselves. As we get in touch with our inner-self and embracing who we are, then we are able to make life decisions that contribute to and enhance our self-image. Most importantly, we have come to terms with who we are.

14. Self-Discovery Starts By Loving Yourself

“Don’t forget to fall in love with yourself first”

–         Carrie Bradshaw

Self-discovery is greatly dependent on whether you love yourself. Love for oneself is a great asset that one can have in life. First and foremost, you should ask yourself who you are. To a very large extent, most of us are deeply engrossed on the day-to-day hustles and bustles of life. This entails; making ends meet, running our various businesses and starting new paths for our careers. We are deeply engrossed in this until we forget who we really are. We never stop to discover ourselves.

If you do not love yourself, then there’s no way you can love somebody else.

Always put yourself first and do not look down upon yourself. Loving yourself has nothing to do with ego; it does not mean looking down upon others or being too proud. There’s no way you can love others if you do not love yourself first. Thus, loving yourself opens up your life to unique possibilities as you are comfortable in your own skin and is ready to take on anything that lies ahead.

15. When Was The Last Time You Experienced Joy?

“If you carry joy in your heart, you can heal any moment”

–         Carlos Santana

Pure joy is that feeling you felt as a child when you were anticipating opening the presents under the Christmas tree as you woke up on Christmas Morning. It is the feeling you felt as a child when you were faced with what seemed to be the most colorful ice cream you had ever seen.

Do you remember feeling excited as you waited for the gates to open at your favorite theme park?

As we grow older, we lose the sense of pure joy that captivates a child’s mind. We rarely let ourselves enjoy our activities with the recklessness we did as children

In your journal, write down 5 childhood memories that you remember that gave you the feelings of deep joy and excitement, both as you anticipated them, and later as you experienced them.

If for example, eating an ice cream on the beach was a special childhood memory that made you skip with joy and anticipation, then take your family or your friends and enjoy ice cream on the beach with them. If you enjoyed going on a trip in your family caravan during holidays, then hire a caravan, take time to go and explore and relive the adventures with your own family.

As adults, the responsibilities of our lives rob us of simple pleasures that give us joy. No journey of self-discovery is complete without looking at the person we were as a child and comparing the person we are now as an adult. The experiences that shaped our personalities are rooted deep within our childhood moments. Spending time reflecting on them is an excellent way to rediscover our inner self.