Benefits of Self-Knowledge

We strive to do many things in life, to realize many ambitions... Some of us are successful, and some of us are not. There could be many reasons for why someone succeeded where others failed, but one irrefutable reason is that the winner was always aware of his goals.

And this awareness came about mainly from a good understanding of his or her self. (I wouldn't say a complete understanding of the self, as the self is not a given quantity. It is quite dynamic, and keeps constantly evolving depending on the circumstance it finds itself in.) But, yes, winners in life usually have a good knowledge of their self.

I cannot stress enough the importance of self-knowledge to achieve success in life. A significant part of the self-improvement book Free Mind Free Body, is devoted to help people discover and understand themselves. Just think about this: you may have lived all your life without the complete knowledge of who you are, what your real aspirations are, why you think the way you think and behave the way you do. Not surprisingly, such half-baked knowledge can lead to a lot of dissatisfaction and failures in life.

The author of the book D. R Boisse emphasizes knowing oneself really well and discovering our true aims and aspirations. You might say that you know very well what you want, and that may be true, too. But it wouldn't hurt, would it, if we paused for a moment to take stock of something that's integral to us: our 'self'.

Are we completely sure that what we have been yearning for or aiming for is not a borrowed goal? Not something that we chose as our goal just because everyone else was running after it? Or that we have been conditioned to think of that goal as an ideal goal we should have.

So, how do we go about on our journey of self-discovery? There are no easy answers, of course, but you could always begin with Boisse's book. I did, for one, and when reading the book I paused several times to think about what the author was coaxing me to do: ask yourself some difficult questions.

Boisse guides us like a true friend on the difficult path of self-discovery. It is difficult because there may be things about ourselves we want to deny or cover up. We may have lived a whole life in a state of denial and then not know why we are miserable.

There's no point ignoring what we are. We cannot deny the past, but we can certainly work on the future and see that it's different from and better than the past. That is what this excellent motivational book is all about. I owe it a lot and hope that you shall benefit from it too.

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