Without Dash

I just did a little test in Psychology Today to find my smartness, hoping to find some undiscovered intelligence in music or art. But the results were predictable (for me at least): I am intrapersonal intelligent. In other words self smart. I know myself pretty well, understand my feelings, know my limits. Of course, I knew this already about myself, and so the whole test was a bit useless for me. Why take a test to learn something about yourself, when you know yourself very well already? Well, there is always hope, of course.

People with intrapersonal intelligence share a few other characteristics besides knowing one’s self. We prefer working alone, are philosophical, perfectionists, and think of self-employment, preferable as writer, philosopher or psychologist. I think Without Dash is a very good example of ‘being me’.

Do you know yourself? Do you know who you are, what you want, why you do things, or don’t do things? Do you know, or have you lost yourself?

It is good to know yourself for a number of reasons. If you know your own strengths and weaknesses, you can change and develop yourself. You can plan for the future. You can motivate yourself. You do not screw up your life. You can deal with your emotions. And you can create an accurate self image, which is so necessary to find happiness.

Being a teenager and puberty are all about getting to know yourself. You have lots of time to find out who you are and what you want. But your self can change as you age. Or you lost yourself or pieces of yourself when you became a wife, mother, or employee. Take some time to get reacquainted with yourself.

The best way to get to know a person is spending time with him/her. Naturally , this is also the best way to get to know yourself. Spend some time with yourself and learn to appreciate your own company.
I started traveling on my own, while I was the last person who would do such a thing. In my whole life, I cannot really remember a time spend on my own. I was always surrounded by family and friends and the few waking hours that I wasn’t physically surrounded by people, I spent on the phone. Traveling alone was such a great lesson to me. The first few weeks I did not know what to do with myself. I didn’t like myself anymore either. But after spending many hours, days, weeks with only myself as company, I learned to appreciate myself as a friend. You could say that ‘me’ and ‘I’ got to know each other.

Travelling is not really an option for everyone. But spending time with yourself can be done in your own surroundings. Physical exercise by yourself is a great way to stop your mind from wondering to your work, your appointments, your duties and stay in the here and now. It works like a moving meditation. Tai Chi and yoga are known as moving meditation methods, but just walking works well enough. I like to walk one hour every morning. And twenty minutes into my walk, I can feel that I start to lose myself in the movement and shake off the pressure from my surroundings. After half hour walking I feel one with myself and do not think about my thoughts anymore. I prefer to walk outdoors, because people do not bother me when I keep on moving and they can’t keep up. It gives me a chance to look at my surroundings from a different perspective and keep myself fit. I have tried walking on a treadmill in the gym, but it is not very effective. Many people take it as an opportunity to talk with me, because I am stuck in the same place.

So, alright, maybe exercising is not an option for you. Try writing. Write your thoughts down. Write a letter to yourself. Or write down your feelings, thoughts and views on personal issue as if you were consulting a very close friend. Just putting things in writing, will make you look at yourself from a different perspective and makes you name the emotions, issues, problems, dreams. This gives you a chance to reflect on yourself in a practical way.

In our search for ourselves we can really surprise and amaze ourselves. Undoubtedly, you will find out things about yourself that you do not like. Don’t be scared. This is an opportunity to improve ourselves and become ‘a better woman’. On the other hand, you might discover some really wonderful things about yourself, hidden talents or passions. Be honest with yourself and discover who you really are behind that wall of anger, sorrow, hate, fear, jealousy, etc. If you can find your true self, you can also learn to distinguish YOU from the emotions surrounding it, which is a great step to overcoming fear, forgiving, accepting, and simply… living.

Tags: self improvement