What is self-knowledge? We hear this word a lot and possibly believe that we know each other and that we know exactly who we are.
On the one hand, we do know some things about ourselves, we have concrete information about our life, our history and therefore about who we are.
I, for example, am Juliana, I am 43 years old, I like to travel, read, work, I am curious and I have a busy life with two children, three dogs and a husband. And I can spend a lot of time talking about my story and what I know about myself. The same goes for you.
We know several things about ourselves and we can say that this is self-knowledge. However, there are so many others that we prefer NOT to know about ourselves or that are so guarded that we rarely access them and there are still those that we only discover when faced with situations that happen in our lives.
We thus find a nuance of self-knowledge that calls for a more refined knowledge, which requires observation, acceptance and non-judgment. In this way, self-knowledge is being intimate with the emotions we feel, perceiving how each of them affects us and how we react to their manifestations.
However, we learn to run away from what we feel, hide what we socially understand as bad and wrong, but that constitutes us, there's no way around it! We are evolving beings, imperfect, vulnerable, impermanent, inconstant and facing this requires generosity and compassion for ourselves.
I consider this nuance of self-knowledge a journey – which is different from a walk, a trip or a walk. It is not just following a path that already exists, following the signs and reaching the destination, it requires observation, exploration, attention, understanding of the surroundings, silence, calculations.
It requires effort, courage and work. It asks us for flexibility, availability, detachment, detachment, because changes will happen, things will be left behind, they will break and yet, yes, we will need to continue cleaning and removing obstacles.
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On this journey we go into our inner forest, we prune and sometimes uproot large trees, we cut all the weeds and weeds. We will have to face ghosts, fears, monsters and deprive them of the power they have over us. We will bump into rocks, holes, traps, dry earth, poisonous plants and it will be essential to remove and overcome them.
Only after a strenuous and painful journey will we be able to catch glimpses of light and clearings, we will see good roots, buds, flowers and we will be able to sow new seeds.
Getting to know yourself is not just a walk along panoramic, flat roads with beautiful horizons.
Knowing yourself is also diving into the dark, swimming against the tide, feeling sad, disappointed and tired, but finding yourself stronger, safer and more beautiful on the other side.
Self-knowledge means knowing our light and our shadow, recognizing the familiar repetitions we experience, the masks we wear, the fantasies and narratives we build in the environment in which we live. It means knowing our uniqueness and giving space and visibility to simply being who we are right now.
When we are in a process of self-knowledge, we learn to validate what is different, unique, we learn to value our gifts and our unique way of seeing and feeling life. Without judging whether we are better or worse than others.
In fact, when we entered this process and decided to go through it diligently, we discovered that precisely because we are unique in looking, feeling and expressing ourselves, we truly understand that we are one more at the center and that all others have their values, their history and form. of being, feeling, looking and expressing. This takes an immense weight off us, the weight of the illusion of having to be the best.
To know oneself is to know that in front of me there is another as important, as unique and as valuable as I am and that both, I and this other, are transformed daily in this relationship and that, therefore, we are not at risk by his side, on the contrary, the every day we have the opportunity to learn from him, to learn more about who we are in the face of each event, feeling and action that the other provokes in us.
This journey mainly requires trust, since when starting it we don't know where the end is or if it's possible to reach it.
After all, we are human beings and we are constantly changing. We are directly and daily affected by the environment in which we live, which makes our journey of self-knowledge something continuous.
If we have a whole ancestral load that to a certain degree constitutes us and we have a history that has marked and guided our modus operandi, we also have the now and the next moment that we call the future and that will generate new brands, which will summon us to new ways of feel and new experiences.
So knowing yourself is something infinite, continuous and a long journey!
But that is worth every step because it frees us from the smallness and isolation that we assume about ourselves and connects us with the mystery of life, time and belonging to this mystery in a unique and complementary way.
