Knowing Yourself

Went for a really refreshing, and wet, cycling trip on Saturday with the PE teachers. Good fun!

I had not posted any entries to this blog for the last couple of months. It was not a case that I had ran out of things to say or reflect on, but rather it was more like I had too much in my mind and the thoughts required some organising for me to make more sense of them. The June holidays, as always, was a great time to spend with oneself and think through things, and for me this year, my reflections had been more fruitful both in volume and depth.

The result of this experience is probably due to a convergence of factors; my interest in NLP brought me to inquire more about my personal congruence, the increased discretionary time over the holidays gave me the opportunity to catch up on my reading, which had always provided counsel on top of making me ask more questions. And there is a new context this year, the very need for me to be a better role model for my baby girl, who is growing up and learning everything around her way so rapidly.

I am really glad that we have infused this year the need to find out from everyone (our teammates and ourselves) what our personal mission statements are. From my experience, most people don't ask themselves such questions (and many will have difficulty coming up with a reply), which meant that they will at best have a vague idea of what they think their lives should be about. And if someone do not have real clarity of how their lives should be lived, how will they ever find the alignment in what they are doing at work? Purpose, fulfilment and ultimately happiness, require such inner congruence.

This inside out approach is a crucial first step in knowing ourselves. It should be the basis in which we can better understand who we are and how best we can contribute to the world that we are living in. In our world of fast food culture, no quick-fix method will be able to substitute this journey of self discovery and reflection.

As T.S. Eliot had so elegantly observed: "We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time."