INTROSPECTION
Introspection is a psychological process of examining one’s own conscious thoughts and feelings. It is a self- analyzing, soul searching procedure where the man turns into himself; looking inward. I treated this subject in a spiritual sense recently with my women in the sisters’ class and I enjoyed myself doing it. I feel it’s a subject worth considering generally. Everyday we look into the mirror to observe our face and body because we want to look our best before others. There is however a being behind our superficial appearances that is worth taking very careful look at. It is the part of us that define who we truly are.
Just as x-rays’ high penetrating power pierces beyond the human flesh, taking a picture of the skeletal system, introspection allows us to reflect on the thoughts, feelings, memories, emotions and motives that trigger us to do the things we do. From the abundance of the heart, we say, the mouth speaks. therefore, it is important we analyze the thoughts factors within us that translate into the actions we often carry out. We sometimes carry a wrong notion of who we really are. This happens because we get so caught up with activities in our external world which deprives us the chance to take a short time for introspection. Begin by considering yourself important enough to get your attention. Excuse yourself from the plenty of persons and activities screaming for your attention and give yourself a treat, by taking a quiet time to examine the things going on inside of you; those things that have gradually defined who you are. Are they good enough? Do you need some adjustments?
Aspects for Self Analysis
There are so many things to examine. I’ll be more concerned about negative patterns because the basic essence of this discussion is to eradicate them. Some of which include:
1. Responses- The way you respond to irritation, surprises, criticism, threats, etc. What kind of things make you happy? What makes you sad? What makes you angry? What kind of things frighten you?
2. Attitudes- Arrogance, self righteousness, pessimism, over- confidence, malice, stubbornness, wickedness, stinginess, lack of contentment, complacency etc. You can check my article on signs of pride.
3. Violence, hatred, obsession, etc.
4. Lack of self control
Often, these tendencies are demonstrations of the weaknesses of our temperaments. Every individual is a unique blend of temperaments. Researches show there are four basic temperaments- Melancholy, Phlegmatic, Choleric and Sanguine. I advice you examine yourself (your strengths and weaknesses) to enable you know where you have work to do on yourself. When you know the cause of a problem, it is half solved, right?
There are a number of materials online that can help you figure out what exactly is your major temperament. I recommend ‘The New Spirit Controlled Woman’ by Beverly Lahaye or that of her husband, Tim Lahaye ‘Why you act the way you do’. These books have a lot to say about the way we behave. So basically, what you should do is: study your negative patterns and begin to work on them; that’s converting your weaknesses to strengths. I have a friend that had serious problem with anger. The important thing is acknowledging or admitting you have something as a challenge. He knew it and began to overcome it with smiles. Whenever somebody, especially someone he knows he can easily beat the hell out of offends him, instead of giving that pleasure of wasting his emotion(anger) on such person, he just shakes his head and smile, perhaps walk away if he knows it’s stretching his limits. That is turning your weakness into strength. There are wrong perspectives of lives that we carry which make us put up these negative tendencies. We need to discover these wrong perspectives and redefine them. Then sit back and watch your life transforming into a redefined personality.
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Have a great day.
