How is your most important relationship? No, I don’t mean the one with you partner or kids, I mean your relationship with yourself. I like Shirley Maclaine believe that this is your most profound relationship and its depth mirrors the depth of your relationship with others. It’s easy to please others or blame ourselves but neither of these behaviours allow us to get close to others. To let people into your life, you need to be friends with yourself first. To know what you like, your passions, your strengths and weaknesses and be ready to stand up for them if necessary.
When life doesn’t go according to plan, can you set aside the emotion for a minute and look at your role in the situation before making a plan to move on? There are always two sides to every story. And although being open and honest with ourselves can be very difficult to do, it is important for our mental health. The more we understand ourselves and take responsibility for our actions, the more we grow as a person. From this growth we learn any lessons necessary to make sure our future relationships are profound and we enjoy a better quality of life.
It’s so important to be honest with yourself about who you are and what you’re doing. The most miserable people I have met are those who refuse to see they are infallible and, instead of changing where they have done wrong, they look to others as being the problem. There is no growth in this way of living. You described this so well!
Thank you.
This is encouraging. I’ve always been self-reflective after things in my life don’t go as intended. Some major life changes happened recently and I believe it’s truly important to retreat and think about yourself because you are the most important friend you can ever have. And I definitely found so much growth emotionally and spiritually. Truly profound how our God works in us if only we allow him.
Yes its the stopping, listening and reflecting that can be the most rewarding.
I do not know why it took me so long to read this brilliant post. Like thecoffeebeanbrain above I am a reflective person I spend most of my time questioning some of my actions. I hate some of them I guess its one of those things I have not been able to understand about myself.
I always believed I knew myself but when my marriage ended I forced myself to take one step back and faced myself honestly seeking to get answers why things went so terribly wrong I did not want my marriage to end.
In the eight years that followed I have been on a long self knowledge journey. I am glad I did that because there are things I have discovered about myself which God blessed me with and I love those things about myself.
Thank you very much for this very encouraging post. You have helped me to continue exploring more about myself.
Glad you found it helpful. To me self reflection is my most powerful tool as only I can do the things I need to to move forward.
Wow.. really inspiring. On retrospect I regret many opportunities that I’ve missed not trying to know what I really wanted. But let’s say some recent situations have made me take a break of this pseudo life and now I am walking towards making some changes for better.
This post really made my resolution more stronger! Thank you! (:
Glad you found my words helpful on your journey of life.
Yes Max
What you say is absolutely true.
Shiva