What is self-knowledge?

Self-knowledge is a broad concept that involves, mainly, the awareness of one's Self, of one's desires, fears, insecurities, beliefs and values. This is a concept spread since the ancient philosophers, who already signaled the importance of the knowledge of the mysteries internal to the being, besides the external ones.

Understanding about your feelings is extremely beneficial as it leads to an understanding of your behaviour, your relationship with other people and even about some habits of yours that were previously incomprehensible. Helping you to find balance in your life.

There are several types of practices that will help you on your journey to self-knowledge, as well as assist you in your spirituality and professional life. So, if you want to enjoy all the advantages of self-knowledge, follow this article to the end!

Self-knowledge and spirituality

Although some may not easily understand, spirituality is closely related to self-knowledge. After all, spirituality consists of understanding your beliefs, values, and your purpose. Now understand a little more about knowing your true self!

Knowing your true self

Knowing what moves you, what excites you, as well as what paralyzes you and brings you fear is fundamental. We all have various skills, qualities and defects and they are part of who we are. However, understanding them helps us get the best out of each of our characteristics, as well as dealing with the defects we have.

In this way, by understanding how you function, it is easier to achieve your goals and, above all, understand if the goals you set are really positive for your life. If they are, your growth will be much easier and smoother, since you will not be fighting against yourself, but working together with your emotions and desires.

Knowing yourself

You may have heard a famous phrase from the Greek philosopher Socrates, "Know thyself", it is a reference in the Western world and reflects his entire thought. The search for self-knowledge is essential for you to achieve a balanced, authentic and happy life.

You will only reach maturity in your life with experience, it is full of trials and the biggest challenge to overcome is you. For, often we stop observing ourselves to be attentive in the other. We forget the commitment we have with our lives and we are comparing ourselves with models that do not fit our reality.

Self-knowledge in love

Self-knowledge is a key point in love relationships, whether with yourself, with your family members and also in love relationships. It is necessary to know yourself deeply so that these encounters of the soul are beneficial for both parties.

In this section you will understand the role of self-knowledge for self-love and for other relationships, and thus know how to build unions based on trust and companionship.

Those who love each other, love better

You will only love others better when you love yourself first. Self-knowledge is a path of acceptance, you must first accept yourself as you are. This can be a difficult path because it will require you to embrace your flaws in order to understand what needs to be changed in your life.

Paying attention to yourself means that you will be taking care of your greatest asset. By taking care of your self-esteem, your physical and your spiritual life you will find your balance. Only then you will find the path to abundance and feel capable not only of loving yourself, but of loving your neighbor as well.

Against external influences

In the society we live in where keeping up appearances is a priority, we end up becoming victims of the collective. We live trying to surprise others and we stop caring about the most important thing, ourselves. Soon, we want to be the best in everything and we become slaves of our references.

However, we are not always able to follow the life model of our idols. We begin to depreciate ourselves as human beings and stop loving ourselves for not meeting society's expectations.

On the path to self-knowledge you need to make a choice. This step will define how you will position yourself in your life from now on. Because in order to deal with external influences you will first have to create a personal awareness of who you are and what you really want to be.

Self-knowledge and relationships

Love awakens in our lives deep feelings, we feel filled with this feeling and fully satisfied with life. A healthy love is only possible when the relationship is built around respect, friendship and dialogue. Self-knowledge in relationships is necessary for the control of your emotions.

Learning to deal with your emotions is key to relationships, as you will know exactly what you are looking for and how to create non-aggressive communication with your partner. Relationships are full of challenges, dealing with each other will require you to exercise your patience and empathy to satisfy yourself and your partner.

To love and be loved with few attitudes

Your daily life often creates uncomfortable situations and the work routine pressures you generating anguish and stress. For these feelings not to affect you will depend on the way you deal with the world.

The human being has the bad habit of seeking happiness in what he does not have, so it is necessary to exercise love for the little things. Soon, it will be necessary to seek in your attitudes the necessary lightness to love and be loved. Do not overload yourself with negative thoughts, remember that life is short so it is your duty to make it great!

The importance of self-knowledge at work

Another area of your life where self-knowledge is very important is in the work environment. After all, the workplace is also the place of social interactions, conflicts of desires and achievement of goals. Read on and learn how to deepen your self-knowledge and reveal your strengths in your professional life!

Coping with stress better

With self-knowledge you will discover how your routine affects you, soon you will become able to differentiate if it is positive or negative for you. When you feel that you are getting stressed, or irritated, you will be aware of the reasons that led you to this state of tension.

Knowing these peaks and their triggers will help you anticipate these moments. You will also be able to organize your daily life in a way that makes it lighter and more fluid, without the need to attract so many negative emotions like distress.

Be aware of your daily life, write down what you are feeling if necessary and you will get better at dealing with stress.

Manage time better

Try to know your limitations to know how you work and how you can improve it. Many times we create goals in our lives in a time that does not match our reality. Soon, we start to feel anguished and we blame ourselves for not fulfilling our tasks.

Analyze yourself, write down your routine and observe the time in which you perform your activities. This will help you to have a greater awareness of the actual time you need to complete them. In addition to assisting you to better manage your time, you will avoid those moments of distress and stress helping you to achieve your well-being.

Understand the impact of your emotions

Emotions directly influence our decision making and how we view the world. Knowing your emotional state well will help you understand this impact on your life, as well as being beneficial to you and the people around you.

If you feel stressed, for example, you should seek to understand the source of your stress and how to intervene. This way you will deal with your mood in a positive way, always seeking solutions to make you happier and not take your irritation out on other people.

Receive better reviews

For many, dealing with criticism is difficult. Self-knowledge can help you with this, teaching you to receive criticism in a constructive way, rejecting the negative and only taking for yourself what will bring some improvement to your life.

Getting defensive won't help you either, especially if you are negatively affected by the criticism. Argue if necessary, but always in search of positive answers for your life. This way, you will deal with all the criticism in a way not to be affected by it but to seek your evolution.

Practices to develop self-knowledge

Now that you know the importance of self-knowledge for you, your relationships and your professional life, come with us to learn techniques to develop it. It is possible to foster self-knowledge through therapies, writing, meditation and much more!

Go to therapy

There are a number of therapies that you can use in your process of self-knowledge. From traditional to alternative, everything will depend on the criteria that you establish for yourself and what best suits your objectives and beliefs.

If you consult a psychologist, for example, you can follow multiple therapeutic lines such as behaviorist, humanist, analytical, cognitive-behavioral, among others. If you go to a psychoanalyst, there are Freudian, Jungian, Lacanian and many others.

For alternative medicine you also have the option to follow the holistic therapies, in it there are the most varied practices such as ayurveda, color therapy, reiki, acupuncture, aromatherapy and many others. Evaluate all the possibilities and seek the one you believe will bring greater benefits for you.

Write a diary

Writing is a great process for assimilating thoughts, as it helps you to reflect and analyze about your problems in a thorough way. By recording your thoughts and emotions you will have a greater awareness of what is happening inside.

Soon, you will be able to seek solutions to deal with your anguishes, besides leading you to have a greater understanding of yourself. Create the habit of writing about your day before going to sleep, for example. Create a dialogue with yourself, this will certainly help you in your process of self-knowledge.

Take some time for you

Many times we are full of commitments during the week, living an exhausting life and with no time for leisure. We stop taking time for ourselves because we think it is unnecessary and we overload ourselves with responsibilities. However, taking time for ourselves is fundamental for any human being.

For, it is when we distract ourselves with our friends, or doing activities that relax us that we start to act without worry. Take your moment to relax, seek to reserve 30 minutes of your day at least and you will feel the difference.

Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is a category of meditation that exercises full attention. Through its practice you will be able to concentrate better and have more focus on your activities. This exercise is closely linked to breathing and seeks through it to return attention to your body.

This way, you will be present in your routine and you will be aware of your emotions and thoughts. Soon, when there are situations that stress you will know how to act, not allowing these negative feelings to affect you.

Learn to listen

Listening is an act that demands attention not only to others, but also to the environment in which you find yourself. Therefore, by learning to listen you will feel more present in relation to your body and emotions. Sounds will make you perceive your reality with more intensity.

Therefore, trying to be a better listener will help you to know yourself better and also help you to have more empathy. For it is in that gesture of listening that you will create a deeper connection with your friends and family.

Assimilate criticism and praise

Many times we are imprisoned in our ego, we follow so focused on our thoughts that we forget the existence of the other. We stop paying attention to their presence. Usually, it is in these moments that we stop listening to the compliments and we get affected by the criticism.

We stop assimilating criticism in a positive way and soon get upset with what is being said about us. Therefore, it is necessary to be attentive when receiving any kind of criticism or praise, so that we do not have negative reactions and can absorb what is best for us.

Have empathy

The act of putting yourself in the other person's shoes is essential for you to develop your self-knowledge. Once you begin to perceive the emotions that the other person is feeling you begin to understand your own emotions. For, often what bothers the other person, can also bother you.

Read high-quality fiction

Reading allows you to immerse yourself in the world of the characters described there. When you read high-quality fiction, you enter their world and begin to understand the way they think and feel their emotions. Those thoughts are carried over into your life, and soon you begin to notice those influences.

Good fiction teaches you to think about different contexts, different characters, but none of this takes away the value of human emotions. Love, sadness, loneliness, happiness are universal values and dealing with them opens the way to your self-knowledge.

Make use of self-awareness tools

There are no limits to you achieving your self-knowledge, feel free to abuse the practices that will help you in your quest. You can choose any tools as long as you feel they are working and are doing you good. It could be astrology, Tarot, meditation or journaling.

Surround yourself with good people

Family and friends can help you on your way to awakening the best in you. They have a different perception of who you are, talk about their points of view and be aware of every detail. Observe yourself and try to understand who you are, these conversations will be fundamental in your journey of self-knowledge.

Is self-knowledge accessible to everyone?

Self-knowledge should and can be practiced by everyone. Although many distance themselves from themselves and consequently live an unhappy life, there are no impediments to practice self-knowledge. After all, knowing yourself is free and basically requires that you look at yourself.

So, take some time for yourself, observe your attitudes, desires, mistakes and successes. In the beginning it won't be so easy, but with time you will learn to respect yourself and thus seek respect and trust in all your relationships.

Try in your relationships to stimulate the search for self-knowledge. In this way, not only will you benefit, but also those you love, favoring the creation of an environment of peace and love.