Understanding Ourselves
PAGE IN PROGRESS
What you see here is a page of my hypertext book Me, Looking for Meaning. Initially empty, it will slowly be filled with thoughts, notes, and quotes. One day, I will use them to write a coherent entry, similar to these completed pages. See this post to better understand my creative process. Thank you for your interest and patience! :)
What you see here is a page of my hypertext book Me, Looking for Meaning. Initially empty, it will slowly be filled with thoughts, notes, and quotes. One day, I will use them to write a coherent entry, similar to these completed pages. See this post to better understand my creative process. Thank you for your interest and patience! :)
why do we feel a certain way?
why do we act or think a certain way?
why do we make certain decisions?
you as a map
understanding yourself - mapping yourself
We often expect to know well the place where we live (a city), but we often miss many details
you as a marble machine
patterns of thoughts and emotions
when we experience something (anything) the marble goes through passages predetermined by our previous experience, inborn characteristics and context
We all think that we understand ourselves, that we know our own feelings, motivations, and logic. But do we really?
Understanding ourselves means developing self-awareness. Obviously, human beings are already self-aware to a certain extent. But there are different levels of understanding oneself. Understanding oneself better is a life-long enterprise. In general, it is not necessary for a human being to understanding her/himself fully in order to live a fairly decent life. However, this life is not going to be ideal. Without deeper understanding, we risk hurting ourselves and others, because we will be constantly falling into traps created by our own well-meaning minds.
I would argue the that the history of humanity can be described as gradually (in a very slow and meandering way) starting to understand ourselves better as individuals and as society.
Understanding oneself better is not easy, because there is no easy clear cut description of what we need to know. Explanations about who and how we are as human beings are constantly developing in different directions. There are plenty of conflicting explanations.
Think, for example, about explanations provided by Freud, that have influenced current explanations, but have also been criticized in many ways. More recently, people started becoming more aware of their biases. A widely popular Implicit Association Test was created, and its creator have claimed that they can help people understand how biased they are. However, this test has been since criticized for the lack of accuracy. This criticism does not mean that we do not have biases, but it may mean that understanding them is more difficult than the test claimed to be.
Here are some of the things that better understanding ourselves can can help us achieve:
Each of these accomplishments is possible to achieve thanks to though-provoking research and society and individuals. I have created a workshop that introduces participants to this research and to practices that one can try to better understand oneself and, as a result, get a chance to live a better life in a happier society.
One specific application of understanding ourselves: eating healthy by listening to your own body. Sometimes we can interpret our sensations as a need to eat, while our body does not really need to eat. If we don't know how to understand when we are full (this is developed in childhood, and that is why it is important not to make children eat if they say they are full).
To understand ourselves, counterintuitively, we can observe others. We need to observe others with empathy, keeping in mind that actions and reactions we dislike in others may be also present (albeit in a different from) in ourselves.
To understand other we can also pay more attention to what is known as "media". (I put this word in quotation marks because I propose a special interpretation of this term in my book Media Is Us.) Media is often criticized or even feared. However, I believe that media can also teach us something very important about ourselves, if we see it without blame.
To learn more about the importance of understanding ourselves, see the page on self-awareness.
because we are meaning-making creatures, we can make different meaning out of the same thing. When feel sad, I can genuinely believe that everything is bad. I will assign this meaning to my circumstances. Or I can interpret my experiences differently and tell myself that I am tired and, therefore, see things a certain way. This is also an interpretation, a meaning I assign to my circumstances. How do I choose one to guide me? I choose the second one because it seems more productive and effective, even if I do not fully believe in it in the moment I am choosing it. Over time, I get used to choosing this second interpretation, I believe in this meaning. But a part of me knows that’s it’s a matter of choice.
About this project: Start page
why do we act or think a certain way?
why do we make certain decisions?
you as a map
understanding yourself - mapping yourself
We often expect to know well the place where we live (a city), but we often miss many details
you as a marble machine
patterns of thoughts and emotions
when we experience something (anything) the marble goes through passages predetermined by our previous experience, inborn characteristics and context
We all think that we understand ourselves, that we know our own feelings, motivations, and logic. But do we really?
Understanding ourselves means developing self-awareness. Obviously, human beings are already self-aware to a certain extent. But there are different levels of understanding oneself. Understanding oneself better is a life-long enterprise. In general, it is not necessary for a human being to understanding her/himself fully in order to live a fairly decent life. However, this life is not going to be ideal. Without deeper understanding, we risk hurting ourselves and others, because we will be constantly falling into traps created by our own well-meaning minds.
I would argue the that the history of humanity can be described as gradually (in a very slow and meandering way) starting to understand ourselves better as individuals and as society.
Understanding oneself better is not easy, because there is no easy clear cut description of what we need to know. Explanations about who and how we are as human beings are constantly developing in different directions. There are plenty of conflicting explanations.
Think, for example, about explanations provided by Freud, that have influenced current explanations, but have also been criticized in many ways. More recently, people started becoming more aware of their biases. A widely popular Implicit Association Test was created, and its creator have claimed that they can help people understand how biased they are. However, this test has been since criticized for the lack of accuracy. This criticism does not mean that we do not have biases, but it may mean that understanding them is more difficult than the test claimed to be.
Here are some of the things that better understanding ourselves can can help us achieve:
- Become calmer and more grounded by learning how our feeling and emotions work.
- Manage conflicts in an honest and empathic way.
- Better evaluate our judgments by noticing the limitations of our senses and brains.
- Tame our perfectionism without becoming disorganized or careless.
- Practice open-mindedness while appreciating our boundaries.
- Step out of our comfort zones without losing the integrity of our worldviews.
Each of these accomplishments is possible to achieve thanks to though-provoking research and society and individuals. I have created a workshop that introduces participants to this research and to practices that one can try to better understand oneself and, as a result, get a chance to live a better life in a happier society.
One specific application of understanding ourselves: eating healthy by listening to your own body. Sometimes we can interpret our sensations as a need to eat, while our body does not really need to eat. If we don't know how to understand when we are full (this is developed in childhood, and that is why it is important not to make children eat if they say they are full).
To understand ourselves, counterintuitively, we can observe others. We need to observe others with empathy, keeping in mind that actions and reactions we dislike in others may be also present (albeit in a different from) in ourselves.
To understand other we can also pay more attention to what is known as "media". (I put this word in quotation marks because I propose a special interpretation of this term in my book Media Is Us.) Media is often criticized or even feared. However, I believe that media can also teach us something very important about ourselves, if we see it without blame.
To learn more about the importance of understanding ourselves, see the page on self-awareness.
because we are meaning-making creatures, we can make different meaning out of the same thing. When feel sad, I can genuinely believe that everything is bad. I will assign this meaning to my circumstances. Or I can interpret my experiences differently and tell myself that I am tired and, therefore, see things a certain way. This is also an interpretation, a meaning I assign to my circumstances. How do I choose one to guide me? I choose the second one because it seems more productive and effective, even if I do not fully believe in it in the moment I am choosing it. Over time, I get used to choosing this second interpretation, I believe in this meaning. But a part of me knows that’s it’s a matter of choice.
About this project: Start page
