Knowing Ourself

Knowing Ourself

How well do you really know your self?

What unique gifts, talents and skills do you bring to this world?

What specific issues represent your life challenges?

How much of your life is controlled by your personality? Inspired by your soul?

What underlying semi-conscious motives run your life?

What gives you meaning and purpose?

Do you have personal development plan?

The more you find out about your self and express your authentic self, the more meaning, joy and fulfillment you will have in your life. Explore yourself in depth and put into perspective your subconscious limitations, your character strengths, weaknesses and potentials, and your deepest desires and aspirations.

Plato's use of the Delphic maxim 'Know Thyself' Plato employs the maxim 'Know Thyself' extensively by having the character of Socrates use it to motivate his dialogues. Plato makes it clear that Socrates is referring to a long-established wisdom. Benjamin Jowett's index to his translation of the Dialogues of Plato lists six dialogues which discuss or explore the saying of Delphi: 'know thyself.' In Plato's Charmides (dialogue), Charmides refers to the maxim consistently with the view expressed in the Suda, with Charmides saying, "for they imagined that 'Know Thyself!' was a piece of advice which the god gave and not his salutation of the worshippers at their first coming in."[21] In modern words Charmides gives his opinion that 'Know Thyself!' was an admonition to those entering the sacred temple to remember or know their place and Charmides says, " 'know thyself!' and 'be temperate!' are the same. Notice that when the words of Charmides are written, 'thyself' and 'temperate' are punctuated with exclamation marks in the English translations,as if they were commands.[22] In the balance of the Charmides (dialogue), Plato has Socrates lead a longer inquiry as to how we may gain knowledge of ourselves.

Know yourself, weakness and all

By Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson, Surrey Now February 8, 2011



SURREY - I have insecurities. Some I use as the punch line to a self-directed joke. Others I make considerable effort to conceal. There is a specific insecurity that seems to tug at my manhood too consistently and this has been the case since I was a little boy.



I can't fix anything. I can't repair anything. I can't assemble anything. I can't tune-up anything. Essentially, I am mechanically incompetent. It is not for a lack of effort, either. In an bid to make myself a better man I have poured countless hours into fixing, repairing, assembling and tuning-up this, that and the other, but to no avail. The outcome of my best-intended efforts is a combination of irreparable damage and temper tantrums.



Bikes are simple pieces of equipment, but any bike on which you hope to achieve a given level of performance needs to be precisely tuned. Precisely tuning a bike is mechanical in nature, so therefore, it is a task that rests in my incompetence zone.



Un-tuning a bike comes naturally. Sometimes I build up the nerve to crack open a bicycle repair manual and tinker in search of the elusive precise tune. I hope that should my mechanical conquest be a success I would feel more valuable as a man. The sad reality is that after each attempt at being my own bicycle mechanic, I have to bring my bike to the bike shop to have undone what I had done, and to have professionally done what I sought to do. It hurts.



Bicycle mechanics are a rare bread of professional. Not only do they appreciate the precision we roadies are after, but they also deal with goobers like me who require a tune-up way, way too often.



I have struggled with the idea that maybe I am not applying myself. If I were to truly focus and muster up even an ounce of fake confidence to loosen that first bolt and explicitly and faithfully follow the directions from there you could argue that I would learn. I don't know about that.



Knowing what you are good at is great; knowing what you're not good at is better. I accept that the part of my brain that allows me to conceptualize mechanical things is goop - it is fried, dead, overrun with mold. There is no hope for me.



I love my bikes, I really do. My home-based mechanical ambitions are equivalent to shoddy medical care in a decrepit hospital. A trip to the bike shop is like being airlifted to an exclusive private hospital. I'd take the skill of a trained bicycle mechanic over my own any day, even if it means feeling less manly.



Thankfully, my bikes are still under full warranty. I will have to get my wife to tune them when the warranties expire.





- Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson's column appears weekly in the South Surrey/White Rock Source.





Read more: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/Know+yourself+weakness/4246380/story.html#ixzz1Etwfy6hZ