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How Closely Are You Willing To Examine Your Life

Jul 02
Posted by DaveOlson in Personal Development

The life which is unexamined is not worth living. — Plato (c. 428 – 348 B.C.)

What does it mean to have an examined life?

Do you regularily examine your life? I mean your life not just your goals or strategy.

I think there are times when we get so caught up in pursuing our goals that we completely forget about who we are. We have countless examples of people through out history who thought that the end justified the means.

And then there are some of us who carry bitterness, anger, resentment or even hatred without ever bothering to ask why. WHY?

I know there are times when I just feel angry and if I don’t ask myself why… if I don’t examine what’s going on… I end up taking it out on those closest to me. WHY?

Do we examine who we are and what our assumptions are? Do we ever take a good look at our character? If not, why not? Are we hiding things even from ourselves?

Unexamined!

The big question is how do you examine your own life? Phil Gerbyshak asks some great questions somewhat along these lines. What questions do you ask? When do you ask them and who else asks? Do you tell the truth?

Let’s talk about it!

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  • http://laurenmarie.net/ LaurenMarie

    Oh I can identify with taking out anger and frustration on those closest to me. Why do I do that? Because my husband is the one I feel safest around. I am safe to be myself, and I know he will always love me. But sometimes I take that for granted and instead of using it to make myself better (for me and for him), I am just mean :cry:

    I begin to examine my assumptions or expectations usually only when they come into conflict with other people’s. It’s the only time I notice them!

    We hide things from ourselves because they are too hard to deal with. Psychological defenses are something everyone practices and they are developed at such a young age that we don’t know (or remember) life without them. More often than not, people don’t see things because they don’t want to. Having a “fuzzy brain” is a perfect example of this. Ever feel like there’s so much white noise going on in your head that you can’t think? What are you trying to think about? Your mind is probably trying to protect itself from it.

    I think many carry the bitterness without asking why because they don’t know they carry it. Some people think it’s bad or evil to be angry, so they tell themselves never to be angry and convince themselves that they never get angry. But even God gets angry! It depends entirely on what you do with that anger.

    I like that link to Phil’s 20 Questions. I’m going to save those. It’s an interesting concept to do a mid-year review of one’s self. We do it for business, why not for our personal lives?

  • DaveOlson

    Wow… LaurenMarie! I think you’ve taken a shot at answering every question I asked. You’re the brave one I think. :smile:

    It concerns me when people don’t take time to examine their motives and the WHYs of their lives. You miss out on so much if you don’t know who you are. Thanks for sharing some of who you are.

    For me, I try to take some time every day, usually in the morning to evaluate what I’m feeling and thinking. I consciously examine my feelings toward people in my life. I’ll often get a twinge when I think about a particular person and I consider that an indicator that I’ve got something to deal with. Often I’ll share some of what I’m feeling with my wife and she’s great about helping me process stuff. I’m soo thankful for her.

  • http://laurenmarie.net LaurenMarie

    I enjoy learning about myself. It helps me to shed the qualities I don’t like and concentrate on building up the ones I do like. How can one become a better person, and live the life one desires, without knowing one’s self?

    I love reading your blog. Even if I don’t participate in the conversation, I always think about the questions you ask. Sometimes they are easy to answer, other times… not so much! But those are the ones I really want to concentrate on.

  • DaveOlson

    Way to go LaurenMarie… Keep growing. Thanks for the compliment. :smile:

    I know that sometimes the questions I’m asking are pretty hard and personal. But hey… someone’s got to do it. :grin: