Start at the Line

"But the normal, healthy-minded individual will realize that

 true self-knowledge is always the beginning of self-development."

-Norman Vincent Peale

When I was young, I was a bit of a practical joker.  I found pranks hilarious and preyed particularly on close family and friends.  To this day, one event in particular stands out in my brain.  I was at an extended family Christmas and had been itching to try out a new prank I had heard of on the internet.  When the opportunity arose, I politely and sweetly asked my dearest grandmother for a bucket of clothes pins.  To my mother's horror, anytime my sweet granny walked by I would clip the little wooden tongs onto any sag in her shirt.  She would continue her journey to the kitchen, and upon her return I would add another.  Unbeknownst to her, by the end of the day (and with many encouragements from my older and similarly devious cousins), poor Nanni's shirt was covered in the pins.  

I am happy to report I got a good reprimand later for my bad behavior.  Regardless of my mistaken youth, it brings up an interesting analogy.  How many things in our lives cling to us, obvious to the world, but hidden to us?  It seems some of the most blatant things we remain in the dark about, because we never go looking for these things.  Self-awareness is essential if we are expecting to grow.  If we have no starting point, how can we expect to identify any goals in our lives?  We can't.  Think about a track race.  All the runners crouch on the border of a line, waiting for the opportunity to cross it.  Without this starting point, the runners are not able to be directed or competitive.  All their training and skill is wasted, because they don't have any way to measure their success or compete with others.  The same goes for you.  Self-knowledge is essential for progress and success. 

It is natural to think that self-knowledge is the result of spending an endless amount of time with yourself.  And while that creates the opportunity to know some, it is easy to remain in the dark about the elusive clothes pins hanging from our back.  It takes a mirror or a good friend to bring them to your attention.  Without these things, the likelihood of finding them are slim.

The other problem is often we don't want to focus on these obscenities.  A perfect example is my self-esteem.  I knew that my self-esteem was not where it ought to be and it had the potential of holding me back.  But until I did some serious self-analysis, I didn't realize the extent of the harm this could cause me.  It is so important to become self-aware.  This brings about my next challenge to you (and of course me).  Write down 10 things that could get in the way of you achieving your goals.  If you don't have any goals, now would be a perfect time to make some.  Because if not now... when? 

-"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." -Romans 12:3