Photo by Anastasia Shuraeva
When it comes to self-development, people often depend on social context, what they can change within themselves to improve their relationships and connection with a valuable companion. People rarely stop to think for themselves and look inward. What are they genuinely like?
Every living thrives when they’re in a community they belong to. Plants bloom when they’re among the same genus. Animals are more likely to survive in a pack than alone. However, humans have the most complex social behavior and patterns among everything living and moving.
As social beings, most of their decisions are based on their interactions and the relationships they want to achieve with others. This is given, knowing they’re the only genuinely self-aware species. They aren’t strangers to the fact that everything has an equivalent consequence, making them highly conscious of their behaviors. For instance, they often modify how they present themselves based on what others would prefer or are receptive to, adjusting their behaviors with respect to their social context.
While this helps them fit right in, due to this constant exposure and inclination to connect and belong, people are likely to end up in the destructive pattern of prioritizing others more than themselves.
The Need to Introspect
Always succumbing to the desire to fit in and receive a positive opinion from others, people wind up having lesser recognition of themselves. They’re keen to shape themselves on what others like and end up not developing a concrete identity. Instead of facilitating their self-discovery and development, social interactions and connections hinder this growth. People fail to look inward and examine what needs work but rather continue accommodating others’ needs.
An inspiring and introspective book by Julius Mosley shows readers how important it is to be self-aware. But this isn’t only limited to social awareness but to truly identifying one’s flaws and improving them, leading to the recognition of what life truly is. This book serves as a reminder that life is more than its physical elements and aspects, more than pleasing and impressing others. God has given people a choice regarding what they want to value and pursue while living. However, they must also remember that these choices don’t matter or add value to an individual after physical death.
More than anything else, Living Life with Blinders On reminds people that how other’s perceive them should matter less. As long as they live according to their values and beliefs, they shouldn’t be worried about how they are as individuals. Introspection and knowing oneself precedes anyone’s opinions regarding self-development, building stronger relationships, and clearer purpose.
Becoming One’s Valuable Companion
Introspection has been a crucial part of spiritual practices. It allows people to genuinely embrace themselves and consider themselves their most valuable companions. Alongside becoming more in touch with themselves and self-aware, introspection is an excellent opportunity for transformation. This leads to more significant insights and new perspectives about life, opening doors to better-grounded changes and personal growth without cultivating a dependency on others.
Introspection can be a long, exhausting process. But while so, its results are all worth it.
Reflect on Thoughts and Behaviors
With introspecting serving as a means for an individual to become his valuable companion, it can become a tricky process for those dependent on others. Instead of reflecting on their actions for their development, they do so only for others’ benefit. Everything they do has been geared toward pleasing others. But introspection requires them to break this.
They must take a step back from their typical social interactions and reflect.
Why do they think and behave in that way? Their answers to this will give them a better comprehension of their needs. But it’s also vital that this reflection occurs in separation from others, as it can be easy to reason that they want others to be pleased and satisfied with themselves. Instead of routing their reasons to others’ needs, they should examine deeper and attempt to nitpick their thoughts.
Recognize Where One Is
As humans desire to be in a group, they typically begin to cultivate a pattern of group thinking. This happens when they acknowledge and favor others’ views above their own. People start to adopt another’s views, hindering them from being authentic. They’re too deep about pleasing others that they’re learned to agree on the same things and similarly perceive the world.
Instead of them trying to be their valuable companion, they’ve become a duplicate of one another. But introspection takes people away from a group, allowing them to look inwards and develop independent thoughts and opinions. With introspection, people are encouraged to take control of their beliefs, behaviors, and thought processes.
Be Comfortable Being Alone
Being one’s most valuable companion means being comfortable and happy by oneself. People must learn to enjoy their company to be truly and genuinely happy. And introspecting allows them to appreciate themselves without the judgment of others, making them innately confident. When they listen to themselves and look inward, they discover more interest in themselves, thus improving their relationship and self-love. However, people must recognize the limitation of this comfort. When they begin to be too comfortable alone, they may shut people away and become too self-reliant.
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