| “The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates |
My master’s degree was a great learning experience. It meant a lot of sacrifice, stress and missed time with my family but it was also an amazing journey of consciousness and self-understanding. As the psychological concepts, constructs and theories became clear to me so did many aspects of my life, my behaviour, and the influence that cultural and family circumstances had on me and on those around me. I came across a lot of resources that allowed me to go deeper into my own journey of self-discovery. These resources, I found, are particularly valuable for anyone wanting to learn about themselves and others, people who want to understand why they do what they do:
- Why do relationships fail?
- Why do they succeed?
- Why do I sound like my mother/father?
- Why do I keep making the same mistakes over and over again as if I have not learned anything?
- Why doesn’t my child listen to me?
- Why is she/he so shy?
- How can I deal with stress?
- Why am I sad?
- Do I deserve to be happy?
… And so on. If you have ever asked yourself any of those questions, if you are one of those people…this blog is for you.
I have collated several articles, videos and books for those interested in psychology, parenting, marriage and relationships in general and I offer my point of view on these. It took me a while to put these entries together.
The truth is that I was afraid… correction I am afraid.
Have you ever had an idea and thought: “Wow, the world should know about this. I wish I could just put this out there for people to know, so many could benefit from knowing what I just found out. Why isn’t this more popular?” Well…that happened to me with all of these. Unfortunately, I have been afraid for a very long time…you see English is my fourth language, I am not a skilled writer and I am very busy, so I kept on finding excuses not to do it. I kept finding reasons to convince myself that I was not ready, and then I read the book “Daring Greatly” by Brené Brown. In its pages, Brené talks (among other things) about the power shame has and how it can control and stifle our creativity dismembering our opportunity for connection and authenticity. For a very long time, I believed that my self-worth was linked to what I produced. As a perfectionist, I thought that if what I produced was not good enough then I was not good enough. Daring Greatly taught me many things (you will see me quote it a lot), including the power of vulnerability and so…here it is…
I want to provide the settings to inspire you to self-observe and self-discovery. Achieving self-awareness is not an easy task and it cannot be accomplished within a few days or a few weeks. It is a lifelong journey but it starts with a simple ingredient: willingness. I have been on this journey for two and a half years now. What you will read is nothing but my observations; this blog is the result of my learning and in many cases my opinions. Remember though that my reality might not be your reality, so be conscientious of the uniqueness of each of us as well as the power that circumstances and life experiences have in shaping our lives and who we are. Please take from these posts what you want, use what you need and share what you can.
