Do you fee like you know yourself?
For many years, if someone had asked me ‘do you know yourself’, I would have said no.
I’d become very disconnected from myself because I’d allowed myself to be conditioned by my friends, family, culture and environment I grew up in.
Because I allowed fear, doubt, insecurity and self-judgment to make decisions in my life that weren’t true to who I am.
And for most of my life I lacked the self-confidence, self-esteem and self-belief to be me.
The Top Regrets Of The Dying
Bronnie Ware, a former palliative care nurse, wrote a book called The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying in which she shares the top regrets her patients had about their life.
And one of the most common regrets was that her patients felt they’d not lived a life true to themselves.
It’s this regret that resonated with me the most because I’d allowed myself to go down a route I didn’t want to go down for most of my adult life.
There are many reasons why this happened, but essentially it came down to not knowing myself.
Not knowing the real me.
How Meditation Can Help You Get To Know Yourself
Meditation played a major role in helping me get to know myself better because through practicing meditation I began to build awareness of all my negative patterns and behaviours.
All the negative thoughts and emotions.
All the stories I was holding on to.
When I meditated, I began to observe them and let them go, which freed me internally so I could see the real me.
And as a result I began to explore my life based on who I am, rather than who I’d been conditioned to be.
What meditation did for me and can do for you, is to free you from being the person you think you should be.
To free you from the person you think you are.
It can help you reconnect and get to know yourself.
To free your mind so you become the true version of YOU.
If that person is someone who wants a corporate career, a family and a mortgage.
Great.
As long as that’s what you truly want.
If it means you want to live off off grid and disconnect from mainstream society.
Great.
As long as that’s what you truly want.
What matters is that you’ve gotten to know yourself so you can make your life choices based on what YOU want, rather than striving to meet the expectations of your friends, your family or society.
Rather than creating a life which is driven by your fears, doubts, insecurities and judgments.
Your lack of self-esteem, self-confidence or self-belief.
Because if you do, you might get to the end of your life like Bronnie Ware’s patients and regret that you never lived the life you truly wanted to live.
So whether it’s through learning meditation, shifting your mindset or any other means, I encourage you to make time to get to know yourself.
Because if you do you’ll prevent yourself from living a life you regret.
Joe 🙂
Interested in learning how to meditate?