Practical Advice for the Pursuers of Self Knowledge

[TheLolGuy]

Self knowledge, psychology, they can become very abstract and thus abstruse topics. I hope to compile a list of practical suggestions to aid empathy with the self.

 

Please contribute your suggestions too.

Hope this helps!

 

What I have found useful so far:

- Photographs of myself as a child. Analysing them, trying to remember the time or place or feelings connected with the memory, and anything else which arises with it.

 

- Old school reports. Found a few of them stretching a long way back in my childhood. Interesting to see how my teachers described and interpreted my behaviour, it can be very insightful. I try to think how accurate their assessment is, how it matches to the memories of my experience.

 

- Music. My favourite songs never fail to summon all kinds of emotions within me. I think about why it is these songs have such a deep resonance, what is it about the lyrics, the tone or tempo.

 

 

 

Freud once used the metaphor that self knowledge is like archaeology, we dig and uncover the ruins of our histories, fragments of memories and emotions. We may never accurately reconstruct every edifice to the last measurement - but we can still use certain techniques to make reasonable inferences. I hope some of these suggestions can act as your brush and pick.

[MysterionMuffles]

Oh those are some really good ideas. I still have pictures of myself as a child and I might try that. I have pretty good memory and can remember some innocuous moments in my life, but man I can barely remember anything on the days of having certain photos taken. Also the old school reports, I've looked at them recently. It is weird that I actually used to do well in math instead of language and how I was described as needing more one on one time to grasp lessons better. That's an insight on how I think I was meant for homeschooling and having a tutor. And as for listening to music, yeah listening to music I used to listen to just sparks my memory of the times I used to listen to certain artists frequently. What has your experience been when it comes to relistening to old music?

[Drew.]

There are certainly some great ideas here in this topic already. Music is a big one for me. When I would have trouble identifying how I felt, I would search for the music that would suit my mood the best. An angry song, an angry mood. Understanding lyrics that I've been drawn to has provided me with some interesting journaling sessions. I would like to share some more ways to approach self-knowledge, and some of these might be pretty obvious:

 

-Journaling: I think that this is the fundamental means of pursuing self-knowledge, but there are so many different ways to journal. I personally prefer writing by hand. I can examine the amount of pressure, how clean and how clear my writing is and understand how I was feeling at the time. Audio-journaling is a tool that some of my friends use. They tell me that it's easy just talk and let things come out as they go and think aloud. Recording it alllows one to review feelings and speech patterns as they come up as well. But one more that my friend used to do that I think could be valuable for someone who thinks more with images is to make an art journal. My friend had a little notebook and he began filling it up with the things in his mind. From there, he could reexamine things and gain more understanding about himself.

 

-Dreams: recording dreams has by far been one of the most challenging things for me. But a dream that really stands out provides insight that I may not have discovered otherwise.

 

-Media: this ties in with music. Movies, books, video games, etc. that we feel strongly drawn to speak to us on some subconscious level. If you ask yourself, what about this appeals to me so, it may be a valuable way to approach self-exploration.

 

-Art: I briefly mentioned this under journaling. But sometimes when I have trouble exploring what's happening inside of me, I'll try to write a story or a poem. I let my unconscious processes take over, and whatever comes out I look over again and try to understand where it came from in the first place. If you don't enjoy writing, maybe drawing, painting, singing, dancing, sculpting, etc. There are so many ways to express ourselves. If you pick one that you enjoy and take a look at what you've done, you could learn something from it. I know I have.-Therapy: I know that when I've had trouble exploring an aspect of myself, it's always been helpful to have someone who has experience to help guide me back to Self when I get lost.

 

I would be interested in seeing what other great suggestions come up in this thread.