Introducing: Self-Knowledge Daily

[cherapple]

 

Self-Knowledge Daily

Introducing a new Medium publication, written and edited by FDR listeners, "for those doing the daily work of knowing who they are."

 

With the launch of Self-Knowledge Daily (SKD), I want to share more of my reasons and purpose for starting a Medium publication, and for what I hope to achieve with it over the horizon. I have called it a “daily,” but the word refers more to the frequency of the work than to the frequency of the publication. I do not want to pressure myself, nor anyone I invite to contribute, to publish daily.

 

At the same time, the work — for myself and for those whom I invite — is a daily pursuit. In my case, I am in my seventh year of self-work. If I fear failure in creating a publication, I realize I cannot fail. I’ve already been doing the work without fail every day for a time period that approaches fifteen percent of my life. My challenge is now to increase the openness with which I express and share the work I’ve been doing.

 

With that goal, I view SKD as a funnel. In a sense, that’s all self-knowledge is. You place the funnel, and you begin pouring your true self into it. For seven years, my funnels have included personal journals (I’m currently working in #35); therapists, counselors, and coaches who have done their own self-work (I’m working with #6); and conversations (countless) with friends and people who also put themselves on the track toward personal growth.

 

SKD is a funnel and a filter. Part (if not all) of my struggle with writing and self-expression is that up until now, I have not become clear enough about who my audience is. I say “become” because to a large extent, to become anything is a choice. I have, with direct purpose and pursuit of awareness, spent years funneling myself into these various private self-knowledge receptacles. Now I also want to clarify and funnel a public audience into a more precise receptacle, which I’ve created and called Self-Knowledge Daily.

My audience includes the people already doing, talking, and writing about the work. As long as my audience included people who were not doing the work, and as long as my attempts to express myself included wanting the wrong people to understand and support me, I failed to express myself. It is not possible to be heard by people who don’t want to hear.

 

Fighting to be heard — or giving up while remaining in the presence of incurious people — never helped me. Now I hear them, I empathize with their choices, and I leave — in favor of interacting with and supporting people who do want to understand. These people make themselves known by asking curious questions of others and, on a daily basis, of themselves.

I want to achieve the depth of knowledge that is possible in life, and I can only do so as much as those closest to me want to achieve depth as well. Changing anyone who has not already placed themselves on a track to self-growth is impossible. The only train I can hope to turn is my own. I can hope, however, to find and put my energy toward people who have deliberately, and in pursuit of awareness, placed themselves on tracks heading in a direction that runs parallel to mine.

 

One of these people asked me yesterday why I chose the picture of black mountains under a pink sky to represent SKD. My first thought was that I didn’t know. I knew when I saw it that I immediately liked it, so I used it. I could have stopped at that answer. Instead, I looked at it again and asked myself: “What do I like about this picture?”

The image sums up exactly my focus and goal with this publication: When you ground yourself in knowing who you are, and you join others who are doing the same, you gain the weight, size, and security of a mountain — and happiness lifts over the horizon.

 

[This article was originally published on Medium.]

 

Read, follow, leave comments, and join us in pursuit of knowing ourselves. 

 

Cheryl

 

[Matthew Ed Moran]

Yes, I came across this maybe a week ago. I am excited to read the articles from the contirbutors, because they are all people I respect and admire in terms of pursuing self knowledge and communicating the concepts they've discovered. 

 

I will let you know more about what I think after I read some more! But so far I really liked the presentation of the site and the topics of the articles are really interesting to me.

[cherapple]

Thanks, Matthew!

 

It's rewarding to know that others are getting value out of the work a few of us have been doing. We had been reading and following each other separately, until we recently decided to bring our work together in one place.

 

I look forward to more feedback,

 

Cheryl