Stoic Philosophy

Know Thyself — Before It’s Too Late

Who are you? Do you know?

Death lies heavy upon on who, known exceedingly well by all, dies unknown to themself.” — Seneca

Who Are You?

Do you know yourself? If so, who are you?

As you go through life, are you only participating, or are you also observing yourself and others objectively? Do you have the gift of self-awareness, or do you live in the blissful dark?

“Self-awareness is the ability to focus on yourself and how your actions, thoughts, or emotions do or don’t align with your internal standards. If you’re highly self-aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behavior with your values, and understand correctly how others perceive you.” — Meredith Betz

Have you ever noticed how people seem to struggle to answer these types of questions constantly? It’s a common theme — we readily describe others (we know or don’t know), yet we struggle to describe ourselves.

Why do we know so little about ourselves? Why do we continuously delay learning our own souls?

Usually, we don’t know ourselves for 1 of 3 reasons: We don’t want to face the pain from our pasts, we lack the self-awareness to realize we don’t know ourselves in the first place — even though we believe we do (blissful ignorance), or we are too busy to spend time conducting self-reflection.

Self-Reflection Is Powerful

With reflection, you become aware of things once not known to yourself that can change the course of history for your life. But without solitude and thoughtful reflection, you will live a life as one might live in the matrix — a false reality.

It’s not too late for you to know yourself. You can start by asking yourself reflective questions to help you experience a higher life.

If you don’t know where to start with your reflection, here are 13 questions that offer you a starting point.

Introspective Questions:

1. Who am I?
2. Do I like myself?
3. What do I enjoy?
4. What do I desire?
5. What am I lacking?
6. What am I here for?
7. Who am I becoming?
8. Do I have any regrets?
9. What gives me energy?
10. What’s valuable to me?
11. Do I like the path I’m on?
12. What am I passionate about?
13. What is the primary emotion in my life?

Foresight Is Meaningless Without Action

You’ve read this article, but the question stands, what will you do with the article. Words that can improve our lives are meaningless without implementation. During my short life, I’ve learned that the people you love and care about can disappear in an instant. We all think we’ll live forever, but we don’t. At some point, we reach our endings.

Each day of our lives provides us a moment in which we can devote to knowing ourselves — deeply. Take time to explore your mind, soul, body, spirit, heart, and being. Stop procrastinating. Stop pushing yourself to the side. Know yourself today before your clock stops ticking.

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